Fantasy melee battle royale Naraka: Bladepoint holds open beta this weekend
It has a grappling hook!
After dropping onto countless islands to shoot 99 faces off the skulls they once called home, how'd you fancy a different sort of battle royale? You might look at Nakara: Bladepoint, a third-person fantasy action game with zippy movement, grappling hooks, wall-running, big swords, stealth, and magical transformations for up to 60 players. It's due to launch this summer, and everyone is invited to have a go in an open beta weekend starting today.
Made by Chinese studio 24 Entertainment, Naraka: Bladepoint sends players to the pretty Morus Island to murder each other. Since a previous beta, they say, they've redecorated it a bit with "poisonous mushrooms, a rideable ballista and shrubbery that players can stealth their way through". I'm sorry did you say rideable ballista? Sea Of Thieves has taught me that launching yourself as artillery can only end well.
Though while I was initially drawn to the Sekiro-lookin' grapple violence, I will confess it's the character creator I might spend the longest time in. You can have asymmetric faces! Very good.
It'll all come down to whether the violence is any good, but I'm interested. The open beta is running on Steam, starting at 7pm today (11am Pacific) then running until 7pm on Monday the 26th. You do have to click a button there to request beta access, though for me it instantly said hey, come on in, let's get ready for murder - no wait for approval. It's a 9GB download.