In The Headliners, players step into the role of field journalists navigating a version of New York under siege. The mission is clear: find the truth, document it, and survive long enough to deliver the evidence. You begin each outing with a press pass and a camera, entering unstable districts where buildings lean, alarms echo, and movement in the shadows suggests you’re not alone. Exploration requires careful pacing. The goal isn’t combat or escape—it’s observation under pressure, where what you choose to capture defines what others will know.
Coverage With Consequences
Every team member contributes to the success or failure of the assignment. Some focus on documenting destruction, others search for signs of alien activity, while a few keep watch for anything approaching. The choice of what to photograph and when to retreat becomes more difficult as conditions worsen. The creatures react to presence, and your visibility increases with every flash. Capturing rare events or up-close encounters raises the value of your footage, but doing so places everyone at greater risk. Each moment forces a trade-off between exposure and impact.
Access Earned Through Evidence
Back at base, the photos are judged. Only those that hold clear proof or emotional weight receive publication. Published work earns more press passes—without them, further access is denied. The pressure to produce never drops, even as the danger increases. There are no guaranteed outcomes, only a cycle of deployment, capture, and review. The Headliners replaces traditional survival mechanics with one centered on documentation. Every decision, every frame, feeds back into whether the next mission will even be possible.
