Lemnis Gate
Lemnis Gate was a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Ratloop and published by Frontier Foundry. It was released on September 28, 2021 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It was also published to Xbox Game Pass on its first day of release as well. The game featured players taking turns in competitive multiplayer matches to complete 25 second runs with characters as they attempt to complete objectives. Each player's turn stacked on top of previous rounds, causing players to think critically over the best strategy to take in a given situation to win as previous loops continue. Reception to the game was generally favorable, with critics praising its interesting take on first-person shooter mechanics and the injection of a new layer of strategy into the genre. The game's multiplayer servers were shut down on July 11, 2023, with reporters noting the game's low player count and that it is shut down during a wave of similar live service game failures. Gameplay 

Lemnis Gate was a turn-based first-person shooter with timeloop and hero shooter elements. Games are either 1v1 or 2v2, and the standard game mode, "Seek and Destroy", involved having one side defend five "resistors" at different points on the map while the other side attacked them. On each turn, the first player or team chose an operative (one of six characters with different abilities) and completed an action in a 25-second loop. The other player or team then completed their own 25-second loop. Previous operatives automatically carried out the actions that the player inputted for them in previous loops, and later operatives could disrupt the actions that they take in order to stop them from completing objectives. One reviewer gave an example of how the loops affected gameplay: their operative was able to damage an opponent's character enough from an earlier loop that it caused a cascading effect, allowing them to eliminate all of the previously looped operatives to squeak out a draw from a match because of the butterfly effect. Games could quickly devolve into puzzle-solving sessions, as players strategize over the best operative to choose and the best strategy to take in a given situation to score the most points. The game included a tutorial area which allows players to try out the different skillsets of the operatives before playing, but the game quickly pushes players into online matches. Development 
The development of Lemnis Gate was inspired by conversations that started in 2015, and development began in earnest in the middle of 2017 according to developer Ratloop's blog. The developers felt that there was a large amount of competition in the first-person shooter space and wanted to create a something with a unique take to attract players. The team decided to incorporate a time loop mechanic because they felt it would "bring something fresh to the table," according to game director James Anderson. The game originally had a larger tutorial, but after Ratloop tested it with players, found that people were not interested in going through a lengthy intro before getting to play the game. A bug during development had previous characters not being properly destroyed, leading to the game having sometimes hundreds of characters spawning and causing chaos. The title of the game refers to the lemniscate, a mathematical curve that loops in on itself like a figure-eight. The game was also released on Xbox Game Pass at the same time as its general release. Before its release, the game was delayed by a month by Ratloop to its eventual release date in September. Reception
Reception to the game was generally favorable according to Metacritic, with critics praising its unique take on the hero shooter genre while sometimes criticizing its complexity. PC Gamer's Robert Zak felt that the game made familiar concepts from other first-person shooters interesting and fresh again, noting that the game "could prove an ever-swirling timesink for shooter fans with a cerebral side." Rock Paper Shotguns Matt Cox felt differently, saying that the game's often ended up being very evenly matched and that the last person to go would often win. In a mixed review, NMEs Jim Trinca felt that though the game's concept is interesting and that its ideas are brilliant, the first-person shooter mechanics that underpinned it were "underwhelming." IGN Italy'''s Di Angelo Bianco echoed Trinca's thoughts, noting that the game's underlying concept made up for some of the lack of personality its setting and characters exhibited. The game was on a GameSpot list which highlighted the highest-ranked first-person shooters on Metacritic from 2021. Server shutdown 
After failing to meet player count and sales expectations, Ratloop announced that the game would be delisted from all digital storefronts on April 11, 2023, with multiplayer servers shutting down on July 11. Console players can play a very limited form of the game via local multiplayer and the game's training modes, while gamers who purchased the game on PC are unable to play the title at all after its July shutdown. PC players asked the developers in the comments of the shutdown announcement to enable local multiplayer but the developers did not respond. Eurogamer's Vikki Blake noted that stats from Steam showed that the game peaked with only 802 concurrent players on the service, and that it struggled to have a dozen players at the time of the server announcement, highlighting a clear reason for the shutdown. Gameindustry.biz's James Batchelor and Push Square's Stephen Tailby noted that the title's failure is among a wave of several online and live service game shutdowns in 2023, continuing a market trend. Game Developer'''s Justin Carter said that the game was joining "2023's multiplayer graveyard." References

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2021 video games
Asymmetrical multiplayer video games
Competitive games
Cooperative games
First-person shooter multiplayer online games
First-person shooters
Frontier Developments games
Hero shooters
Multiplayer online games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 5 games
Ratloop games
Video games developed in Canada
Windows games
Xbox One games
Xbox Series X and Series S games