Crossfire, The Debut Game From That No Moon, Wants To Revolutionize Cover Shooters

Going back to play games released decades ago is a strange experience, when you look back at the simple mechanics and level designs, I’m amazed at how far we’ve come. If developer That’s Not The Moon’s wishes prove true, his new game, Crossfire, will make us look at old cover shooters the same way.

That’s No Moon Crossfire revealed in the Summer Game Fest 2026 trailer — and yes, it’s set in the same universe as the 2007 first-person shooter of the same name that was popular in South Korea and China. But the new version is a big departure, ditching the Counter-Strike-style team competition for a narrative-heavy single-player adventure. If we look at the new technology that the studio is introducing in the game, there is a story that is more than a novel that awaits the players.

I joined other media on a tour of That’s No Moon’s office just north of Los Angeles International Airport. Part desk-filled work corral for the LA-based office of about 230 employees, part performance-capture studio for its show’s stars, the space feels functional but cozy. Facing the desks is a wall full of caricatures of developers; in the corridor behind it, signatures from voice actors and famous guests are scratched. Nearby is a sound stage, previously used to film the first and second Uncharted motion-capture games — and later, for Disney’s live-action The Lion King and TV show The Mandalorian, we’re told.

That was all part of the journey to convey the importance of That’s No Moon’s debut, which felt like a huge wrap in the preview. As we sat down in the theater, a tone of positive development continued, asserting that the studio’s game would herald a new era of third-person shooter combat. But when the developers showed a glimpse of the technology they’re using in the game to develop the next generation of cover shooters, I sat forward in my seat.

Think of cover shooters like Gears of War or the Uncharted series, and you’ll see an independent character lurking behind a box or barrier, relatively safe from enemy fire until he emerges to retaliate. How do you develop that brand? Activate the cover by updating the visibility rules. The presentation showed a visualization of the studio’s new system where light vectors extend above the character model like webs in a circular balloon, all indicating visibility — and as the character stumbles across an uneven rocky surface in an open space, the green vectors turn red one by one to show where they’ve been spotted by enemies.

This could free both developers to create the environment they want and players to explore the way they want. Instead of a fixed or hidden appearance of players from the boxes, navigating tunnel-like routes highlighted with yellow paint by developers, Tha’s No Moon technology empowers players to find their own routes, naturally moving forward in what appears to them as cover.

Naturally, this technology will first appear in Crossfire and in fact it could be one of the biggest things that separates the game from the familiar third-person shooters. The rest may end up being a story — but aside from the basic details, That’s No Moon was very shy of what happened in its original title. Here’s what we can say beyond the trailer for a game that has a lot of promise but no release date yet.

How to get caught in the crossfire

Crossfire stars two vigilantes with their own agendas who are uneasy allies despite being at the crossroads of ideologies. Layla Qassem, the player-controlled character in the game, strongly believes in changing the world, even though that conviction may cause chaos and anarchy. Non-player character Delroy Cross is a rival user who is forced to team up with Layla to fight an existential threat, while fighting for institutions and stability.

Layla is portrayed and voiced by Claudia Doumit (The Boys), while Cross is next and voiced by Ricky Whittle (American Gods). Eagle-eyed fans will recognize that they’ve seen these actors play these exact roles before — in episode 7 Amazon’s Secret Rate series, titled Crossfire: Good Conflict. The episode ends with ambiguous endings for each character, and it’s unclear if it will feed into the upcoming game.

From the vague descriptions of That’s No Moon, this unusual couple will become the core of a rich narrative as they grow closer under duress. They’ll also shoot the hell out of enemies in third-person stealth combat, choosing stealth over ferocious firepower to overcome the odds against superior forces. If the close-up of gruesome violence sounds familiar to fans of Uncharted and The Last of Us, many Naughty Dog developers make up That’s No Moon’s staff, including Chief Creative Officer Taylor Kurosaki.

“We love those tentpole games that are driven by one character, and it feels like they’ve become few and far between. We want to keep this art form relevant and functional,” said Kurosaki.

While those at the studio had tried both first- and third-person games, they found this to be quite emotional.

“In terms of creating that emotional connection between the actor and the character they’re playing, being able to see them on screen is the best thing you have [first-person shooter],” said Kurosaki.

The gameplay we saw in the live demo looked rough, with a heavy emphasis on stealth and guerilla combat. We saw several paths converge on a bridge over a rocky ravine where Layla and Cross had to face half a dozen enemies. There was meticulous maintenance, from taking armor plates to manually loading spare magazines to capturing supplies from downed enemies. Layla went down easily after a few seconds of continuous fire, and it took a lot of recoil to lose sight.

The new cover technology became apparent as Layla crawled over uneven rocks and boulders, and it wasn’t clear if she was outside of enemies, an uncertainty that would likely force players to make judgment calls in the moment. Without playing the mode myself, I couldn’t tell how much it would change my behavior — but without pre-coverage routes like most modern third-person shooters, I’d have to pay close attention to my surroundings lest I be picked off.

Difficulty pushes the player as Layla relies on her AI-controlled, tough partner, Cross. The need mixed with the clash of ideological disagreements leads to deep character moments.

“Everybody’s good, for the most part, they’re doing the best they can with their faults and mistakes,” Kurosaki said. “It’s not that he’s a bad person; it’s just that, hey, we disagree and let’s find a way forward.”

More details will come later, including the imminent threat that binds Layla and Cross in their uneasy alliance. What Tha’s No Moon wants to achieve is technological innovation that, hopefully, will immerse gamers in the single-player narrative more than previous games.

What it takes to reinvent the cover scanner: A new assembly-free studio… and old technology

In an interview with Kurosaki and Crossfire Game Director Jacob Minkoff, they made two things clear: Their new technology will set the game apart, and it was only possible to build it from scratch within a brand new company.

“We wouldn’t be able to do it if we were in an existing studio investing in other technologies, a team that was used to create games in a certain way,” said Kurosaki. “We had to relearn how to make games.”

Minkoff admitted that he is a “big Siggraph scholar,” citing the annual computer science conference where technical white papers are published. He recalled seeing a paper on facial neural networks 12 years ago, among other cool animation technologies, that could be used in third-person action-adventure games… but not. The Unreal Engine 5, powered by Crossfire, was the linchpin to get new ideas in the games, especially with its Nanite technology for more polygons in the objects and Lumen technology for lighting.

“I knew the technology was there to navigate the most complex environments, and no one was using it,” Minkoff said. “The existing teams have 25 years of investment in their technology stack and have very well-known brand names … it was very unlikely that they would take the risk of using that technology to create something new.”

Complex environments are another central pillar of Crossfire’s design ethos. In traditional game theory, players expect that objects in the environment can only be a certain height: ankle-high for anything that’s just walked, shiny for objects that need to be jumped, hip-high for things to bend behind, and so on. There are rarely things in between, so you don’t confuse the player or require more work.

But Tha’s No Moon is built around a wide range of heights and a system for characters to move and flatten themselves when hiding, which — combined with dynamic cover — theoretically allows players to move around Crossfire in ways they haven’t in previous games. It also removes target dots and other display features that distract players. What’s left is the path the player creates for themselves, and what they choose to hide behind. When the cover binary is removed, everything is covered.

“The experience I’m getting from playing this game that I’ve never had before is the way I’ve gone deeper into my analysis of my surroundings, the way I would if I was in real life in this situation,” said Minkoff, “because we’ve fully simulated the biomechanics of how a person moves in this environment.”

Such dedication to technical ideas is consistent with the singular focus of the game. Crossfire is single player, full stop, so there is no worry about adapting this technology to multiplayer. There are no microtransactions. There are no other modes.

“It’s really only in the single-player experience that you can be as innovative as we are. We have to make a complete game that has a beginning, a middle and an end, and has a good flow, and hangs together,” said Kurosaki. “For the players, they don’t have to have the edges trimmed and the modicum of innovation still associated with all of this. [other game modes] in this great universe. We can innovate all the way through.”