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'Firewatch' team pauses its next game to work on Valve titles
Did you get nervous when multiple former Campo Santo developers pulled mentions of In the Valley of Gods from their Twitter profiles? Your trepidation might have been justified, although it's not as bad as it sounds. Studio co-founder Jake Rodkin has revealed that the team has placed In the Valley of Gods "on hold" while its various members work on other Valve projects, including Half-Life: Alyx, Dota Underlords and Steam. Rodkin characterized it as a voluntary shift -- Valve wasn't forcing the developers to work on its existing titles.
'Dota Underlords' beta tests its first battle pass
In another sign of gaming trends folding in on each other, Valve's own 'Auto Chess' spin-off of Dota 2 is testing out a battle pass. The still-in-beta Dota Underlords is free to play, so like other "free" games, mixing in bonus packages that people will pay for without making them annoying or a waste of money is key. Epic has executed the strategy repeatedly with Fortnite and is already in season nine, while battle royale challenger Apex Legends caught flack for an underwhelming first "season" of offerings.
'Dota Underlords' has more people playing now than 'Artifact' ever did
Just a day after going live, the Dota Underlords beta is off to a great start. According to stats from SteamDB, as of Friday night it had over 84,000 players at once -- higher than Valve's troubled Dota 2 spinoff Artifact ever had. It topped out at around 60,000, while Underlords has already had over 179,000 simultaneous participants -- a number that the tracking site believes includes players on mobile devices.
Valve's 'Dota Underlords' open beta launches on Android, iOS and PC
Less than a month after it was announced and just a week after being properly revealed, Dota Underlords is available for play. Valve's take on the popular Dota 2 mod, Dota Auto Chess, is a turn-based strategic battle game where players try to dominate the city of White Spire. The last Dota 2 spinoff, Artifact, did not experience the warmest reception and is undergoing major changes, but Underlords is already topping that game's peak number of players, and seemingly with good reason. It's been stress testing with Dota 2 Battle Pass owners for the last week and now anyone can try it for free. The plan is for it to remain in early access for "a few months" before it launches fully with more Underlord characters, ranked play and seasonal changes. It's available now on Steam, Google Play and the iOS App Store, complete with cross-play so you can start a game on one platform and finish it on another.
Valve's latest 'Dota' spinoff is 'Underlords,' free beta starts next week
Now that Dota Auto Chess mod maker Drodo has announced plans to release PC Auto Chess as an Epic Games Store exclusive, Valve is releasing its standalone version, dubbed Dota Underlords. In this game, players join the game with seven others while "building, combining, and leveling-up a crew in a battle of dominance for the city of White Spire." The point here is supposed to be the use of tactics over quick-twitch reflexes, and players who've purchased a $10 Dota 2 Battle Pass can try it out right now. An open beta is slated to begin after "approximately a week" of stress testing of the preview which includes eight-player multiplayer, play vs. bots, or teams against other players and/or bots. The open beta will be available for Steam on all platforms plus Android and iOS, with cross-play and progression carrying over no matter where you play. It looks like Valve has learned a bit from the launch of its last Dota spinoff, Artifact, and now it will be up to players to decide if it's more successful.
