Atlas Reactor goes free-to-play, adds new character

"If Frozen Synapse and Battlerite had a baby, it would bear an uncanny resemblance to Atlas Reactor," said Matt Cox, which reminds me that I'm grossly failing in my duties as his self-appointed moral guardian. I should have given that young lad the 'copulation' talk years ago. But if you're interested in tactical team combat played out through simultaneous turns, you might be interested to hear that developers Trion World have chucked a uey -- again -- and turned Atlas Reactor [official site] free-to-play. This switch comes alongside the launch of a new season with a new character.

Atlas Reactor executive producer Peter Ju explained:

"From the beginning, the Atlas Reactor team has listened to and responded to your feedback, and earning freelancers through gameplay has been your number one request post-launch. By making the game fully free to play we give more players the opportunity to experience everything Atlas Reactor has to offer. Now, players will be able to play the game for free, earn some freelancers along the way, and at any time they can upgrade to a premium pack to get all current and future freelancers."

The new imaginary currency of 'Flux', earned by playing, can also unlock extra loadout slots, Mod Tokens, and fancy skins. Folks who bought Atlas Reactor before will still get all characters now and forevermore, obvs.

The start of Season 2 also brings a new character Brynn, The Skywarden. Another new character will follow later this season.

You might remember that Atlas Reactor was initially planned as free-to-play, then Trion invented a revolutionary new business model they called "buy-to-play", then they introduced a Free Mode as an extended demo, and now... it's free-to-play. The difference between this and the Free Mode is that free-to-players can permanently unlock new characters, which Free Moders were always limited to a rotating lineup of freebies. Get it? Got it? Good.

You can download Atlas Reactor on Steam and through Trion's Glyph client doodad.