Nyan Heroes brings mobility (and cattitude) to the hero shooter space

The team-based shooter Nyan Heroes started from a very sound principle: People on the internet love cats. From the ancient (at least in internet terms) meme hieroglyphics of “lolcats” to your Discord server’s obligatory pet pics channel, our furry friends have racked up the likes over the years—and for good reason. But what if you could put your beloved Snowball in a mech and show them who the real apex feline is? Thanks to 9 Lives Interactive CEO and Co-Founder Max Fu, you'll soon be able to live that dream.

True to its name, this is an in-development hero shooter where cats are the star of the show, albeit mostly in mech form. (But don't worry: Once the robots blow up, your enemy felines run around sans metal, so you can fully appreciate their cuteness). The denizens of New Nekovia clash in the Battledome with each player assuming a different role on a team. The bones of Nyan Heroes are no doubt familiar to many players, but Fu says the game offers a few twists on the established genre formula to stand out in this crowded (but still emerging) market.

As Fu tells it, the cat theme isn't just skin-deep. Inspired by real-life cat acrobatics (catrobatics?), Nyan Heroes is first and foremost a mobility-focused game with classes having a variety of movement options that many modern shooters simply don't offer. Its buffet of jumps and air techniques are akin to old-school arena-shooters like Quake, a comparison that Fu and co. don't shy away from.

"We have crafted an incredibly smooth and responsive traversal system that allows players to chain together moves to get around the map as well as use them during combat," Fu tells us. "From wall-running to wall-climbing, super jumps, and air-dashing, all classes and players will be able to express their skill and creativity through more than just pure gunplay."

The arena-shooter parallels don't stop there either. For example, the game's healer class Seraph can top up their allies' vitality with a rocket launcher blast or even a grenade. However, if that doesn't sound like the perfect build, you can change how it works. From the ground up, Nyan Heroes gives players a surprising degree of control over their player class, a feature that Fu describes as one of its key innovations. You can use the game's weapon Augment system to customize your weapon loadout, giving you a scary number of possibilities to test out to get an advantage over your opponents.

"The dynamic weapon-Augment-combo abilities are a completely new and unique take on [hero shooter] class loadouts," says Niles Sankey, design director of Nyan Heroes. "There are so many permutations that make it very challenging to fully balance, at least with the initial release. It also makes it really fun to play with a lot of opportunities for people to find their own unique strategies and styles. But there will be some unforeseen permutations and strategies, and some just might be a bit OP. Fortunately, we have a great community to work with to achieve a more balanced game."

As an in-development game, Nyan Heroes hosts playtests to show off enhanced features and solicit fan feedback on the direction of the project. The cat-tastic hero shooter's Pre-Alpha Playtest 3 is almost here, and it'll add two new guardians, the Scout and the Mage, along with a ton of other fresh content. There's a new map, the icy weapons base Erebus, as well as a yet-unseen Payload mode that offers a twist on a team shooter classic. 

This playtest will also introduce the player Augment system, which enables players to earn and equip small bonuses based on their match performance to further customize their playstyle. My personal favorite addition is the embark mechanic, which lets "Nyans" in cat pilot form mount a teammate's mech to shoot alongside them. Plus, you can finally emote with your furry digital avatar—a feature that 9 Lives Interactive added due to community demand.

Sankey says the team is keeping the specifics of the new classes under wraps for now, as they'd like for it to be a surprise for the playerbase. However, he does confirm that the Scout guardian is particularly good at alerting allies when enemies are nearby and that the Mage guardian has a massive area-of-effect ultimate ability that curses enemies within its radius. 

"Our dynamic abilities really offer a lot of discoverable strategies," Sankey says. "In previous releases, we've watched players invent new dynamic weapon-combo strategies that changed the way the devs play the game. I can't wait to see what new strategies players find in the new release."

Nyan Heroes offers its own mobility-focused take on hero shooter gameplay, but it's also distinct in another key way: It's a Web3 game, meaning that it has optional cryptocurrency elements. Fu says the crypto/Web3 aspect of Nyan Heroes is very much a separate, secondary part of the game, one that players never have to interact with if they don't find it interesting.

"At its core, Nyan Heroes is a free-to-play hero shooter that you can dive into just like any other game," Fu says. "We have a token that is separate from the game application, and it’s available externally if you want to go explore it. Think of it as an extra optional layer that can enhance your experience by unlocking cool features, rewards, and items. You don’t need to touch it if that’s not your thing. The game is built to stand on its own, delivering all the fun and strategic depth you’d expect from a competitive shooter.

"For players who are familiar with blockchain games, Nyan Heroes takes a different approach. We’ve seen how games in this space can get too focused on the speculative side of things, often at the expense of actual gameplay. Nyan Heroes stands out because it prioritizes gameplay first. Our priority is to offer a polished, competitive hero shooter that feels complete and satisfying on its own…We’re not just chasing trends, we’re building something that can last."

Nyan Heroes isn't looking to entirely reinvent the hero shooter wheel, but it has enough new ideas that it's absolutely full of potential. Its Pre-Alpha Playtest 3 is sure to be far from a cat-astrophe, so if you're looking for a shooter that combines the athletic air-dodging of Ultrakill with the hero dynamics of the Overwatches of the world, it's certainly worth a look. 

Nyan Heroes' Pre-Alpha Playtest 3 will run from September 4 to September 25 on the Epic Games Store.