Cinder City, formerly Project LLL, received a gameplay trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025, showcasing what the highly anticipated post-apocalyptic MMO has in store. NCSoft announced Project LLL back in 2022 via a slow-paced trailer focused on gunplay and visuals. Fans eager to get their hands on the title haven’t heard much news since then, except for an official name change announcement to Cinder City earlier this week.
Cinder City is a narrative-driven open-world shooter MMORPG set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic version of Seoul, Korea. Built in Unreal Engine 5, the game features incredible graphics and smooth gunplay, which has been shown off in earlier sneak peeks. In addition to regular third-person shooting, past trailers for Cinder City have also featured mech suits and vehicles of various types, displaying how they diversify the experience. Though PvP remains a possibility, only PvE battles have been shown in the footage revealed so far, a likely indication of the game’s main focus.
At Gamescom ONL 2025, NCSoft revealed a new trailer for Cinder City, offering players another look into the post-apocalyptic world setting of the upcoming title as well as gameplay footage from various sections of the game. The trailer showed off multiple combat scenarios, including new gunplay sequences, fights in mech suits, flying in a helicopter, and driving land-bound vehicles. A release date for Cinder City was not included in the trailer, but it was confirmed that the title is in development for both PC and major consoles.
Additionally, the gameplay trailer showed off what looks like a raid boss fight, similar to what’s often seen in games like World of Warcraft. Dozens of players in mechs, helicopters, and vehicles gathered together in an attempt to take down a gigantic Godzilla-sized mech in an urban environment. The encounter appears to be a collective effort involving at least 10 players coming together for a single objective, presumably with significant rewards on the line. It’s unclear whether that was a world boss or an instanced fight, but it seems that Cinder City will feature multiplayer boss fights when it releases, judging by the trailer.
In addition to Cinder City, NCSoft also announced a new project called Time Takers at Gamescom ONL, a third-person team-based hero shooter that uses time itself as a survival mechanic and an upgrade resource. Both titles are third-person shooters, though drastically different in nature and scope. Fortunately, NCSoft has a long history of successful MMO launches, as evidenced by its lengthy catalog, which includes titles like Guild Wars, Aion, Lineage, and others.
