Madrid Games Week, Spain – 16th October, 2014 – 8 Bit, the indie development studio based in Barcelona, Spain and London, UK, today confirmed its debut title, ‘Skara: The Blade Remains’ will launch on Steam’s Early Access, 27th October 2014 for £12.00/$19.00/€15.00. Skara: The Blade Remains is a revolutionary ‘multiplayer online versus’ (MOV), third person hack n’ slash em up which utilises Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 enabling Skara to look triple AAA, on a triple III budget!
“We advise gamers to only purchase the Early Access version of our game if they truly understand what Early Access means”, commented Pablo Rodriguez, Creative Director at 8-Bit. “We want our audience to participate in the creative process of building Skara with us and we’re excited at how far we’ve already come. We acknowledge that we still have a way to go, but we also want people to join us on our development journey as we move towards full scale release”.
Gamers who choose to purchase the Steam Early Access version will initially be able to play one vs. one battles, in one arena, with one character. Constant updates and expansions are planned for every week following the Steam launch with a dedicated forum set up in which early adopters can specifically contribute to the final stages of development via votes and comments.
Early purchasers will ultimately have their up front payment refunded in virtual currency which they will be able to spend in the virtual store once it goes live at launch. They will also be rewarded with exclusive armour, weapons and have their names featured in the game credits. 8-Bit are charging a nominal fee for the early access version to help with development costs, the final version which will be F2P on XboxOne, PS4 and PC is due to release in 2015.
The final version of Skara will also feature the following:
8 vs 8 Multiplayer Battles – Brutal battles with real players
Skill Based Gameplay – Skill, accuracy, timing and practice are required to succeed
Fatalities – Dispatch your enemies with spectacular and unique fatality moves
5 Races – Each race features unique weapons and fighting styles
Factions – Ruling Skara requires teamwork, hook up with your friends to plan organised attacks and dominate the map. Special attacks or ‘team actions’ are available to teams who work together effectively
Customisability – Personalise your warrior to reflect your play style and tastes
Game Modes – Includes: free for all, death match, capture the flag, kill the king, siege, dominion and more
Unreal Engine 4 – Enables truly stunning next gen graphics
PS4/XboxOne/PC versions – Skara is properly next gen multiplatform
New Genre (MOV) – Skara didn’t fit into any genre so 8 Bit made a new one! Multiplayer Online Versus
F2P – Skara will be free to play on all next gen platforms
Skara: The Blade Remains alpha version is available to download here: http://thebladeremains.com/home/pledge
Skara: The Blade Remains gameplay trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVj9gzOeqFs&list=UUwXgsveVubeMpUcziXsvmzg
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Press contact:
Sam Brace
+44 (0) 7813 988908
More about Skara:
Skara brings versus fighting online for up to 16 players at a time, competing for dominance in a world racked by cosmic disaster. Players will choose from among five races with the freedom to customize their character’s look, equipment and fighting style. Players will even be able to decide who to fight with by creating their own factions inside every race and culture. These will fight as one with the goal of dominating arenas, expanding their territories and gaining renown in Skara. Great players will be immortalized as heroes and kings, writing Skara’s history with their successes and failures.
Skara The Blade Remains was Greenlit by Steam’s community in just 8 days of the campaign launch and also recently completed a successful Kickstarter. With the Unreal4 Engine beating at the heart of this title and Epic’s full backing, Skara is now in its final stages of development and ready to take on the games industry with a Steam Early Access build scheduled for launch in the next few months.
An Alpha version of Skara is available to purchase now and gamers can download it online by signing up on the game’s brand new website. The small fee for the Alpha version is helping the team to finish the game, early investors will have their pledge refunded as in game currency when the Steam Early Access Build launches shortly. The full, free-to-play release on PC, is planned for early 2015.
About 8 Bit:
8 Bit are an international Indie dev team based out of Barcelona, Spain and London, UK. Founded by Pablo Rodriguez in 2006, the team takes great pleasure in breaking game genre barriers by focussing on community development for gamers, by gamers.
Follow Skara: The Blade Remains
Website: http://skarathebladeremains.com/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SkaraTBR