Black Desert’s battle royale mode, Shadow Arena, hits early access for current players today

Black Desert is formally hopping on the battle royale bandwagon this week with the “early access” release of Shadow Arena today. How does a fully launched MMORPG run an “early access” mode? Why not call it a beta? Who knows, man, it’s 2019, people just do whatever now. The mode is available during specific test windows for existing players as well as those gaming on their seven-day trial. Kakao is calling it a “battle royale experience like no other,” but it actually looks a lot like the BR mode Skyforge rolled out in 2018, as you’ll be playing prefab classes.

“Shadow Arena is a new mode that pits up to 50 players against each other in a struggle for survival. Gather supplies and outwit your opponents to become the last person standing. Players will start the match as a ‘Black Spirit’, a small flying specter that can then possess the bodies of one of the playable classes in Black Desert Online. For the Early Access version, the Warrior, Sorceress, Berserker, Tamer, Valkyrie, Wizard, Witch, Dark Knight and Mystic will be available allowing participants to pick from nine different playstyles. By roaming the arena after finding their preferred class, players can gather skills, weapons, armor, accessories and special items such as flares, potions, traps and more. It will be essential for victory that players strategically acquire their skills and items to deal with the opposition.”

Today’s patch also adds some new hunting content for PvE players and tweaks the relatively new Archer in the original game too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKygmNX_H0Q&feature=youtu.be