Tribes-y FPS Midair soars into early access
Like a bird on the wing
Who even walks these days? It's so pedestrian. No, Midair [official site] has only the briefest of dalliances with walking. Drawing heavy inspiration from vintage series Tribes, it sends players whooshing up hills and soaring through the air with that classic 'skiing' motion as they try to capture flags and shoot each other's face off. After whooshing down the hill of Kickstarter with a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2016, Midair has now rocketed up a hill and into the skies of Steam Early Access as it prepares to stick the landing with a full launch in early 2018.
You know Tribes, yeah? A multiplayer FPS where players try to defend their flag while capturing the enemy's, building fortifications, using vehicles, mastering movement tricks, and shooting faces? Midair is that but new. Yeah, sure, Hi-Rez's Tribes: Ascend is also that but new, but Midair cuts closer to original (better, many would say) formula - and besides, Ascend received its final update last year.
Midair will be free-to-play when it launches in early 2018, some time before the end of March. For now, it costs cash to play during early access - £22.99/27,99€/$29.99.
When Midair hits in full, early accesseers will get a 'Progression Pass' that lets them skip the progression system and instantly unlock everything. Along with cosmetic dooads, that pass is how developers Archetype Studios plan to monetise the game. They say:
"In Midair, we do not believe in 'Pay to Win.' We want players to be able to jump in and have fun without needing to pay money to get the best weapons or abilities. For free to play users, we will have a progression system that does require the user to move their way up a progression ladder and unlock items related to gameplay. If this isn't for you, we are offering a 'Progression Pass' that has one simple effect: It unlocks everything gameplay related. Forever. This means that if we add new gameplay content in the progression ladder, you get it for free no matter when we add it. Think of it as buying the game."
Observe, a series of pictures played at speed to create the illusion of motion:
