Ambitious single-server sandbox MMO Dual Universe is setting course onto Steam on September 27th, after spending eight years in development hypersleep. For the past two years, the interstellar RPG has been in beta. There’s a two-week free trial planned for people who’ve played the game before, and Steam players will be able to have a go for free too, just on a different server. Get a glimpse of what’s been happening in the two-year-long beta in the trailer below.
Dual Universe is one of those epic sci-fi sandbox MMOs that aims to offer a player-created universe to explore, organise and conquer. You know, like EVE Online or, erm, Star Citizen. The devs point out that the past two years of beta have seen a whole bunch of stuff added to the game, such as warfare, asteroid mining, space markets, and zhuzhed-up visuals and performance. There’s a player-created economy and organisations that can fight each other. However, take note because…
Novaquark say they’ll be resetting most of the game for the launch. Players will get some holdovers from the beta though, including names and contact lists, core blueprints for equipment, organisations that have been founded, and certain rewards for enabling two-factor authentication and referring friends. A batch of Pioneer Pack rewards is scheduled for delivery during the six-month launch event to restore some of the lost progression to beta players and Kickstarter backers. Full details of what’s being reset and what’s staying are here.
We first reported on Dual Universe all the way back in 2016, and Brendy spoke to the devs the following year about their grand ambitions for the sandbox MMO. “Whether they are successful or not, they do appear to be making a game that everybody wants to play,” he said, “pursuing the single-shard dream which only EVE has managed with any reliability in recent years.”
Dual Universe heads out on September 27th. You can download the client from the official site here if you want to give it a go ahead of launch proper, or wait until it releases on Steam to give the free trial a go. It’s £9.50 for a month’s subscription.