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‘Tom Clancy’s ShadowBreak’ brings tactical first-person shooting to mobile devices

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy franchise has typically been associated with powerful PCs and traditional consoles, but the publisher has announced a new game that will arrive exclusively to mobile devices. Tom Clancy’s ShadowBreak mixes together the first-person shooting of Hitman: Sniper with a healthy dose of strategy.

ShadowBreak is structured into 3-minute matches, with players positioning and deploying troops to attack the enemy indirectly while simultaneously moving their character into position to snipe soldiers on the ground — as well as take out the enemy’s snipers. The game will feature a competitive multiplayer mode, which should give way to tense, white-knuckle (or fingertip) matches like those we’ve seen from the Sniper Elite series.

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Though it combines elements of both the first-person shooter and real-time strategy genres, Ubisoft wants ShadowBreak to still be enjoyable for those who aren’t particularly skilled in one or the other of them.

“If you’re a great marksman with an inferior troop loadout, you’re still going to have a strong avenue to victory,” said creative director A.J. Morales. “If you’re not as strong in your shooter prowess, but have superior troops and strategy, you’ve still got a great shot at the win.”

Each player selects “up to four” units to take with them in a match, and both their personal appearance and equipment loadout are fully customizable. Weapons can be augmented with additional items, which are acquired through the ever-popular “reward crates” seen in games like Overwatch. Ubisoft will continue to support the game with additional weapons, locations, and modes after its launch.

Tom Clancy’s ShadowBreak is the latest game to use the famous author’s name following the release of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands in March and Tom Clancy’s The Division in 2016. The game launches later this year on iOS and Android devices. It had a “soft launch” on Wednesday in Canada, as well.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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