Hi-Rez's new shooter Rogue Company is now in paid beta

Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of Smite and Tribes: Ascend, today launched their latest multiplayer game. Rogue Company is a class-based, third-person shooter which, from what I've seen, looks like an arcade-y kinda Counter-Strike thing. Not quite sure. Here's the launch trailer which makes the game look like something entirely different.

And here's a gameplay vid from a few days ago which actually shows what it is:

So there you see a round-based where you can items and upgrades at the start of the round, then head out to attack or defend two bomb sites. Then each character has their own active ability, everyone is dodge-rolling around, you can revive downed folks, and it looks a bit arcadier than CS in general. Nothing about it grabs me. But Hi-Rez don't say much about the game, so I'll not go guessing at more without playing it myself.

Rogue Company does support cross-platform multiplayer, letting PC peeps play with pals on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. Which, y'know, you couldn't with CS or Valorant or such.

You can buy early access to Rogue Company from the Epic Games Store. It's £12 for the Starter Founder's Pack, then fancier editions run up to a £50 Ultimate Founder's Pack with loads of characters and cosmetics unlocked plus microtransaction virtuacash.

This is the first game from First Watch Games, another studio within Hi-Rez. The full launch will follow later this year, and I assume it'll be free-to-play because that's Hi-Rez's whole thing.