FragPunk is a brand-new first-person shooter that’s been developed by Bad Guitar Studio, a division of NetEase Games subsidiary Thunder Fire Studio. It’s a colorful hero shooter that pushes two five-player teams to battle it out against each.
The game’s closed alpha and beta tests previously happened in 2024, and after months of anticipation, FragPunk had a full-fledged PC launch on March 6 2025. While it’s still early to say whether or not the hero-shooter is making waves in the gaming industry, its art director has full confidence in the title.
Here’s what sets Fragpunk apart from the competition
While chatting with The Gamer, FragPunk art director Yiming Li opened up about the development of the title. According to him, Bad Guitar Studios wants to shake up the traditional tactical hero shooter space and elevate it to levels never seen before by gamers.
If one takes a Western look, it would be surprising to see a punk game coming out of China. After all, it’s a country that’s known for its centuries-old culture and obedience. However, according to Li, Chinese punk culture emerged in the country in the 1980s and 1990s.
But recently, as the culture is gradually opening up, more and more young people, especially young people, love to do punk things.
Li admits that not many people in that era knew about the concept of punk. Only a select few in the cities were familiar with the concept of punk. However, that’s not the case anymore, as Chinese culture is opening up, and more young people are getting into punk.
Currently, the influence of punk culture can be found in Chinese music, fashion, and graffiti. It’s not the same as Western punk, but with increased tourism and immigration, punk is flourishing in Chinese society. It’s this trend that Fragpunk wants to capture to establish itself as the top dog in the hero-shooter space.
FragPunk players are annoyed with monetization system
FragPunk features a number of mechanics, game modes, and maps that help it triumph over its competitors. However, gamers feel its monetization system is absolutely horrendous and needs a rework.
As FragPunk is a free-to-play game, it features a monetization system, but it has disappointed gamers. Currently, the title is sitting at “mixed” reviews on Steam, and players can’t understand why developers are bombarding them with microtransactions.
You’ll be shocked to know, but FragPunk has nine different currencies, and that’s quite insane for any game. That’s not the worst thing as well; the title features two separate premium battle passes, weapon and lancer skin cards, and even two separate memberships. It almost feels like the developer has crafted the game to sell weapon skins.
Alongside the horrific monetization practices, gamers are frustrated with the hero shooter’s movement mechanics. A number of reviews on Steam have voiced that the beta gameplay was much smoother and better, but now it’s literally unplayable.
Let’s hope that with upcoming updates, Bad Guitar Studios can address player concerns and bring the right fixes. Otherwise, it won’t be long before FragPunk becomes yet another generic hero shooter that’s plagued with microtransactions.
With that said, are you enjoying FragPunk? Let us know in the comments below.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
