Atlas Reactor Introduces Story Quests And Crafting With Closed Beta

Trion Worlds’ promising fast-pace, competitive chess match goes into beta this week with a host of new features and improvements.

The game defies almost any standard explanation (read our impression from PAX here), but basically players select a team of four heroes and then duke it out against another players' team in a XCOM-style battle that also happen to feature simultaneous turns. Sounds crazy, but it's pretty cool in practice. The game goes into beta today, but you can still sign up for an invitation here.

Here's a list of the feature players will be able to experiment with during the closed beta:

• Seasons, with Inventory and Crafting: the closed beta introduces Seasons, which deliver new content in various forms while gradually telling the game’s backstory. Playing matches and completing seasonal quests and challenges all earn seasonal XP, which in turn grants rewards. Players can collect season-exclusive loot and use a new crafting system to break down items to construct new ones. Approximately three months long, each season will be comprised of chapters that unlock every few weeks, bringing new lore, quests, challenges, and rewards.
• New Freelancers and a New Map: Elle, introduced today, is the first of several new freelancers being unveiled over the course of Closed Beta. A new map, coming soon, takes players inside a top secret EvoS lab controlled by one of the game’s “Trusts,” powerful entities whose motives will become clear over time.
• Custom Game Spectator Mode: The first installment of what will become a robust feature for spectating matches, the custom game spectator mode will be introduced a week or two after closed beta launch and will allow players to jump into a game and watch two teams battle. Viewers can observe both teams from an overhead perspective, or choose to follow the action from any particular player’s viewpoint.
• Emoticons: Introduced in the Open Alpha period, chat emoticons will be expanded during closed beta, with an improved UI and more emoticons to collect.
• VFX Swaps: One of several in-game rewards, players will be able to collect visual effects transitions ranging from color-shifts to entirely new appearances for specific freelancer abilities.
• UI and Controls Improvements: driven largely by player feedback collected during the alpha period, the game’s user interface and input controls have been significantly revamped. New and improved visual cues (which can be toggled on/off) make it easier for players to queue, preview, and cancel abilities, modify movement choices, identify teammates’ action and movement plans, quickly assess the cooldown status of allies’ and opponents’ abilities, and more.

Our Take
Atlas Reactor looked pretty promising when I saw it at PAX earlier last year, and these improvements sound promising, so this could be one to keep your eye on.