South.gg Exclusives: What’s Project Xandata?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a shooting game with heavy influences on Philippine lore? Well, Project Xandat is just that. It’s made by Secret 6, a veteran game development company with bases in Manila, San Francisco, and Madrid.

Founded in 2005, the company started out by initially providing only 3D art services from their small base in Manila. Now, they’re an established game studio that has worked on AAA 3D assets with companies like Naughty Dog and Other Ocean. 

Project Xandata is the game studio’s first foray into the world of original game development, in line with their goal to “put the Philippines on the map in terms of game development.”

So, what exactly is Project Xandata, you ask?

Well, it’s a futuristic first-person shooting game with heavy Filipino influences in its lore. In this world, you play as a Xandat, a warrior trained to wield and utilize the powers of powerful armor that are blessed with a combination of magic and science, called DIWAT, or Divine Weapons and Technology. The suits grant the wearers increased strength, speed, durability, and other combat enhancements that basically turn the wearer into Captain America.

The story of the game is set in Xandaigdig, a planet filled with natural resources, diverse cultures, and unfortunately, conflict. A lot of conflict.

Once created to fend off alien forces called the Gadlum, the Xandat armors are now used by the nations as weapons to fight off each other.

Gameplay-wise, Project Xandata is a fun new experiment on the FPS genre, pioneering a 3v3 format instead of the usual 5v5 matches we see. In the game’s open beta stage, you are given three classes to choose from: Juggernauts who play the role of front-liners, Marksmen who act as characters balanced on both the offensive and defensive, and Agents who are sneaky assassins who utilize the many vision-impairing skills in their arsenal to secure easy, deadly kills and slip out just as easily.

The classes are fully-customizable, allowing one to adjust skills to best suit their playstyle and fill roles that the team might need. Another cool thing for Project Xandata is the player’s ability to customize their weapons. And no, we’re not just talking about cosmetics.

The weapons in Project Xandata have different perks which you can mix and match which you can use to your advantage. Not aiming so well? Try on a perk that increases accuracy. Always getting gunned down by the enemy team? Put on a perk that increases weapon damage the less health you have.

If you’ve ever played League of Legends with their new rune system, then Project Xandata’s mix-and-match system is not a new experience for you, but a welcome one in the world of FPS games.

The game is currently in open beta, and the Secret 6 crew is inviting everyone to play the game. This also serves as their way of getting feedback from external sources allowing them to tweak the game and make it playable and enjoyable for everyone before the game’s actual release. 

The open beta currently only has quick play mode available, where random players are queued together to play their two game modes: 

Skirmish, which is your classic deathmatch mode, 

Corruption, where you and the enemy team race against time to accumulate the most points, 

Annihilation, where you and the enemy team compete in a first-to-5 match, and

Overcharge, where your goal is to charge your battery in your team’s Lightning Dock.

You can access the Open Beta version of the game here.