Command.
Control.
Kill.
Most tactical games make you choose between commanding the fight and being in it.
BLACKOUT.PUNK is a tactical third-person shooter where you give orders to your squad, jump into any unit under your command, and fight the battle yourself.
The goal is simple to explain and hard as hell to build: commanding your team should feel as fast as pulling the trigger.
You Are Legion
Command
The fight is bigger than any one soldier.
Issue orders to every unit under your command.
Control
You are your team.
Jump into any unit on the battlefield and see the fight from their perspective.
Kill
When all else fails, pull the trigger yourself.
Aim. Shoot. Move. Survive.
SHOOTERS GOT BIGGER
We want them to get DEEPER.
Not bigger maps.
Not another hundred-player lobby.
Not another pile of abilities competing for the same 10 buttons.
We want to know what happens when a shooter gives one playre responsibility for more than one gun.
Can you lead a squad without stopping to play an RTS?
Can orders be fast enough to use while bullets are flying?
Can AI teammates be useful without the need for a babysitter?
We think the answer can be yes. We just need to do some mad science to get there.
This is where we F*** around and find out.
BLACKOUT.PUNK is the test chamber.
A loud, hostile, neon combat sandbox where we can build tactical-action systems, put them under pressure, hand them to players, and find out what survives contact.
The “rave” vibe isn’t just window dressing.
High-contrast arenas, violent lighting, crowds, noise, and fast encounters give us a deliberately exaggerated place to test readability, AI, commands, navigation, and combat.
If it works here, we’re getting somewhere.
// New systems will appear.
// Maps will change.
// Controls will change.
// Interfaces will be replaced.
// Things will break.
// We’ll do it all again.
That’s Why we need Testers
This is not a game we can solve by ourselves in a design document.
A command interface can look brilliant until someone has to use it while getting shot at.
AI can behave perfectly until 40 soldiers are trying to interpret orders at once.
A system can make complete sense to the team making it and completely miss the person holding the controller.
We need people willing to play it, break it, tell us why it sucks, and come back for more.
Think You can Break It?
Get On the List.
Public playtests aren’t open yet.
When they are, we're looking for players who want to do more than preview a game. We want people willing to stress the systems, find the bad assumptions, and tell us what actually works when the shooting starts.
No QA experience required. No tactical-gaming doctorate required.
Just play.
We'll handle the hard part.
Playtest invitations and major project updates only.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Join the Community
Discord is Home.
Hang out with other testers, give feedback,
see what we’re building, and get early
access to playtests and new features.
Support the Experiment
ToasterCat Studios Builds Weird.
BLACKOUT.PUNK exists because we're willing to spend time on gameplay problems that don't have obvious answers.
Patreon helps us keep doing that—building prototypes, running tests, paying collaborators, and chasing tactical games that probably shouldn't be attempted by a small team.