Umbra Warriors.

I admit at face value the name sounds a bit dorky, but there is so much beneath the surface. The name derives from two particular concepts for this game.

Umbra refers to "shadow," and this is because the players act as the spiritual shadow that empowers characters who take part in battle (it sounds weird, but it will make more sense later). Naturally, if there are battles, you need "warriors" to participate.

Thus, this is how you get the name Umbra Warriors. Simple, right?

The game is part of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. The MOBA genre entails players controlling their individual character as part of a team to play against another group doing the same.

A common theme in MOBA is pitting teams to go against each other with an objective in mind. For instance, let's say the goal of a MOBA is to destroy the "main" structure for the opposing team. Though this sounds straightforward on paper, the caveat varies from game to game.

Every MOBA title brings in their unique characters, mechanics and other components. It is not surprising when two MOBA titles are vastly different despite being in the same gaming realm.

As I said before, I'll break this further down as we go. It can be a lot to take in all at once without some more context.

Well, over the years, many games in just this genre come and go. Some make a splash for the playerbase, some even enjoy some relevance in the esport scene, but they can slowly fade into obscurity if another game ends up more popular. It happens. No matter how good games are, players are always looking for the next title that will maintain their interest.

It's a constant war of sorts among gaming companies to put together the next big title to last as long as possible. For Hope Catalyst, Umbra Warriors' game developer, the company knew it had to throw in some twists to stand out from its competitors.

For one thing, every playable character in the game, referred to as Warriors, are all female. Yup, girl power to the extreme. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They can vary wildly in their race, which includes humans, elves, monsters and other creatures.

All of them embody various traits, personalities and bring different strategies to the table with their abilities. You have lots of common elements that run the gamut. Some Warriors fight with brute force. Some use magic to attack their opponents. Some rely on supportive skills to heal or protect their allies. Like any good game out there, there is something for just about everyone and then some.

Unlike most MOBA titles that use a 5v5 system, Umbra Warriors opted for 4v4 instead. One of the most intricate aspects of team strategy is selecting an ideal combination of Warriors. You want to form a strong squad of four characters who can work well together against the opposing team. Figuring out which Warrior works best for what the team wants (and determining whether they can complement their tactics) can get quite elaborate.

As an example, here is one of the Warriors players can choose from called Cerulea, the Mystic Mermaid.

Being a mermaid, Cerulea unsurprisingly uses water as the source of her magic on the battlefield. Her main focus is to be a "disruptive mage" to control the tide of battle. She can utilize the water to move friend and foe alike at her will.

However, because of how she functions, Cerulea is best used as part of the Support class in the game. Her water magic brings a lot of utility to the table, but she will not necessarily overwhelm the enemy team in terms of damage output. Besides, her water magic can be a double-edged sword.

Used correctly, Cerulea can shift scenarios in her team's favor. Maybe you use her water magic to push enemies toward your teammates for a combo play. But misused, the opposite can happen as the water magic can mess up situations as well. Perhaps you misplay and end up shoving the intended target away from your teammates.

In other words, Cerulea requires some finesse to maximize her effectiveness. Going back to the notion of the players being the "shadow" for the Warriors, an Umbra is you - the player. You are giving the Warrior the power to take part in the battle on an epic map that holds all of this 4v4 goodness in all of its glory. Being the Umbra means the Warrior can have their full potential gradually unlocked as the game unfolds.

As you can see, this is just one of many characters currently available in Umbra Warriors to play. I still have not even explained the real meat and potatoes of the game just yet, but I promise to do so as necessary.

Hope Catalyst wanted to market this game toward the female crowd, which is why the main pro scene wants to center itself around the female playerbase (again, male gamers can play the regular game, but they cannot compete in the main pro scene).

The company envisioned a game where pro female gamers could go at it using the strongest female characters in all of gaming, or something like that.

There is a lot to unpack here, but I can assure you I love playing Umbra Warriors because it is a load of fun to get into when you really get the hang of the game.

It may be a game called Umbra Warriors, but to me, it's called EVERYTHING.