Survarium enters alpha phase, additional testers to be added in waves

Survarium, the free-to-play MMOFPS touted as the spiritual successor to STALKER 2, has entered its closed alpha testing phase, developer Vostok Games announced on the game's forums.

Invitations to the invite-only alpha have begun rolling out, according to a post from game project lead Ruslan Didenko. He states that 1,000 testers, including winners of the studio's previously-held cosplay and design contests, will be given access in first wave of testing.

Vostok's goal during alpha testing is to sustain 200 players on a single server for a full day. The developer will continue to send invites until 1000 players have responded, and will continue to add new participants in future waves.

According to the forum post, the alpha version will include only the team-based player-versus-player combat mode. Didenko calls this the "primitive version" of what will be the final vision for the mode, which will include more features in future builds. Players can participate as one of two factions: Scavengers or Black Market members. Players will also have access to a radar tool, 11 weapons, three different equipment sets for each faction, the game's zone-based damage system and a "draft version" of the game's user interface.

A tutorial demonstrating how to navigate this mode will be posted soon, according Didenko. A dedicated forum will also be available for alpha testers to share thoughts and report problems.

"Our task right now is to make sure the key game components (movement, shooting, synchronizing) work as expected," wrote Didenko.

Didenko noted that for the alpha version, gaining experience, money and ammo has been streamlined; players "should not experience a lack" of any of these during the test. The match-making system has also been tweaked to set up matches faster despite the small player pool.

More information on what testers can expect during the alpha test can be found on the Survarium forums.