[PREVIEW] Last Flag – New 5v5 Shooter That Lets You Hide Your Flag Anywhere

Last Flag is a new 5v5 shooter built around the classic idea of capture-the-flag, but the developers at Night Street Games have changed the formula in new ways. Instead of placing each team’s flag in a fixed base, the game allows you to hide your flag anywhere on your side of the map before the match begins. This alone makes the experience feel different from other shooters, because the opening minutes are about planning, hiding and guessing, instead of running straight toward the enemy.

What Is The Game About?

One of the key systems that supports this phase are the radar towers. These towers sit in specific points around the map, and teams can capture them just like control points in other games. Holding a radar tower gives your team information on where the enemy flag might be located. Because of this, radar towers become hot spots where fights break out again and again.

What makes this special is the fact that the teams must choose between guarding their hidden flag, chasing the enemy flag carrier, or fighting for these towers to gain more information. I decided to take a risk and search for the enemy flag alone while my teammates were busy fighting. Regrettably, my team was performing poorly, which just proves this idea might not always work.

Despite this, I successfully located the flag and slipped out of the enemy base. The game then immediately alerts everyone when the flag is picked up and marks the carrier’s position on the map. Furthermore, carrying the flag disables all abilities, limiting you to the basic movement. Sadly, I quickly died after and then the enemy team immediately began spawn camping us, which was extremely frustrating. The fundamental reason we lost was a lack of coordination necessary to repel the enemy’s aggressive push, which means that teamwork is essential to avoid an easy defeat.

The game’s matches are fairly short, usually lasting between eight and twenty minutes. It is long enough to allow teams to make a plan and adjust their strategy, but short enough to keep the game fun and not boring. When a player is taken out, they are not forced to wait long before coming back. They are pulled off the map in a vacuum-tube style animation and then appear in a green room where they quickly re-enter the action.

Interesting Cast of Characters

Night Street Games has created a cast of characters called Contestants. Every Contestant brings a different playstyle. Some are fast scouts who can slip behind the enemy team and search for hidden flags. Others have heavy weapons suited for defending radar towers or protecting their own hidden flag. Some focus on support abilities that help the team move together or survive fights. Although the full roster is not yet revealed, the demo already shows how each Contestant adds something unique to the team.

What stands out immediately when playing or watching Last Flag is its visual identity. The entire game is built around a colorful 1970s game-show theme. It uses bright colors, retro shapes and a mix of playful sound effects to create a world that feels very different from most modern shooters. Since the studio was co-founded by members of Imagine Dragons, music plays a bigger role. Instead of the usual military mood found in many shooters, Last Flag feels like a strange television competition where teams fight for fame and fun more than for war or survival.

As with any multiplayer-only shooter, the long-term success will depend heavily on how many people keep playing it after release. Games built around teamwork and strategy can be frustrating if matchmaking becomes slow or if teams become unbalanced. The concern is understandable because many multiplayer titles release with great ideas but struggle to keep a stable player base. If Last Flag does not keep enough players online, it may become hard to enjoy the game as the developers intended.

Another challenge is balance. The freedom to hide the flag anywhere is exciting, but it also opens the door for strategies that might slow down the game. Some players may decide to place the flag in very hard-to-reach locations, specifically bug it out. If radar towers become too important, matches may turn into constant fights over the same points. The developers will need to pay close attention to how often teams hide flags in unfair or unreachable spots and how players use radar towers in the long term.

Is It Worth Playing?

Because the game is still in development and planned for release in 2026, it is too early to say how strong the final version will be. What we know is that Night Street Games has said they want to avoid aggressive live-service practices, and they aim to include the full set of maps and characters at launch. Still, long-term support is a question. For a competitive team-based shooter to survive, it needs regular updates, new maps, new characters and good communication from the developers. If this support is good, Last Flag could grow into a lively multiplayer game. If updates are slow or inconsistent, the game might lose momentum.

In general, Last Flag is built on solid concepts and proves to be very fun after the initial learning curve. However, in the brutally competitive multiplayer shooter market, audience engagement is everything. Without a dedicated player base, the game’s lifespan could be quite short. It needs to secure promotion from larger streamers and content creators to build the necessary momentum for survival.