I had the opportunity to sit down at PAX Prime today with the developers from Motiga and get my hands on ‘Gigantic,’ a 5v5, 3rd-person, PvP/PvE action game. Full disclosure, I’ve been really looking forward to get a chance to play since their announcement trailer sucked me into their visually-stunning and explosive, fantasy world. Although we won’t get to play a full release until early 2015, the game has entered friends and family Alpha testing and Motiga brought a ton of awesome stuff for players to explore at this year’s PAX Prime – including developer/community workshops, hands-on gameplay and a Lo-Fi party!

At the outset, I was already impressed with Motiga’s presence at PAX. Their developers were at the ready to engage with their players and help them learn how to play during the hands-on demo. Even though I only got to play one match, I was left really wanting to play more and am looking forward to when public testing is made available. The matches on the current map seem to take about 25 minutes long on average, and the entire match feels super engaging. You never find yourself at a point where you’re just farming up experience or waiting for some action to take place. To me it ended up feeling like a really good hybrid between a fast-paced, third-person shooter and an action MOBA. So, when Motiga says their game is gender-blended, they really mean it, and it’s executed on beautifully.

A match is divided into what feels like two phases – a capture-and-hold phase and “The Clash” with your Guardians. The capture-and-hold play supports map exploration, pvp / pve and strategic play, while “The Clash” turns to an all-out-brawl between the two teams and their Guardians.

Exploring the map and capturing points feels really good – every time you capture one you get the chance to spawn a creature that will then defend the point for you while you move on to another part of the map. This results in players feeling less like they need to be camping points to protect them, and then subsequently encourages teams to be mobile and versatile in their engagement strategies. I was also extremely impressed that when we got to the Clash and our Guardians came down the map to face off, we felt supercharged by the change in pace even though our team was losing. I felt like there was still a chance to make a difference and our team rallied despite knowing victory was a long shot. To me, this is something I really wish more pvp games would support, and it’s pretty difficult to design for in general.

I got a chance to play Charnok, the Draconic Sorcerer; a Hero with fire-themed upgrade paths that were really fun. Since the art style is so colorful and pops right out at you, you end up feeling pretty awesome when you lay down a vibrant stream of fire or smash a volcanic meteor into the environment and players around you. There are still a few readability issues with some of the larger AOE attacks, but it’s obvious that they’re working on making the visuals both bad ass and readable.

To sum up my thoughts overall, I think ‘Gigantic’ is going to be really successful with its blend of fast-paced action, PVP/PVE design, and its ability to immerse you in strong emotions (and fun!) throughout the entirety of a match. I definitely recommend you check it out and keep an eye on development. If you like 3rd-person action and high-octane PVP/PVE, you’ll definitely want to give this a go!

To learn more about Gigantic: check out their website and sign up for Alpha testing here!