Survarium Entering Open Beta... For One Day

Do you want post-apocalyptic Russian survival shooting to fill the irradiated void left behind by STALKER 2's cancellation? Well, the handsomely molded ashes of GSC Game World, aka Vostok Games, have something in store for you, even if it doesn't exactly play like STALKER just yet. Survarium is currently in closed beta, but it's going fully, completely open for, er, 24 hours this Friday. After that it will burrow back into the sooty loam of game development until the end of (nuclear) winter. Or until the start of the real open beta. Whichever comes first.

Joining the temporary open beta will be as simple as hitting up Survarium's website:

"On April 25, 2014 Vostok Games announces 'Doors Open Day.' For 24 hours on that day, absolutely anyone is welcome to enter www.survarium.com, download the current beta version of the game and try it out in action. For the moment the game features only the team-based play mode (PvP). Once the Doors Open Day is over, the game will revert back to the closed beta state as we continue preparing the game for the OBT."

If you want to get an idea of what you're in for, Jim's hands-on impressions of a very recent build would probably be a good starting point. He came away encouraged and hopeful, though he noted that right now Survarium is more competent, spellbindingly gorgeous multiplayer shooter than it is long-awaited STALKER successor.

So maybe keep your expectations in check for the time being. Vostok's crunching away on something far less safe and sanitary, but this one's still pretty early in the grand scheme of things. All that said, who's gonna have a go at it on Friday?