Strinova has got a very clear game plan – take the competitive, tactical shooter gameplay from the likes of Valorant and Counter-Strike 2, make it third-person, and turn every character into anime eye candy. Is it a recipe for success? To an extent. The shooter’s first 24 hours on Steam have gone well when it comes to player counts, but on the other side of the coin, it’s suffering from a real mixed bag of user reviews.
Strinova already showed flickers of promise in its early betas, but now the time has come for it to leave the nest, spread its free-to-play wings, and start shifting some cosmetics. While PvP multiplayer games of this ilk tend to go for a first-person perspective, the likes of Marvel Rivals and now Strinova are trying to get a third-person movement going. As an FPS purist (and grumbly cynic), I can’t help but feel this is so players have more of an incentive to buy character skins as they can see them more in-game. Nevertheless, they’re proving that you can still make a fun hero shooter experience.
It’s not just a different perspective that Strinova is going for – it even lets you change dimensions. Each character, known as a Superstring in the game’s universe, has the ability to transform from a 3D model into a totally flat 2D model for a short period of time. This is handy for dodging bullets when under heavy fire, going undetected while tracking people from a vantage point, or fitting through tight gaps in the map to cut through lanes or escape danger. It’s a pretty odd mechanic to get your head around at first, but it’s something that sets it apart, and that’s never a bad thing in this hyper-competitive space.
With a lineup of 17 waifus and husbandos at launch, each with different kits of abilities and weapons, and 11 maps spread across three different game modes, Strinova is also launching with a healthy amount of content.
With its combination of desirable character designs, interesting and unique gameplay elements, and strong content offering – plus the fact it’s totally free – Strinova has got off to a strong start on Steam. In its first 24 hours, it achieved a peak player count of 28,546, and at the time of writing over 19,000 are still in the game and queuing into matches.
It’s getting lots of positive reviews too – however, there are plenty of negative ones flooding in as well. While day one user reviews can often be skewed by folks that have had minimal time with the game, they still give a fairly good indication as to how things are going. Strinova currently sits at a pretty underwhelming ‘mixed’ rating of 59%, but I can see that rising as time goes on, improvements are made, and new content is added.
If you want to give Strinova a go, head over to its Steam page and download it now alongside some of the other excellent free PC games on the platform. Alternatively, here are the best anime games that span multiple genres.
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