Dead by Daylight dev's asymmetrical shooter Deathgarden enters Steam early access next week
And it's free to try for the first seven days.
Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive has announced that its new asymmetrical multiplayer shooter Deathgarden will enter Steam early access on August 14th, and that it'll be free to try for the first seven days after launch.
Conceptually, Deathgarden is not, it's fair to say, a million miles away from Behaviour's popular asymmetrical slash-'em-up Dead by Daylight; Deathgarden pits five players (instead of its predecessor's four) against one in a brutal fight for survival - although, this time, the overall aesthetic is more Running-Man-style futuristic gameshow than B-movie horror romp.
In Deathgarden, one player takes on the role of the Hunter, armed with a very large gun and, probably, an insufferable swagger, while its human targets are the five Runners, forced into a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Runners, meanwhile, get crossbows which can delay the Hunter and destroy its equipment - although, notably, not the Hunter itself.
When a match begins, Runners have a few seconds to scour the procedurally generated garden, marking points of interest and upgrading their crossbow power bolts. Then, the Hunter arrives and the chase is on. If playing in Capture mode, Runners are tasked with capturing two of the three control points to make their escape, while the Hunter does its best to stop them.
However, when Deathgarden comes to Steam early access on August 14th, it will introduce a second mode known as Gather and Deliver. Here, Runners must snaffle up keys from Gather points and deposit them at Delivery points. It takes three keys to capture a Delivery nodes, and once two have been secured by Runners, the garden's exits will open.
Deathgarden launched its Closed Alpha in May, and quickly followed it with a Closed Beta in June. The game's transition to Steam early access will introduce a variety of new features though, including character progression and customisation, two new perks for Runners, two new weapons and a new power for the Hunter, plus a hub area and nighttime gameplay.
Behaviour Interactive will mark Deathgarden's Steam early access launch by offering everyone the chance to play for free between August 14th and August 21st. After that, the game will be available to purchase at its usual price of $29.99USD (around £23). Deathgarden is due to hit its 1.0 release early next year on PC, with PS4 and Xbox One versions to follow.