Eve Vanguard made a lot of huge promises, but provided good gunfight
Blog Andrew Joseph 07 May , 2025 0
In the upcoming shooter partner Eve Vanguard, riding a drop pod to the surface of one of thousands of planets on Eve Online is almost surreal. I've been playing hundreds of times over the years and I've been playing the ancient spaceship MMO, but usually at astronomy distance. I always wonder what's going on there. I would make up stories about it in my mind. Now, I have a high-powered space rifle on my hands and I have experienced close and personal distances in the universe. Although this is a very, very, very big commitment, I’m disappointed that there are already some promising tips.
As a quick warning, the footage you see is still from early builds, and many things including weapons and enemy models are not final. CCP just announced that Vanguard will be in early in summer 2026, so we still have some time to wait. Also, the part we actually want to play is just the session-based shooter map itself, not the career and progressive activities that will happen in space. But I have to talk to the developers about both, so we'll cover it here.
What is the Pioneer? Well, like most things in Eve Online, here are some esoteric high-concept science fiction that seems a little confused at first. Your character is a semi-immune “Infomorph”, which means a digital human consciousness that lives in cyberspace. I guess you can say you're like Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077. To be in the frontline battles of many wars in New Eden, you upload yourself to a powerful war clone, the purpose of fresh biology soup for each mission. They are not free, but if your quest is blown up, you can call up a new one in the middle of the quest and explain how to rebirth over and over again.
From random cannon feed to Chief Master scale, you can think that war clones aren't exactly superhuman, but more like the absolute peak of human abilities that elite athletes can achieve, the developers say. They are well-known in the Galaxy and encounter another player-controlled vanguard in deployment, like a mini-owner battle.
Suit
Vanguards gathered in the fortress, CCP says you can almost think of it like John Wick's continent. I swear, I'm not here to stroke in more Keanu references. It just happened! Shopping, exchanging stories and getting new contracts are neutral, represented by virtual spaces where you can interact with other Mercs avatars. I was so happy when Eve online eliminated the ability to walk on the station and I was particularly happy to hear this.
But the real cool thing is that these forts exist in the same universe, with players walking around in the spaceship in Eve online. The initial one will be NPC-controlled, but players will eventually have the potential to attack, build or even own their own fortress. CCP hopes that a particular bastion may become the reputation of where you are in a situation where you really need to do the right job. With the way EVE has a “advanced SEC” space, NPC law enforcement protects new players and “low” or “null SEC”, where players can freely pvp to match their inner content, and the new Vanguards will also be able to choose the final place based on interest in other players.
Hair trigger
One of the biggest changes in philosophy of the Eve Pioneer since its unveiling in 2023 is the way the gun itself is designed. We move from sleek, low-key military science fiction to what designers call a tribute to the Sagittarius’ “Golden Age”, citing inspiration such as doomsday, earthquakes and illusion. There are still your standard space rifle, which has several different faction variants. But if you keep the fire button for a few seconds, I also have to use an energy shotgun with the projectile that can fire the projectile in smear mode, or a single giant wreck ball.
As a remote enjoyer, my favorite is this high-powered sniper rifle that holds your breath and can queue up perfectly. Although the model is obviously not finished, the reload animation that replaces the small focus crystal is also smooth and memorable. Just like in Eve Online, almost everything is collected and produced by players. Even on a mission, I had to rob some of the bodies and spend some time with the portable manufacturer to enhance my ammunition. Mining and the industry will also be part of the pioneer experience. It's even possible to research it specifically – although the developers warn me that if you do, you might want to bring in some backups.
You may see me toggling weapons using the debug menu in the video at the top of the page, which is for demonstration only. Ultimately, we will pick our load from the deck of our own combat rail before deploying. This will also allow us to choose which kind of war clones to produce, and we are told that they will eventually be in different specialties in a variety of shapes and sizes. Vanguard will also be a little separated from the main Eve online economy. It is worth noting that you won't buy guns and ammunition with ISK, which is the main currency for Starship Jockey, because the price of the rifle is the same as the frigate, which doesn't make much sense.
However, players in both games will definitely have some ways to work together and benefit equally between each other. For example, some materials may not have a lot of space to enter Planetside. Another example likens it to Star Wars: Rogue One or Return of the Jedi, where elite ground teams may have to remove the shield generator so that the fleet above can attack a fortified station.
Nightmare Fuel
The enemies here are also an ongoing work. They used placeholder models, divided into groups, mostly keeping distances, but I did get caught a few times by doing two attacks in unexpected directions. However, we have to see some conceptual art of one of the enemy factions, the Legion of Mordu, who are very disturbing. As part of the launch, these cyborg space debris that stand out in the ceremony will come in several different levels, with some being able to direct others on the battlefield.
In any given deployment, you may end up encountering these NPCs and other players. These arenas are huge, open and varied, a combination of procedurally generated terrain and hand-crafted battlefields that include some of Eve's recognizable starship wreckage. It was a great feeling to have debris actively scratching in the atmosphere when we were fighting.
At present, the Eve Pioneer is still a lot of “wills”, “should” and “hope Toss”. It's playable, the bullet is still a little unsanded, but satisfying. The environment is impressive, with diverse and exaggerated weapons designs. It's hard to get a full picture without actually experiencing how it will connect with the universe or social features shared online by EVE, which is definitely the most exciting part of the whole idea. To do this, we will have to wait until mid-next year, when early access to warp, when both games will finally be connected.
