Ludography
62/100
Players10 ratings
79/100
Critics14 reviews

Where to get it

LawBreakers cover

2016 · Boss Key Productions · First-person shooter · Shooter

LawBreakers

PlayStation console exclusive

Beat gravity into submission in LawBreakers, an exhilarating new first-person shooter where even the laws of physics can be shattered, creating unprecedented gravity-based combat across a bloody rebuilt American landscape.

Released
2016
Platforms
PlayStation 4Windows
Genres
First-person shooterShooterSports
Developers
Boss Key Productions
Publishers
Nexon
Modes
Multiplayer
Perspective
First person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Country
United States
Age ratings
PEGI 16ESRB M
Composers
Jason Graves

About

LawBreakers was a first-person shooter video game developed by Boss Key Productions and published by Nexon. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Windows on August 8, 2017.

LawBreakers attempted to expand on the traditional FPS approach by introducing low-gravity gameplay and followed the character selection mechanics that are popular in other objective-based FPS games.

›Story

Choose your role from a cast of unique characters, each equipped with distinct movement skills, battle abilities and weapon combos. Fight in dynamic gravity ravaged arenas that offer players a breathtaking vertical team-based battle royal.

Revel in unparalleled vertical violence by mastering the skills of an array of diverse antiheroes.

Whether you kill to uphold the "Law," or are out for blood as a "Breaker," these symmetrical roles satisfy any appetite in an arena where the most skilled player and team will rise.

Experience a futuristic America, years after a global seismic event known as "The Shattering" forever changed the landscape and even gravity itself.

Become immersed into a raging conflict between Law and Breakers across nearly unrecognizable locations ranging from a futuristic Santa Monica to a re-imagined Grand Canyon.

Fight to the death in intense game modes that elevate the competitive shooter genre to all new levels.

LawBreakers' signature brand of gravity-induced chaos, combined with innovative takes on multiplayer game modes, offers a truly unique and exhilarating experience.

Keywords

  • gravity
  • competitive
  • future
  • fast paced
  • arena shooter
  • free-to-play
  • digital distribution
  • loot boxes
  • polygonal 3d
  • pax east 2016
  • pax west 2016
  • pax east 2015

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Two teams of five players competed against each other to complete the objective of the match, with one side playing as "Law" and the other side playing as the "Breakers". Though each faction featured its own character roster, each Role in the game featured a unique set of weapons, equipment, and playstyle, all of which were the same for each Role in both teams. The gameplay modes included the following:

A modified capture-the-flag mode with one flag planted in the middle of the map in the form of a battery. Teams raced to grab the battery and then take it back to their base, after which the team with the battery had to defend it until it reached 100%, and then a further 20 seconds, to earn a point. However, the battery kept its charge even after it was stolen, so one team could charge the battery to 99% complete, then the enemy could steal it and take the point after successfully defending the battery at 100% charge. The first team to score three points would be the winners.

Development

Previously named BlueStreak, the game was set to be free-to-play, but in March 2016 Boss Key announced that they had abandoned the format in favor of a paid release. It was designed by Dan Nanni.

After being demoed at the 2016 PAX East gamer festival in Boston, LawBreakers began closed alpha and beta testing. On June 30, 2017, Boss Key released an open beta for Windows on Steam, which lasted until July 5. A second open beta was available from July 28 to 31 for PC and PlayStation 4. The game was released for PC and PS4 on August 8, 2017. Physical editions were distributed by Limited Run Games.

Reception

LawBreakers received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Eurogamer ranked the game 39th on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017".

Despite positive reviews, the game failed to gain a sufficient player base. According to Githyp, the closed-beta peaked at 7500 players on Steam, followed a month later by an open-beta with 40% fewer players. The game launched with a 60% lower player base than the beta peak and launched outside of the Steam top 100 Most Played Games. In an interview with GameSpot, game director Cliff Bleszinski stated that the PlayStation 4 version was doing much better, although he did not confirm any statistics. Bleszinski making the game a PlayStation exclusive on consoles was also criticized as playing a part in the lack of player numbers, with the Xbox being considered to have a wider fanbase for multiplayer first person shooters.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows8 August 2017Worldwide · North America 8 August 2017
PlayStation 48 August 2017North America · Worldwide 8 August 2017 · Europe 8 August 2017

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Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.