Ex-Blizzard devs reveal spacey extraction space shooter Wildgate that looks, well, wild

Developer Moonshot Games, which is part of the studio founded by former Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime, revealed its long-in-development debut game on Tuesday. It’s call Wildgate, which its creators describe as “a crew-based first-person shooter.” That description seems to be underselling Moonshot Games’ ambitions for the multiplayer action game.

Wildgate, like Secret Door’s Sunderfolk, is actually a complex but compelling mix of genres. It’s a blend of team-based, first-person shooter gameplay, resource gathering, ship-to-ship combat tactics, subterfuge, and extraction, all of which combine into something that looks intriguingly chaotic and unpredictable.

In Wildgate, players take on the role of Prospectors who plunder for space wreckage in pursuit of a McGuffin called the Artifact. Winning requires either escaping from the anomaly known as the Reach through the titular Wildgate, or by eliminating all the other Prospectors you’re playing against. There appears to a wide range of tactics at play. Prospectors can send out probes to survey the Reach in search of treasure and hazards; go on mining and loot expeditions; invade opponents’ ships to sabotage them; and engage in nail-biting ship battles during escape attempts.

There will be a variety of Prospectors, each with their own abilities and tools, and a range of ships to choose from. The Reach is procedurally generated for every game of Wildgate, which should help keep the action fresh every time.

“Wildgate was designed for anyone that’s ever wanted to go on a daring space adventure alongside a fearless crew,” said Jason Chayes, studio head of Moonshot Games, in a news release for Wildgate’s announcement. “Players are invited to work together and confront evolving cosmic threats – whether they’re mysterious hazards of the Reach – or presented by rival Prospectors. We’re counting on you to bring your best-laid plans… and hey, even if they don’t pan out for the win, we’ve found that some of our favorite experiences are the ones we least expect.”

A preview playtest for Wildgate will be available April 10-14, Moonshot and Dreamhaven, the sister studio to Secret Door, announced. The full game is expected to launch sometime in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC (via Steam), and Xbox Series X.

“Wildgate rewards cooperation and tactical mastery in a way that realizes Dreamhaven’s goal to bring players together and help them create lasting memories,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Dreamhaven, in a statement. “Since every match of Wildgate plays differently, there’s tons for you and your friends to discover as you explore the Typhon Reach. Ship-vs-ship combat brings an element of chaos that makes for an especially fun time, and we’re looking forward to players experiencing it for themselves during the playtest.”

Dreamhaven was founded in 2020 by Morhaime two years after the veteran game developer left Blizzard Entertainment after more than 27 years with the company. Moonshot is led by producer Jason Chayes (Hearthstone, StarCraft 2), designer Dustin Browder (StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm), and artist Ben Thompson (Hearthstone, World of Warcraft trading card game).