A glance at the fall of the arena shooter genre, before discussing its modern redemption; Diabotical. By Michael Oliver.
Deathmatch, online gameplay, weapon variants, advanced movement; many key features of the modern shooter began in the arena. The arena shooter is a genre that is incomparable in that its extreme popularity was met with an equally extreme and sudden fall. Not only that, but the genre was held by two significant titles, Quake (1996) & Unreal (1999), instead of the plethora of launches that many genres are accustomed to today. Considering all of this, it was a genre that jumpstarted the shooter genre along with western esports. There have been various attempts in recent years to reboot the franchise with different interesting takes on the genre with a modern perspective, but to little success. But now, we are seeing a new title that has been tagged the redemption of the arena; Diabotical.
The Rise and Fall of Arena Shooters
An arena shooter is defined by a few key characteristics; speed, map control, and an equal playing field. Speed represents the advanced movement capabilities of rocket & strafe-jumping (look out for a future advanced movement article). Map control is using movement to collect weapons and pickups around the arena, and deny them from your opponent. Finally, an equal playing field is one free of any handicaps: No special weapons, no unique character stats, equal with only the use of skill to overcome your opponent. In regards to esports, these elements culminate in an extremely competitive experience that is equally as enjoyable to watch as it is to play.
The formula and high skill ceiling of the arena fps led to its huge popularity, and kickstarted western esports singlehandedly. Before there was 1v1 me on rust, a duel on Quake or Unreal would solve issues and settle disputes. Moving through the 2000s, the genre of FPS began evolving at an alarming rate with different sub genres and mods being released left and right, as well as different esport genres taking the spotlight. RTS and MOBA titles overtook the esport popularity of Quake & Unreal, and narrative driven, slower paced shooters overtook them in popularity. The sudden explosion of consoles drove the final nail in the coffin of arena FPS, as Twitch aim and advanced movement of arena FPS was impossible to replicate on a controller.
The Ashes of the Fallen
The fall of arena FPS was not a sudden venture. Quake and Unreal continued releasing titles through the boom of consoles, but saw smaller and smaller player numbers. Even the recent revivals of the fathers of arena FPS saw mixed receptions from veterans and new fans alike. Quake Champions (2017) represented a return to the classic arena shooter format but the long load times between games and hero shooter mechanics made it clear that it wasn’t close to Quake’s glory years. The developers have driven money into the yearly QuakeCon tournament with million-dollar prize pools, but the esports of arena shooters are dwarfed by other titles. Epic Games had a promising new Unreal title in the works, but the developers were called over to work on a battle-royale mode for their new game, Fortnite (2017), and have not returned since (I wonder why?).
Other developers that attempted to replicate the glory days of arena FPS felt similar effects. Lawbreakers (2007) was an extremely promising modern take on the arena shooter format, with anti-gravity areas on maps for vertical combat. However, the gameplay was too different to the popular shooters like games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, and it lacked features of arena FPS to keep veterans playing. Splitgate: Arena Warfare (2019) is another interesting take on the arena formula by incorporating portals into the gameplay, similar to that of the Portal series. The game was released to moderate success, but fell for the same reasons as Lawbreakers: it didn’t appeal to the correct audiences.
The Robot Phoenix
James “2GD” Harding is a British esport personality, ex Quake professional player, and game developer. Competing professionally in Quake 4 (2005) and becoming a caster and personality for both Quake and Dota, James had a personal connection to the esport scene and its growth. He had experience with game developers early on, and said “I’ve been in esports for a very long time, and one thing I noticed was that game developers, especially game designers, have really fragile egos and they didn’t like feedback from pro gamers.” He held tournaments out of his own money for Quake Live (2010) and became a caster for the scene. Not only that, but James created the GD Studio that helped host esport events and feature up and coming personalities from his own pocket. However, 2GD felt he could achieve more for the arena FPS community that had almost no recognition in recent years. In his own words: “why not just make the f****** game. Because, if [you want] to make a difference to help a community, you can’t do it by just running tournaments if the game developer is not willing to help you.”
Through his own passion and frustration with the state of arena FPS, James turned the GD Studio into game developers. In 2016 the team created a kickstarter to fund the development with a goal of £110,000, and ended up achieving £168,314. After four years, Diabotical (2020) was released last month as the phoenix of arena shooters. The game focuses on the classic Quake gameplay formula of advanced movement, map control, and equal playing field. The time between games is almost non-existent, and is completely free to play. Not only that, but GD Studio are putting in more of their own money to host a series of esport tournaments for the game following the release. What more could you ask for?
All in all, Diabotical is not just another arena shooter that is attempting to profit off the glory of Quake, because it represents the passion of a team of individuals to help a beloved and neglected genre. James has a past of helping to build the foundations of Dota’s esport community, and hopefully now he can do the same for the revival of arena shooters. If you’ve finished reading this article and feel a single bit intrigued, go download the epic games launcher on your pc and give Diabotical a try (completely free!). It represents the refined gameplay of every successful Quake title, and is probably the most fun you can have in a shooter out at the moment… with a bit of practise.
