Barcelona, Spain indie developer 8 Bit announced that its upcoming free to play title, SKARA: The Blade Remains, is planned to be available for attendees of Gamescom 2014. The convention itself is held August 13-18 of this year, while the third-person hack-and-slash has its sights set for an “early 2015” release on PC. The game is also planned for release on PS4 and Xbox One at an unspecified date.
SKARA: The Blade Remains met its goals in both a Steam Greenlight approval and a fulfilled funds goal through Kickstarter. The game has an Alpha build currently available, which can be played, for a donation of $19 or more, through the official website, linked prior. According to a press release from its developing studio, SKARA is in the final stages of development. An Early Access version of the project will be made available for Steam users in the next few months, according to the release. Donations made for playability of the Alpha build will be refunded as in-game currency for the Early Access build.
SKARA: The Blade Remains spawned the self-proclaimed genre Multiplayer Online Versus, abbreviated as MOV, because the developers felt the game did not fit into any existing genre labels, according to the release. Whether or not the moniker catches on to other games from other studios is a story best told by time itself.
Along with the unique genre title, SKARA: The Blade Remains creators said the game is one of the few indie titles to utilize the Unreal Engine 4 engine. The game’s implementation of fatalities, which are what they sound like, will be complemented by the most recent Unreal Engine to provide gamers with coagulated and cadaverous eye candy.
The upcoming indie F2P will feature eight on eight battles, with game modes such as death match, capture the flag, kill the king, siege, and dominion, as well as a free-for-all mode. Five unique “races” are included in the game, each one having its own weapons and combat style. Players can form factions together and execute special team attacks.
A cinematic trailer is available below, for those who would like to see a glimpse of what 8 Bit has in store. Gamescom attendees who crave more than an appetizer can get hands-on interaction with the game at Hall 4.2, booth D050-E051.