Cinder City is an open-world tactical shooter with MMO elements in development at BigFire Games, with a PC release announced and a Steam wishlist open. NCSoft says its August 2026 North American pre-alpha test drew about 7,000 players, and an alpha test is planned for the end of the year in North America, Europe, and Asia, including Japan.
Cinder City has moved from a demo build to a game with a storefront presence and a public test schedule. The Steam page opened on July 1, 2026, alongside a Developer Preview video with lead concept artist Samuel King and project manager GH Shin showing gameplay, and an official website and Discord opened with Steam wishlist registration. That store page framed the game as an open-world cinematic third-person shooter built in Unreal Engine 5, with cooperative PvE content, tactical gear like drones and stealth equipment, and vehicles including motorcycles, power loaders, and aircraft. NCSoft's development studio BigFire Games is the credited developer, and the game is planned as a PC release.
The setting and premise have stayed consistent across the stories. Cinder City is set in a dystopian near-future Seoul where mutants and criminal organizations have wrecked the city, and players take the role of super soldiers called Cinder Knights who fight to reclaim it. The Steam listing also names the story setup: protagonist Seven is on a mission to rescue his daughter Joy. The Hive groups, mutants, and enemy forces are the stated opposition, and listed content includes story and side missions, dynamic events, field bosses, instance dungeons, and massive field raids.
Public playtesting got a clearer shape in the fall. NCSoft vice president James Bae, speaking to 4Gamer, described a three-day pre-alpha test in North America in August 2026 with about 7,000 players, and said NCSoft used that feedback to rework the game's difficulty design. Bae also described the collapsed Seoul setting as modeled on Samseong-dong and Nonhyeon-dong. The next test is an alpha planned for the end of the year across North America, Europe, and Asia, including Japan, widening the feedback pool to three regions.
Between the store page and the alpha plans, NCSoft used gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 to release new footage. The trailer, shown during the broadcast in Cologne, Germany, depicts a woman recording the moment the world collapses on a typewriter, and points at a cinematic, story-driven side of the game plus an unsettling conspiracy in the narrative. Cinder City had been playable at G-STAR 2025 as a solo campaign, later described as a well-crafted single-player experience akin to a packaged game. No release window has been disclosed.
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NCSoft vice president James Bae discussed Cinder City in a 4Gamer interview, describing the open-world MMO tactical shooter set in a collapsed Seoul modeled on Samseong-dong and Nonhyeon-dong. A three-day pre-alpha test ran in North America in August 2026 with about 7,000 players, and an alpha test is planned for the end of the year across North America, Europe, and Asia, including Japan.
At gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, NCsoft released new footage for Cinder City, an open-world multiplayer TPS developed by BigFire Games. The trailer, shown during the broadcast in Cologne, Germany, depicts a woman recording the moment the world collapses on a typewriter. The game is set in a near-future Seoul, South Korea, where dystopian control prevails and a scientific disaster causes creatures to mutate. Players take on the role of super soldiers called Cinder Knights, fighting enemy forces to reclaim the ruined city. The footage also teases an unsettling conspiracy woven into the narrative. Cinder City was previously showcased at G-STAR 2025, where it was playable as a solo campaign described as a well-crafted single-player experience akin to a packaged game. The title is described as an open-world tactical shooter with MMO elements, and it is planned as a PC release. Details on a release window remain undisclosed in the new footage.
NC's development studio BigFire Games opened the Steam store page for its upcoming open-world cinematic third-person shooter CINDER CITY on July 1, 2026. The game is set in a dystopian near-future Seoul destroyed by mutants and criminal organizations. Players take the role of super soldiers called Cinder Knights, each with different abilities, and fight to reclaim the ruined city. The story follows protagonist Seven on a mission to rescue his daughter Joy. A new Developer Preview video was released alongside the store page, featuring lead concept artist Samuel King and project manager GH Shin showing actual gameplay footage. The video highlights the ruined Seoul setting, story-driven missions, and open-world-based PvE multiplayer. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5 and centers on large-scale cooperative PvE content where players team up to face enemies including the Hive groups, mutants, and enemy forces. Players can use tactical gear such as drones and stealth equipment, as well as vehicles like motorcycles, power loaders, and aircraft. Content includes story missions, side missions, dynamic events, field bosses, instance dungeons, and massive field raids. The official website was also revamped, and an official Discord server launched. Wishlist registration is now open on Steam, with a release scheduled soon.