As I watch a hands-off demo for Project Spectrum, I think I've played enough Escape from Tarkov to see where it's going. Admittedly, on the surface, the two FPS games are only marginally alike: while Tarkov is deeply realistic, the player controlling my Project Spectrum preview is inching through the zombie-infected grounds of a comically spooky mansion. But when they pause to fish a soda can from dead leaves, fashioning it into a makeshift silencer to quietly pick off the undead with careful headshots, the tension is unmistakable – I've felt it myself in a million Tarkov raids, in quiet stretches so taut it's almost a relief when the shooting starts.
Yet Project Spectrum isn't that easy to categorize. While its tactical shooter DNA is visible from the get-go, streaks of horror muddy the waters – and when developer Team Jade reveals the PC game's trump card, all comparisons go out of the window.
