Strife open beta available now globally (and you'll never guess the new feature it includes)

Developer S2 Games has announced today that as of right now, the company’s second-generation MOBA title Strife is now available in open beta globally (with the exception of China). Starting right now, anyone can sign up for a Strife account and log in to check out the free-to-play title.

Single-player surprise

And the open beta build of the game comes with a special surprise: free single-player content. S2 Games has announced that in addition to traditional multiplayer gameplay, Strife will also feature episodic single-player content. The single player campaign, called “The Prophecy of Darkstone” will allow players to delve deeper into the game’s lore and backstory, controlling champions in the traditional top-down MOBA fashion while simultaneously introducing some fresh gameplay elements into the mix.

You can check out our hands-on impressions of the first episode, “Child of the Dawn”, here. S2 Games has promised that future episodes of single player content will all be free.

Mobile app

Amazingly, the single-player campaign isn’t the only new addition. Today, S2 Games has also launched an official companion app for Strife. The app, which should be available in the iTunes and Play stores by the time you’re reading this, lets you do quite a bit. You can check your stats, craft items for later use in the game (they’ll be available in the game as soon as you complete them), and find all the info you need on the game’s heroes, pets, and gear sets (which you can also purchase via the app).

One major oversight at the moment seems to be that the app does not include any kind of friends list or chat feature, so it can only be used to do things relating to your account; you won’t be able to use it to check up on your friends or communicate with anyone else who plays the game. From what was said at the announcement event, I got the impression that S2 Games was considering adding chat functionality eventually, but I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon.

Also unfortunately, the app is still in beta and is currently only available in North America and Europe. It will be available in Asia once the beta kinks are worked out, and S2 Games CEO Marc DeForest told me that the company’s Asia partners will be distributing the app in Asian app stores, possibly including third-party stores.

Localization

There’s also some good news for Asian gamers: Strife is now fully localized in both Chinese and Thai. Indonesian language support will also be coming soon. And that doesn’t just mean subtitles: “We literally had every single voice asset in the game voice acted and replaced,” says S2 Games CEO Marc DeForest.

The mobile app is localized in Chinese and Thai, as well.

If you’re interested in taking Strife for a spin, you can download the client here.

Disclaimer: Strife developer S2 Games paid for GiA’s travel and accommodations in Seattle. We accepted because we maintain full editorial control (we can still write whatever we want), and because we think our audience is genuinely interested in Strife and a bunch of the other games at PAX. For more information about our ethics policy, click here.