After running a few stress tests the developers of the Battle Royale game Darwin Project decided to open up the game for a weekend. But, what changed between the betas? We played some matches and will give you an insight on what changed and how it affects the gameplay. Things are looking bright, as the date of the early access just got announced.
As usual when games are still under development, some changes got made between the first and second beta. While not all changes have a huge impact, the amendments that got made to the show director matter.
At first we take a look at the new interface of the game. During the first beta you could only find your kills, arrows and remaining players positioned around the map. At the right side your crafted gear and resources were all positioned around the armour shield. however with the new beta, the interface slightly got a makeover as the kills, players, arrows and shield are now divided equally around the map and above it you can now find the time of the match. While this doesn't change the game too much, everything is a bit easier to track and the interface looks smoother.
At the top you see the old interface used at the first open beta. At the bottom the new interface, where everything is more sorted.
But, this isn't the only thing that got a makeover, as Fort Town, Hilltop Chalet and Lava Canyon changed. The changes made to Lava Canyon allow you to climb back to safety when you fell down to the pipes or rocks below. So, no insta-death anymore when your jump ends poorly. Besides that, more ships got added on the frozen lakes and you will find more fences and bridges around the map.
Secondly, the option to play as a duo wasn’t available yet, but this time you were able to make private matches. The downside of this feature is that your match results won't be saved and you need a total of ten players to start the match.
As Show Director you are able to control the match with the few abilities you have. Your job is to speed up the game and make it entertaining for the players and viewers. From now on you need to play at least five games as a contestant before you are able to queue up as show director. This way unexperienced people won't be able to control the match initially.
As some Show Directors started to team up with players, you are able to give them a five-star rating at the end of the match. The moment a show director has a total score of 2.2 he won't be able to use the individual abilities anymore such as healing and invisibility. Because of this, bad Show Directors will be punished and won't be able to help their favourite player. Yet, this system isn't flawless as players who don't like your general decisions can give you a low rating, which will lower your overall rating.
Want players to move closer to each other for an epic fight? With the Twitch integration you can vote which zone has to close.
With the latest open beta you were able to use the twitch integration as streamer. Viewers were able to vote for their favourite player at the begin of the match. During the match you can vote on which abilities the Show Director has to use. When we take the closing zone ability as an example viewers can vote which zone they want to close.
Darwin Project will release as an early access game on March 9th and will be available for 15 USD at both Steam and Xbox.
