After a messy Splitgate 2 rollout, Empulse has something to prove. The good news? It already feels fast, fun, and dangerously close to scratching that Titanfall itch… even if it swears it isn’t trying to.
Let’s be honest. The moment you see wallrunning, boost jumps, and giant mechs, your brain goes straight to one place.
Titanfall.
And Empulse knows it.
But here’s the twist. It’s not trying to be Titanfall 3… even if it sometimes feels like it accidentally wandered into that territory anyway.
After a few hours with the latest demo, one thing is clear. Empulse might not be the sequel fans have been begging for, but it absolutely understands why they’ve been begging in the first place.
A Fresh Start After a Rough Spotlight
1047 Games doesn’t exactly come into this clean.
You probably remember the Splitgate 2 reveal. Or more specifically, the “Make FPS Great Again” hat that sparked instant backlash and slightly derailed the conversation. Not the kind of publicity you want tied to your next big project.
Empulse now carries that weight. It’s not just a new game. It’s a reset button.
And based on what’s playable right now, the studio seems to have learned the right lesson: less noise, more gameplay.
Movement First, Everything Else Second
Fire up a match and the core philosophy hits you fast.
Standing still is basically a death sentence.
Empulse is built around movement in a way most modern shooters just aren’t brave enough to commit to anymore. You’re expected to wallrun, slide, bounce, and fling yourself through maps like your life depends on it. Because it does.
Run in a straight line like it’s Call of Duty? You’re done.
The flow feels familiar in the best way. There’s weight to the parkour, but it never drags. You stick to walls just enough to stay in control, but not so much that it turns into autopilot. It hits that sweet spot that Titanfall absolutely nailed years ago.
And honestly? It feels great to be back in that space.
Okay, Fine… It Feels Like Titanfall
Let’s not dance around it.
Yes, there are mechs.
Yes, they drop mid-match.
Yes, they absolutely shift the momentum when they hit the field.
But Empulse flips the formula in a key way. Instead of every player eventually calling in their own Titan, these mechs spawn as contested power-ups. Think Halo rockets, but way bigger and way harder to ignore.
Only a couple exist at a time. Which means the entire lobby suddenly has the same goal: grab the mech or stop someone else from getting it.
That creates these intense flashpoints where everything converges. It’s chaotic, it’s messy, and it works.
Do you lose some of that classic Titanfall fantasy of fully customised loadouts and giant robot duels everywhere? Yeah, a bit.
But in return, you get something tighter. More focused. More about skill than scaling into a walking tank.
Gunplay That Encourages Chaos
Here’s another smart call.
Empulse leans heavily into hipfire.
Instead of punishing you for moving like a maniac, it actually supports it. You can stay aggressive, stay mobile, and still stay lethal.
It keeps the tempo high. No awkward stop-start rhythm. No forcing you to slow down just to land shots.
That said, there’s still room to improve. Weapon impact could use a bit more bite. Sometimes your shots feel like they’re missing that extra feedback punch.
But the foundation? Solid.
The Weirdest Feature Might Be Its Best
Now let’s talk about the thing you didn’t expect.
PAINT grenades.
Yes, seriously.
Instead of just chucking explosives, you’re throwing area-altering goo inspired by Portal-style mechanics. These grenades don’t deal damage. They change the battlefield.
Speed boosts. Jump boosts. Healing zones.
And because they’re messy and imprecise, they create absolute mayhem.
At one point, a single mistimed throw turned a chokepoint into a high-speed slipstream. The enemy team didn’t hesitate. They slid through like rockets and wiped us instantly.
It was frustrating for about two seconds.
Then it was hilarious.
That unpredictability is exactly what Empulse needs. It gives the game personality. It stops it from feeling like a clean remix of other people’s ideas.
The Bigger Question: Why Now?
Here’s where things get interesting.
1047’s leadership has been clear about one thing. They don’t think FPS games are dead. They just think certain subgenres have been ignored.
And they’re right.
Movement shooters? Barely touched in years.
Arena shooters? Same story.
Meanwhile, players keep asking for more.
So Empulse is stepping into that gap. Not as a revolution, but as a reminder of what made these games fun in the first place.
Fast movement. Vertical fights. Skill-driven chaos.
Simple idea. Surprisingly rare execution.
So… Is It Enough?
That’s the real test.
Because right now, Empulse sits in a tricky spot.
It’s close enough to Titanfall to invite comparisons. But it needs to prove it can stand on its own.
The good news? The fun factor is already there.
Matches are fast, unpredictable, and packed with those “did that just happen?” moments. That’s a strong start.
The challenge now is identity.
Can Empulse evolve into something you recognise instantly? Something you come back to not because it reminds you of another game, but because it feels unique?
That’s the line it needs to cross.
The Bottom Line
Empulse doesn’t need to be Titanfall 3.
It just needs to prove why movement shooters deserve to exist again.
And based on what we’ve seen so far? It’s moving in the right direction. Fast.
Now the question is yours.
Are you ready to go back to a shooter where standing still is the worst mistake you can make?