Lasers, Loot, and Lawlessness: Welcome to Wildgate
Welcome to Space Crime Summer, prospectors! Wide-eyed, bold, and loud—Wildgate, the genre-defying FPS-meets-extraction-shooter from Moonshot Games, has crash-landed into our launchpads. Led by former Blizzard CEOs, Dreamhaven’s debut is a potent cocktail—equal parts Sea of Thieves in space, Overwatch teamplay, and extraction-mode tension with laser cannons. Let me take you through the Reach, one explosive byte at a time.
🚀 The Setup: Enter the Reach
At its core, Wildgate pits five four-player crews—Prospectors—against each other in a race to steal the Artifact. Victory requires either escaping through the titular Wildgate or eliminating every rival. Each match begins in a procedurally generated cosmic junkyard, riddled with hazards like cosmic storms, lava asteroids, and Reach Leeches.
What launched as a game preview quickly earned enough buzz to hit #2 on Steam during Next Fest. There’s even an open beta that ran June 9–16, and official release dropped on July 22, 2025, at 8 AM PDT worldwide.
🎮 Gameplay: Fast, Furious, and Finesse
Tactical Crewplay
Think Sea of Thieves—but swap swashbucklers for space pirates, and your ship is a multi-crew FPS hub. Each Prospector has unique tools/abilities, and one match can go from frantic mining to full-blown firefights in seconds.
The balance between gunplay, sabotage, resource gathering, and navigation is nothing short of electric.
Ship Combat & Boarding
Dogfights are thrilling yet accessible. The naval model is simplified—no six degrees of freedom—so combat feels structured like a tank brawl, rather than astronaut chaos.
Boarding enemy vessels is a neat twist: disable shields, swipe weapons, overload engines for tight decisive moments. Sweet, chaotic space crime.
Extraction Dilemma
You can sprint to snatch the Artifact and jet out via the Wildgate, or go full space marine and annihilate everyone else.
Extraction adds depth and strategic tension—going loud means risk, going quiet means cunning.
📈 Technical and Visuals
Wildgate streams at a solid 60 FPS on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It’s not pushing photorealism, but the stylized sci-fi landscapes look clean and vibrant—throwing lava plumes, ancient ruins, and drifting wreckage into a madcap tapestry. Procedural world generation keeps each session visually and tactically refreshing.
🎯 The Review: Hits and Misses
✔️ High Points
- Crew Synergy: Whether you're piloting, gunning, probing, or boarding—teamwork truly shines.
- Content Variety: Blend of FPS, ship combat, exploration, and PvEvP keeps things unpredictable.
- Accessible Design: Balanced complexity and pick-up-and-play appeal.
- Loot & Customization: Ships and prospectors are customizable—especially with the Renegade Edition or Adventure Pass.
⚠️ Room for Improvement
- Weapon balance: Some guns feel underwhelming compared to the default rifle.
- Ship maneuverability: Locked movement plane means side-thruster fans might chafe.
- Minor bugs: Occasional stuck physics during boarding, but nothing match-breaking yet.
🎟️ Value & Post-Launch Plans
Pricing Options
- Standard Edition: $29.99 USD
- Renegade Edition: $49.99 USD, includes themed cosmetics
- Cosmetic packs and credits are available in-game for real-world currency up to $50
At $30, it’s a steal—especially in a sea of free-to-play extraction shooters that nickel-and-dime.
Future Roadmap
Moonshot isn't launching and ghosting—it’s committed to bi-weekly anomalies, mid-season patches, and three seasonal drops in 2025. Season 1 brings a new prospector, weapon, quest mechanics, and custom lobbies. Later seasons promise narrative arcs, more equipment, competitive ranks, and community-requested ranked play.
🏁 Verdict: Should You Board?
Short answer: Absolutely. Wildgate is more than just another shooter—it's a chaotic, stylish, deeply replayable crew experience that rewards coordination, creativity, and risk rather than just raw aim.
If your squad thrives on improvisation, strategy, and space mayhem, this one’s locked and loaded. Sure, it has polish to add—balanced cache of weapons and smoother physics—but its core is rock-solid and bristling with potential.
🧭 Scorecard
| Category | Score (out of 5) |
|---|---|
| Gameplay | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ |
| Visuals & Audio | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ |
| Content & Replays | ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ |
| Long-term Value | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ |
🎉 Final Thoughts
Wildgate stands as a bold bet on crew-first spaceshooter design—and in that gamble, it hits the mark. For $30, you're buying access to a fast-paced, beautifully supported cosmic racer with surprising depth and charm. So gather your crew, load your lasers, and get ready to commit some space crimes—because Wildgate is wild, and it's here to stay. 🎇
What are your thoughts? Planning to snag the Renegade Edition, or jump in with the Standard version? Let us know in the comments below or find us in the Reach. We'll keep our ears to the ground—see you on the other side of the Wildgate.
Reviewed on the PS5 Pro.
