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New game from 'Gears of War' creator breaks the moon

LawBreakers is not a post-apocalyptic shooter.

It is a shooter. It does star a group of Marine-like soldiers out to gun down people in the name of justice and it does take place in the future. But creator Cliff Bleszinski is adamant that this isn't a standard futuristic, kill-streak kind of game. As the mastermind behind Gears of War and Unreal Tournament, he knows all about those. Instead, LawBreakers takes place in a post-catastrophe world: Human experiments on the moon cause it to shatter, which triggers devastating earthquakes and breaks gravity in certain spots. Humanity rebuilds, bigger and better than ever, and then violent gangs begin to attack the new world. The LawBreakers are deployed to fight the gangs, using super-human supplements and special maneuvers made possible by the low-gravity zones.

LawBreakers is a free, class-based, multiplayer-focused shooter that appears to take cues from games like TitanFall and Battleborn, and it's due to launch in 2016 for undisclosed platforms. The game includes specific characters with unique abilities, such as the assassin, who has a double jump, Bleszinski and his colleagues at Boss Key revealed today in a live stream.

The game world is a mix of old and new: After the moon explodes and humanity attempts to rebuild, the US government is broke and sells off parcels of national land to the highest bidder. This is why, Bleszinkski explains, the Yakuza are able to set up shop on one edge of the Grand Canyon, surrounded by rocks floating in the low-gravity zones.

Boss Key promises a gameplay trailer for LawBreakers will drop on Friday at 9AM ET. For now, the cinematic announcement video shows a gorgeous new Earth under attack from the stars and citizens alike.