Open World Multiplayer Tactics Game DREADLANDS Launches Into Open Beta
Am I covering Dreadlands just because it has Dread in the title? Or am I covering it because I’m a sucker for post-apocalypse games? WRONG! It’s because I’m a sucker for tactics games. X-COM, Fire Emblem, anything with a grid and infuriating percentages. Even my favorite strategy games are the more tactical ones (JUST FUCKING MAKE DAWN OF WAR II AGAIN FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST). However, it is very difficult to make multiplayer tactics games. A lot of tactics games is learning the AI’s behavior and maximizing your play against it. When you throw other players into the mix, it generally devolves into figuring out the cheesiest way abuse whatever mechanic is most broken. Still, the appeal of customizing your ideal gang of badasses and squaring off against other gangs to find out who’s top dog has obvious appeal. Especially when your gang is a bunch of post-apocalyptic raiders.
Well, Dreadlands‘ developers Blackfox Studio’s is looking to mix tactics with multiplayer, but also make it kind of an MMO. Taking place in a large open world, players will frequently run into each other. It’s up to them to decide whether to duke it out or be on their merry way. If I know anything about multiplayer games, that will 99% of the time mean someone gets ganked. Here’s more info on the game from the Official Press Release:
Independent developer Fatshark today announced that the Beta of Blackfox Studios’ Dreadlands is available for everybody that signed up to participate.
Dreadlands is a turn-based skirmish game set in a living post-apocalyptic shared world. Explore Dreadlands by travelling across its many regions with your misfit gang of miscreants and mercenaries. The game is set in a Shared World where players frequently encounter and interact with each other. Sometimes they cooperate, other times they pick fights in bloody PvP battles.
“We are extremely excited to roll out the Beta and we can’t wait to see people take their first fledgling steps in the weird and wondrous world of Dreadlands.” says Peter Nilsson, Founder, and Creative Director Blackfox Studios.
It makes sense they are taking the open-beta approach with Dreadlands. As I said before, making one of these games requires an absurd amount of balance testing. It’s the kind of thing you can’t reasonably do with a small QA team. That being said, this beta isn’t just a glorified playtest. This also marks the kickoff of their first PvP Season. Squaring off against all the other players, the winner’s team will become characters in the main game. Imagine if every beta gave you the shot at becoming a raid boss! More information on the beta from the Press Release:
The beta will give the players a chance to choose between two gang factions in the Dreadlands, and explore 15 different chapters. It will also give the player the chance to participate in the first-ever PvP Season of Dreadlands, where the winner will get immortalized in the Dreadlands as their Gang will be featured as NPC’s in the Main Campaign.
You can participate for free right now by heading to the Dreadlands site and subscribing to their newsletter. After you subscribe, a Steam code will be sent to you. So for the price of free and the chance to be part of the game, why not give it a shot?
