Survios, the studio behind Raw Data (2017) and Creed: Rise to Glory (2018), is getting their upcoming nautical battler Battlewake into ship-shape for this weekend, which marks the beginning of the game’s closed beta.
Update (July 17th, 2019): Battlewake is headed into closed beta this weekend, going from July 19th to the 21st.
The closed beta is set to start at 12 PM PT on Friday (local time here), and will run through 11:59 PM PT on Sunday (local time here).
Beta signups are now open, and will be available until 12 PM PT on July 18th; you can sign up here.
Survios says in a Steam news update that the Battlewake closed beta will feature a single playable game mode—Warfare, a cooperative, progressive gauntlet that supports up to four players. The original article announcing the game follows below:
Original Article (May 7th, 2019): The game gives you a choice between a few armed, upgradeable warships, which you captain as one of four heroes.
The ships themselves include 13 different mounted weapons such as cannons, ballistae, axe-throwers and ultimate attacks, making for a variable frenzy of explosions as you maneuver your ship to get the best shot on your enemy—or just ram straight into them if you want. Maybe not the Kraken though. That’s best left up to your heavy ranged attacks.
Battlewake allows a single player aboard each ship, and can be played in PvE, PvP or in two-player co-op mode (one person per ship) against the magical beasties of the high seas.
The campaign is said to feature 20 chapters, and upon completion of each mission you’re given in-game gold to spend on leveling up your player skill and outfitting your ship.
Survios has been a stalwart in creating new and unique locomotion styles, building for Battlewake what they call their ‘Immersive Vehicle System’, which uses adaptive physics and peripheral effects subsystems so you’re not sloshing about haphazardly even when the tides swell.
And they do swell; water is reactive to things like shockwaves, giant whirlpools created from ultimates, tidalwaves and maelstroms.
In addition to the release for at-home VR headsets, Battlewake will also be available across multiple VR arcades, something Survious says will outfit a combat party of up to 10 players.
The studio still isn’t talking specific platforms yet, however when I tried it at GDC 2019, the demo was shown on an Oculus Rift. The game is also headed into closed beta soon, and you’ll notice on the form that the following devices are listed: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PSVR, Oculus Quest and ‘other’.
Sign-ups for the closed beta begin today, so head on over to Battlewake.com to punch in your email address, region, and preferred system.
Make sure to check out our latest hands-on with Battlewake.