Last week during the Summer Games Fest showcase, Night Street Games unveiled Last Flag which is a 5v5 shooter that’s all about Capture the Flag. Following that, we got to go hands-on with the game for a few rounds, and had a lot of fun. Capture the Flag is just a mode most shooters have had for years, but the developers at Night Street Games have made something more exciting and enjoyable than any Capture the Flag mode I have played in years.

As the developers lamented to us, Capture the Flag in most games is usually just two teams trying  to infiltrate each other’s bases and steal a flag before returning to their base with it. The big thing they noticed that games lack is the actual fun of hiding and searching for the flag instead of always knowing where it would be. Thus, they wanted to bring more fun to Capture the Flag in video games by making it more akin to the real life version of the game since they were all boy scouts who played it all the time as kids. As someone who grew up play Capture the Flag at family holidays, I told understood where they were coming from.

When starting a game of Last Flag, players can volunteer to hide the flag or the person hiding it can be chosen at random. Once the game starts, you are given one minute to hide your flag anywhere on your side of the map, and there are so many twists and turns and areas that finding a good spot isn’t too difficult. After that, it’s time to go all out to find the enemy flag. In the middle of the map, there are three capture points that, once captured, will highlight specific areas in their influence where the enemy flag isn’t located, and players can also fast travel to any of their captured points from their base when they respawn. The developers wanted to focus on fun most of all so you’re constantly able to reenter the game with no eliminations, and being able to jump right back into the action is great.

Thus, you are given plenty of options in how to tackle the match. You can focus on defending the captured points from the enemies, protect your flag, or you can just go sneak around the enemy side of the map to see if you can find their flag. With how many spots someone could hide a flag, the developers made sure to include a sound cue of a golden shimmering sound to indicate when you are close to the flag. Once the flag has been found, you must get it back to your base and defend it for one minute. However, you won’t know where your flag is until whoever has it crosses the midpoint of the map back into their territory. Thus, the race is on at that point to stop them or find their flag as soon as possible.

Overall, the game is shaping up to be a really fun experience and something different from what is available in many shooters nowadays. This willl be especially fun for those who love Capture the Flag, but have felt those modes in games aren’t as fun as they should be. Last Flag is set to release at some point next year.