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[IbizaPocholo]

Get a peek at gameplay and the post-apocalyptic world of Cinder City (formerly Project LLL) in this trailer for the upcoming MMO tactical shooter game developed by BigFire Games, an NCSOFT studio. The Cinder City trailer shows brutal gameplay and some of the terrifying threats you'll face. Cinder City will be available on PC and consoles in 2026.

In Cinder City, you will suit up as a futuristic knight, navigate a world reshaped by future technology, and battle through iconic landmarks and high-tech battlegrounds in post-apocalyptic Seoul. Face brutal choices as you search for the lead character's missing daughter -- solo or cooperatively with a squad.

 

[nikos]

Hope this turns out to be good. Would love an MMO shooter.

 

[Jaguar Victory]

Caught my eye for sure

 

[March Climber]

Hope this turns out to be good. Would love an MMO shooter.

Same, it's a subgenre I'd love to see more studios explore.

Defiance was an interesting game and concept while it lasted.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Once known as Project LLL Cinder City was announced at gamescom Opening Night Live. We got hands on with the third person shooter. Check out the timestamps below.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro Cinematic
3:00 Gameplay Start
5:20 Tactical Gear and Combat
7:30 Air Drop and Combat
11:54 Outro

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Cinder City preview & Q&A – A solid open world shooter with MMO-like dungeons and dynamic events

Cinder City Preview & Q&A - A Solid Open World Shooter with MMO-Like Dungeons & Dynamic Events

NCSoft's MMO shooter Cinder City was among the most impressive games we played at Gamescom 2025. We also interviewed the CEO of its developer.

wccftech.com

At Gamescom 2025, NCSoft finally unveiled Cinder City, the open-world MMO shooter initially announced in late 2022 as Project LLL. The game is set in an alternate future version of Seoul that gets quarantined following an apocalyptic event. At the beginning of the game, nine months have passed, and the roads of the South Korean capital are roamed by 'bizarre lifeforms', making it a hazardous area.

Not so much for the Knights, a group of cybernetically enhanced soldiers that can clear the way for regular fighters. That's exactly the task given to Seven, one of those Knights, in the mission available at the German convention. After a cutscene where Seven theatrically drops out of the sky, Crysis-style, the gameplay begins. It's immediately apparent that Cinder City is a third-person cover-based shooter with much inspiration from Ubisoft Massive's Tom Clancy's The Division. Just like in that game, gear has loot rarity, owing to the MMO-like influences.

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"It's immediately apparent that Cinder City is a third-person cover-based shooter with much inspiration from Ubisoft Massive's Tom Clancy's The Division."​

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At least in this demo, though, enemies don't really feel like bullet sponges. Moreover, the shooting feels very punchy, with clear, booming hit sounds for powerful weapons like sniper rifles that create a satisfactory shooter experience for the player. Seven's exosuit allows him to sprint ahead or dodge to the sides, though that requires stamina. At least in the demo, stamina was consumed perhaps too quickly, though that may well change with gear and skill upgrades. Again, like in The Division, there are several equippable skills, like a personal energy shield and a salvo of missiles. These appear to have consumable charges.

Enemies are no cakewalk, either. This is an online-only PvE cooperative shooter, so you'll generally have the help of other players, although there is a narrative campaign that you could play solo if you want. While that wasn't shown in the demo, the full game will allow players to hijack and pilot mechs, ride and shoot in helicopters, and drive vehicles and command other combat vehicles.

More importantly, the demo was single player only, but as I said, this is an MMO-like shooter for which development studio BigFire Games is preparing a proper endgame and extensive post-launch support. I learned more about those features while speaking to BigFire Games CEO Jaehyun Bae. Cinder City is currently planned for a 2026 launch on PC (where the game will support NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation and ray tracing) and consoles.

"While that wasn't shown in the demo, the full game will allow players to hijack and pilot mechs, ride and shoot in helicopters, and drive vehicles and command other combat vehicles."​

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The article ends with a lengthy Q&A.
Here's an abbreviated version:

"The major part will be the open world online shooter where hundreds of players can play together simultaneously in the same field in a vast 7x7 kilometers wide city. The primary genre would be large scale MMO shooter."​

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"As for the endgame, it will revolve around PvE content // a variety of boss fights will be provided as the endgame content. // Instanced dungeons that require a certain number of players to join and matchmake and start."​

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"Our aim when building bosses is that you have to strategize and outmaneuver them with tactics and different builds rather than just fire against some stationary bullet sponge bosses, so we are aiming to provide boss fights with a variety of patterns."​

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"We do have different roles for the characters you get to play as, but it's not like the traditional designated MMO roles // It's rather about specific tactical weapons or skills that they are equipped with. So, it is more about different skills that characters have. // For example, if an enemy sends a lot of projectiles towards you, you might counter that with a skill that hijacks them and diverts them to protect yourself and your allies, or you might turn on a barrier-like shield dome to safeguard those inside. There will be a variety of skills of this kind, more in line with the shooter genre. Those skills and of course the gear will determine the character's role, rather than just giving them a predetermined role like DPS, tank, or healer."​

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"There will be skill trees. (?) // Skills are considered to be tactical gear, and there is shared tactical gear that all characters can utilize, while some tactical gear is exclusive to specific characters. That way, players can kind of develop their own skill builds by selecting between those items." (A bit contradicting, as it seems skills are bound to specific gear)​

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(Single player content length) "it will probably take between ten and fifteen hours to complete"​

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There will be seven to nine characters (w/customizable appearance and unique skills/perks) available at launch.​

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The premise of this sounds very fun. But it's all about delivery. They admitted that they haven't landed on whether it's going to be F2P or not. So monetization model is up in the air it seems.

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