GoKawiilGoing back to play games released decades ago is a quaint experience, looking back at simpler mechanics and level designs, marveling at how far we've come. If developer That's No Moon's ambitions prove true, its new game, Crossfire, will have us looking at old cover shooters the same way.
That's No Moon revealed Crossfire at Summer Game Fest 2026's trailer showcase -- and yes, it is set in the same universe as the 2007 first-person shooter of the same name that was popular in South Korea and China. But the new version is a radical departure, ditching Counter-Strike-style team competition for a narrative-heavy single-player journey. Judging by the new technology the studio is debuting in the game, there's far more than a novel story awaiting players.
I joined other media in a visit to That's No Moon's office just north of Los Angeles International Airport. Part desk-filled work corral for the LA-based chunk of the roughly 230-person staff, part performance-capture studio for the stars of its game, the space feels functional but beloved. Facing the desks is a wall full of caricature drawings of developers; in a corridor just behind it, signatures from voice actors and famous visitors are scrawled. Near that is the sound stage, which was previously used to record motion-capture performances for the first and second Uncharted games -- and after that, for Disney's live-action The Lion King and the TV show The Mandalorian, we were told.
All of that was part of the tour to convey the significance of That's No Moon's debut game, which certainly felt like a grandiose wind-up to a preview. When we were seated in a theater, the tone of auspicious advancement continued, asserting that the studio's game would herald a new era of third-person shooter combat. But when developers showed off visualizations of the tech they're using in the game to advance the next generation of cover shooters, I sat forward in my seat.
Think of cover shooters like Gears of War or the Uncharted series, and you'll picture a protagonist hunkering behind a box or barrier, perfectly safe from enemy gunfire until they pop up to shoot back. How do you advance that genre? Make cover dynamic by revising the rules of visibility. The presentation showed a visualization of the studio's new system in which light vectors stretched above a character model like webs in an oval balloon, which all signified visibility -- and as the character clambered over uneven rocky terrain into the open, the green vectors turned red one by one to indicate where they'd been spotted by enemies.
That's No Moon
This could free up both developers to create the geography they want and players to explore the way they'd prefer. Instead of a static seen-or-hidden binary of players popping up from boxes, navigating trench-like routes highlighted in yellow paint by developers, That's No Moon's tech empowers players to find their own routes, naturally progressing around what looks to them like cover.
Naturally, this tech will first debut in Crossfire and indeed might be one of the big things that sets the game apart from third-person shooters players know. Another big draw could end up being the story -- but aside from some baseline details, That's No Moon was extremely coy about what happens in its debut title. Here's what we can say beyond the trailer for a game with a lot of promise but no release date yet.
That's No Moon
How you'll get caught up in Crossfire
... continue reading