Major: Miner Wars 2081 Enters Beta, 16-player Co-Op

I'm DESCENDING now.
UPDATE: co-op video below.

The Miner Wars team send word that their game has finally entered beta, and there’s a great big update for everyone who pre-ordered. They’re pretty pleased with the amount of content the space-miner/shooter now offers. They say: “We’ve currently packed in 31 missions, which is about 10-15 hours of straight game play, but could take you much longer considering the free-roaming / sandbox gameplay, in-game editor and multi-player!” That multiplayer includes the capacity to play deathmatch or co-op vs the missions up to sixteen players. (And I believe there’s some MMO aspect of the game planned for the distance future, too.)

I’ve put a video of the most recent gameplay trailer below. It’s come a long way from that asteroid-deforming tech demo!


Any RPSers playing this? Looks like it might be ideal for a co-op outing…

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30 Comments

  1. 26/09/2012 at 15:05 Kestrel says:

    I played the first demo and was more annoyed than impressed, but unlike, say, most people that played the XCOM demo, I recognize there’s a lot of potential for a great game that might not shine through, say, a tiny demo.

    Wow that’s a long sentence.

    • 26/09/2012 at 18:22 MegaAndy says:

      I impulse bought this ages ago and was also disappointed With it. I still hope it will be great though, as no story/ combat was in the game back then.

  2. 26/09/2012 at 15:09 aliksy says:

    It looks like Descent. I liked descent. Is it actually like descent?

    • 26/09/2012 at 15:18 Dominic White says:

      Descent + Red Faction

    • 26/09/2012 at 16:42 Urthman says:

      I wanna know who played Descent and thought, “What this game needs is a shotgun!”

      • 26/09/2012 at 17:41 Echo Black says:

        There was a shotgun in Descent, it was called “Spreadfire Cannon”

        • 27/09/2012 at 03:19 Urthman says:

          I don’t mean they have a gun that shoots 3 blue blobs. I mean apparently someone from the Miner Wars team was blowing away imps in Doom back in 1994 and thought, “My ship in Descent needs a gun like this! KCHOO-UM! chk chk KCHOO-UM! chk chk”

  3. 26/09/2012 at 15:10 4026 says:

    “pre-oredered”

    *applause*

    EDIT: Oh. Not intentional, then?

  4. 26/09/2012 at 15:39 fooga44 says:

    The ship physics and the weapons suck something fierce. The game has neat technology wrapped around poor aesthetics and just even worse then descent gameplay. Not only that the online DRM for a single player game is a big no no.

    • 26/09/2012 at 19:50 Poliphilo says:

      “Even worse then Descent” would imply Descent being something less than brilliant and fun, and therefore that crucial part of the sentence is wrong. If this is not your cup of tea then just don’t buy it, I’m sure you’ll only have to wait 4-8 years for something else like it to come along.

    • 27/09/2012 at 05:00 elevown says:

      Except descent had amazing gameplay and is fondly remembered as a cult classic by many who would love a sequel- up with games like tie-fighter and freespace.

  5. 26/09/2012 at 15:42 deadly.by.design says:

    This is another game that falls into my “Oh, that looks good… but who has the time?” category.

    I finally beat Deus Ex:HR, so I can finally start Black Mesa. Whoop, whoop.

  6. 26/09/2012 at 15:43 TechnicalBen says:

    My brain just remembered Decent.

    DECENTFACE!

  7. 26/09/2012 at 16:01 The First Door says:

    Wow… that looks really impressive! Does anyone know how the 6DoF play actually feels? I only ask because I was quite disappointed with Retrovirus as for me it didn’t feel quite right.

  8. 26/09/2012 at 16:02 Sardaukar says:

    Has RPS yet noticed or commented on the way the devs are handling and, more importantly, presenting their “not” DRM?

    Mind I preordered this ages and ages ago and still look forward to it.

  9. 26/09/2012 at 17:08 marek_rosa says:

    There’s a new co-op video: link to youtube.com

  10. 26/09/2012 at 17:18 Ogun says:

    distant future

    • 26/09/2012 at 18:18 MegaAndy says:

      I’d also like to add that the MMO, I think, has to be purchased again as a separate game.

      • 27/09/2012 at 12:29 wu wei says:

        Which was something that changed between my buying into the alpha and them deciding they had a potential cash cow they could milk multiple ways.

  11. 26/09/2012 at 19:19 Chubzdoomer says:

    This looks like one of those unique, potentially even innovative games that will never get the attention it deserves.

  12. 27/09/2012 at 11:08 Caiman says:

    Descent 2 was my favourite game of all time, played online using Kali95. Holy shit, I am getting old. The original was so far ahead of Doom it’s not even funny, but alas 6DoF games faltered along with space sims. Miner Wars looks like the closest thing yet to a proper new Descent-like game, and it’s only my dislike for buying alpha / beta products that has stopped me from buying this yet. It certainly looks like it nails the feel of Descent, but we’ll have to see.