Tencent Unveils 3A Single-Player CrossFire: Lurk at 18th Anniversary Carnival

At the CrossFire 18th anniversary carnival held in Jinan, the new 3A single-player title CrossFire: Lurk was showcased to domestic players for the first time. The publisher released two new videos: one featuring Chief Creative Officer Taylor discussing creative philosophy, and another depicting a dialogue between the two protagonists that reveals their relationship. The title shifts toward third-person shooting, character narrative and a 3A-grade single-player experience, reorganizing how the IP communicates with players.

CrossFire: Lurk is developed by That's No Moon, a studio founded in 2021, which received approximately $100 million in strategic investment from Smilegate in the year of its founding. Taylor, a core figure on the team, and Game Director Jacob have collaborated for 18 years, having previously worked together at Naughty Dog and Infinity Ward, contributing to projects including Uncharted, The Last of Us and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The two specialize in character narrative and gameplay technology respectively.

The core design of the game is an adaptive cover system. Traditional third-person shooters typically place neat low walls and crates as cover, allowing players to anticipate where combat will occur. CrossFire: Lurk removes such obvious cues; rocks, slopes, ruins and uneven natural terrain all provide cover, with characters dynamically adjusting their movements based on terrain and enemy positions. Players can switch among stealth, engagement, disengagement and re-ambush. The two protagonists come from opposing factions and are forced to travel together in a numerically disadvantaged environment; players must use terrain and their companion to conduct guerrilla tactics, experiencing the process of building trust through mutual cover and rescue.

Taylor stated during ChinaJoy 2026 that this was his third visit to China since 2024. He observed a cluster of domestic single-player projects at the event, including a war-themed shooter. Taylor, who was long involved in Call of Duty development, said that title reminded him of the war narrative of early Call of Duty games. He also noted that Black Myth: Wukong's recognition among Chinese and overseas players demonstrates the growing diversity of Chinese players' demands. Taylor believes single-player games and long-running live-service products do not compete with one another; players can invest long-term in online games while also experiencing single-player adventures with clear beginnings and endings.

In development, That's No Moon employs photogrammetry technology, traveling to Morocco and California to capture real-world environments. The team designs levels based on complex natural terrain forms from the real world, rather than the traditional pipeline of building simple geometric shapes first and embellishing them later. Taylor explained that the adaptive cover system serves narrative pressure: the two protagonists must rely on their environment and cooperation due to numerical disadvantage. The game uses Unreal Engine 5's Nanite and Lumen technologies to construct highly complex environments, and the first reveal trailer was rendered entirely in real time by the engine with no pre-rendered footage. A longer core gameplay demonstration will be released in the future.