Leap into the Strife Closed Beta

You might remember when S2 Games last visited Singapore back in October to show off their Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), Strife, for the first time this side of the world. Now that the closed beta servers are up and running it’s time to find those keys you received and jump into the fray.

Strife has the benefit of being S2 Games’ second MOBA (the first being Heroes of Newerth) so it enjoys a couple of changes to the formula, primarily to make the game friendlier for newcomers. Before any of you veterans scoff and walk away, consider some of the features it has to offer.

Automatic observation posts replace manually-planted wards; out-of-combat regeneration and shorter cooldowns helps cut downtime; a reward system that fairly shares the spoils among the team; and a good amount of character and pet customization to complement different playing styles. Even newbie-centric additions like threat rings around towers are subtle and universally useful. In the words of Strife’s producer, Tim Shannon: “We don’t have to remove complexity to make it more accessible.”

Sounds like a great way to get acquainted with the genre or for a change of pace from the competitors. If you’ve got a key then you can get started by creating an account.

Strife is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux and will be “available for the general public in 2014.”