Back in 2012, Harmonix began hiring developers to work on a “combat game.” Today, they lifted the lid on Chroma, a free-to-play, first-person, multiplayer shooter for the PC. If this sounds a bit out of Harmonix’s wheelhouse, then you should also know that in Chroma, “Music is Your Weapon.” Hopefully, Harmonix will explain what that means sooner rather than later.
Harmonix has partnered with Hidden Path Entertainment (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) to bring the game to Steam sometime this year. Players will be able to choose from multiple from character classes and form a “band” with their teammates to take on their opponents. Also, a “Change Up” system will unleash major moments that “dramatically alter the landscape of the battlefield in real time both physically and strategically, raising sniper towers, adding cover, and more in sync with the music.”
“Chroma has been a dream project of mine for some time,” said Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos. “Watching the teams at Harmonix and Hidden Path begin to bring this vision to life has been tremendously exciting. We’re also thrilled to release an alpha version of this game and to evolve it in collaboration with our players. We can’t wait to hear what people think of this new approach to both first-person shooters and music games.”
Harmonix plans to offer players early access to Chroma through a closed alpha later this year. You can apply to enter the alpha right here.