One of the nifty things on the way under Warframe developer Digital Extremes’ publishing banner is Survived By, a retro permadeath bullet-hell MMO first announced a year and change ago and marching along through alpha and beta development since. As of last night, the game’s emerged into Steam early access, and it’s free, so you can jump in right now.
DE and dev Human Head Studios are currently characterizing the game as a “fast-paced, cooperative, loot-filled roguelite where players can slaughter hordes of Chimera, level up, team up with dozens of other players to defeat cute-yet-hideous bosses, and craft unique gear and weapons in a lively PvE setting.” But it’s got a lot of MMO styling to it, hence why the studios dubbed it a “retro-style free-to-play MMO” and “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” a year ago: There’s autogrouping with players around you, class progression, achievements, and crafting in a setting with “100 player battles.”
As for the permadeath part, don’t worry too much about that: When you die, you’re “survived by” a new descendant who takes some of your “legacy” along for the ride.
We checked out the game this past summer too when the game rolled into beta!