This is huge! I got an early look at a major AAA single-player shooter from Tencent.

At the recently concluded Summer Game Fest, *CrossFire: Covert Operations*, a AAA single-player narrative game published by Tencent, finally made its debut.

Based on the information that has been disclosed, *CrossFire: Covert* is a AAA-tier single-player stealth shooter developed jointly by the up-and-coming studio “That’s No Moon” and Smilegate. The game is based on the “CF” IP and built using the UE5 engine.

The two key creators at developer That’s No Moon are no strangers to the industry. CEO Taylor and Game Director Jacob have previously worked on numerous AAA titles, including *Uncharted 3* and *Call of Duty 16: Modern Warfare*, holding key roles such as Lead Designer, Narrative Director, and Design Director.

On the left is Taylor; on the right is Jacob

Normally, the announcement of a new single-player game wouldn’t cause much of a stir among gamers, but when you put “Tencent,” “AAA,” “single-player buy-to-play,” and “CF” all together, it leaves you feeling completely baffled, like, “Whoa, what on earth is going on here?”

In fact, this standalone CF game didn’t just “come out of nowhere.” At last year’s CF Carnival, hints about this mysterious new title had already been dropped, with officials stating that it would be a single-player narrative title exploring the origins of the CF IP.Xu Guang, General Manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment’s K1 Partnership Department, candidly remarked: “The grand narrative of the IP is constrained by the competitive nature of single-match PvP. Therefore, leveraging Tencent’s accumulated strengths in gameplay, technology, localization, and global expansion, we have the confidence to explore new avenues.”

It could be said that *CrossFire: Covert Operations* is more of an attempt by Tencent to push the boundaries of IP expansion—a necessary product born at the right time.

So here’s the question: what’s this game really like? I know you’re all eager to find out, but let me be the one to build the suspense for now. Prior to this, Teahouse was invited to a closed-door briefing for *CrossFire: Covert Operations*, where we got an early look at the gameplay demo and had a chat with two of the lead developers.

All I can say is, this game is the real deal!

01

Reimagined

To discuss just how good this game is, let’s first take a look back at the many details hidden in the first trailer.

The opening of the PV spends a significant amount of time showcasing the realistic world created by the UE5 engine.For example, the interior scenes feature irregular, weathered wooden ceilings and mottled walls, with beams of light streaming in and creating a distinct Tyndall effect. The corpses of soldiers lying nearby contrast with the bloodstains on the ground, delivering a cinematic experience with an incredibly strong sense of immersion.

High-quality visuals are one of the standout features of *CrossFire: Covert Operations*. A strong narrative requires a high degree of immersion, and the realistic visual impact easily draws players into the game from the very beginning.This is demonstrated throughout the trailer, such as when the male and female protagonists evade a helicopter pursuit, with visual shifts caused by the sweeping spotlight and dynamic effects of leaves swirling beneath the rotor blades; in certain large, open scenes, the intricate rendering of rock textures and the desolate atmosphere created by dilapidated urban architecture.

Further on, the massive underground structures and the protagonist’s stealth abilities seem to establish the game’s sci-fi setting, while a series of combat demos further cement this as a “stealth shooter”—especially the incredibly natural and fluid transitions between cover positions (take note: this will be on the test later).

As a side note, the motion capture for both main characters was performed by well-known actors. The male lead, Ricky Whittle, played Shadow in *American Gods*, while the female lead, Claudia Doumit, may be more familiar to players,having previously played the character Newman in the hit series *The Boys* (considering Hugh Jackman is also working his butt off in the game next door, this feels like a bit of a *Boys* reunion).

This is why, in the trailer, both the fluidity of the protagonist’s movements and the quality of the character models are so impressive. Thanks to the power of the UE5 engine, at least in terms of the visual experience offered by the current trailer, *CrossFire: Covert* definitely ranks among the top tier of games.

Now that we’ve covered the visuals, it’s time to take a look at the gameplay.

To be honest, when it comes to narrative-driven single-player shooters, the first thing that comes to mind is the *Call of Duty* series. I originally thought *CrossFire: Covert* would also be a thrilling, action-packed game that relies on big spectacle and story-driven plot progression,but it wasn’t until I saw the subsequent gameplay demos that I realized *CrossFire: Covert* might be trying something different.

Another major feature of *CrossFire: Covert* is tactical stealth shooting. To support this gameplay, the development team has created an industry-first “adaptive cover system”—as demonstrated multiple times in the trailer—where players move forward in a low stance with their arms braced against the ground,switching from a crab walk to a crouching sprint, and slowly circling around cover.

Prior to this, most TPS cover designs were treated more like a gameplay toggle: staying behind cover meant safety, while stepping out meant danger.

In the demo for *CrossFire: Covert Operations*, cover not only serves a functional purpose in gameplay but also blends naturally into the environment.To give a simple example, in terrain littered with boulders, players can have their character lie down at any time to use nearby protruding rocks as cover, and even crawl forward to navigate complex terrain with ease.This means players no longer need to deliberately search for fixed cover; instead, they can freely choose suitable obstacles based on their surroundings.

In addition, thanks to the excellent design of the animation modules, transitions in cover mode are incredibly smooth, rather than forced, jarring cutscenes.Based on the character’s current position and the surrounding environment, they will perform various subtle actions such as ducking, crouching, or sidestepping. Furthermore, regardless of their distance from cover, the character will automatically adjust their posture based on the enemy’s line of sight, further enhancing the player’s immersion.

Since this is a stealth game, the primary purpose of cover is to create the right opportunity for players to land a fatal blow. In the demo, thanks to this adaptive cover system, players don’t have to wait for a specific moment to carry out an assassination; instead, they can actively maneuver around cover like “Qin Wang Rào Zhù” to launch their attacks.It’s easy to imagine just how many unexpected new approaches this unique cover system will bring to the art of assassination—a gameplay style that typically leans toward a “sit-and-wait” approach.

In addition to stealth and assassination, I’ve discovered quite a few unexpected highlights—for instance, the game’s companions aren’t just there for show. While it’s still unclear whether the game will feature dual protagonists or simply provide support, the demo showed that the male protagonist, while in stealth mode, can indeed work together with the female protagonist to pull off some interesting teamwork moves.

In summary, the game features resource management, strategic planning, stealth assassination, and tactical movement. This ensures that *CrossFire: Covert* isn’t confined to any specific playstyle, allowing players to choose freely based on their preferences and the current state of the battle.You can certainly choose to go all-out and mow down everyone in your path, or you can opt for a stealthy approach and survive by lying low. You can even take the initiative and use the cover system to eliminate your enemies one by one.

Clearly, *CrossFire: Covert* has moved beyond the confines of traditional competitive PVP gameplay in the *CrossFire* series and is venturing further into the vast market of international AAA single-player games.

02

Innovation

After watching the live demo, the Tea House team also engaged in an in-depth discussion with the two lead developers, gaining a deeper understanding of the game’s development and core concepts.

From the outset, *CrossFire: Covert* was conceived as a purely single-player, narrative-driven tactical shooter; AAA-quality production, narrative-driven storytelling, and single-player shooting are the two core creators’ areas of expertise.As a result, compared to traditional action-packed shooters, *CrossFire: Covert* offers an experience that leans more toward strategic decision-making, featuring innovations and improvements across various aspects such as stealth, combat, storytelling, and action.

In addition, thanks to the power of the UE5 engine, adaptive cover systems have emerged to handle complex environments. The underlying logic behind this design is to enable ordinary players to move with the same precision and discipline as trained soldiers.

In traditional hardcore military simulation games, players often have to manually select cover positions within the environment. However, the adaptive cover system automatically handles complex physics-based positioning, allowing players to focus more on analyzing the environment and choosing the right spots, rather than mechanically searching for cover “a mile away.”From another perspective, this design also lowers the barrier to entry for hardcore cover mechanics, making it easier for a broader audience to experience the appeal of this genre.

During the demo, I noticed a very interesting detail: when a character’s center of gravity is effectively shielded by cover, even if just an elbow or a small portion of the top of their head is exposed, enemies won’t easily spot them.The enemy detection logic appears to have been specifically adjusted to align with the player’s gameplay behavior. The benefit of this design is that it prevents the cover-snapping animations from appearing too stiff, while also ensuring the character isn’t riddled with bullets just for exposing a small part of their body.

The right balance of tension and challenge will also encourage players to actively use the adaptive cover system, turning it into a tactical advantage through strategic thinking and skillful gameplay.

In addition, as a single-player game that prioritizes narrative immersion, *CrossFire: Covert Operations* features an intriguing dual-protagonist setup. The most well-known aspect of the original *CrossFire* IP is its design of two distinct factions; while their ideologies differ, neither is inherently right or wrong, which creates a perfectly balanced setting for conflict.

The “Defender” logo on the male lead’s shirt

As you can see, the two main characters, Laila and Cross, aren’t simply partners in the game; instead, due to opposing factions and a deadly threat, they’re forced to form a temporary alliance—part enemies, part allies—to face a series of life-or-death challenges together.

This fragile sense of distrust easily sparks dramatic plot twists, offering players a refreshingly unexpected experience. On a narrative level, it quickly shatters players’ preconceived notions about the original CF IP, thereby opening up a world of new possibilities.

03

Layout

In hindsight, the release of *CrossFire: Undercover* was actually no surprise.

If you’ve paid even a little attention to Tencent’s moves in the AAA gaming sector in recent years, you’ll notice that its presence has long been felt around the globe—from investing in top-tier single-player developers like Remedy and Larian, to acquiring stakes in Ubisoft,Game Science, and partnering with Lingyoufang to launch *Shadow Blade Zero*, right up to the fact that Tencent’s investment logo appears at nearly every major game launch event—the “Tencent-backed AAA” ecosystem has quietly spread like a vast, hidden network.Most of the time, it operates behind the scenes—as a financier, a parent company, and that unassuming presence where “you can always spot Tencent’s shadow.”

But what sets *CrossFire: Undercover* apart is that—this time, Tencent isn’t just the one footing the bill.

Developed by That’s No Moon, based on the CrossFire IP, powered by the Unreal Engine 5, and positioned for the global market—this is a AAA narrative single-player shooter…This title marks Tencent’s transition from “investing in AAA” to “participating in AAA.” No longer content with being a behind-the-scenes financier, the company is now leveraging one of its most established IPs—with an 18-year track record and a massive user base—to directly compete in the global market for top-tier single-player games.

It’s clear that the market for AAA single-player games is crowded and cutthroat, and this certainly won’t be an easy road—but at the very least, this step is something to look forward to.