60-player fantasy survival game Rend will launch on Early Access at the end of July

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Rend is a 60-player survival game, but that undersells it somewhat. Players are divided into three factions, each collecting and storing souls in their Divinity Stones while simultaneously trying to destroy the stones belonging to other factions. Players can also form smaller clans within factions, and there are crafting and skill trees to work through as well.

We spoke to Frostkeep Studios (former World of Warcraft guys, which is also a plus) at the recent PC Gamer Weekender, and today the studio announced that the game will go into Early Access release on Steam on July 31.

"Early access marks a pivotal moment for Frostkeep Studios," co-founder and CEO Jeremy Wood said. "We have been developing Rend side-by-side with our players since we first announced the game and are grateful for the invaluable feedback they provided to help shape Rend into what it has become today."

Between now and the Early Access rollout, Frostkeep will continue making fixes and adding new content, and will also accelerate the process of bringing in testers for the ongoing alpha. "Everyone who signs up will be invited before the test concludes," it said. It also explained that the current alpha state is not what will be seen in Early Access.

"Our standard for entering Early Access is when Rend is in a state where even if we were to never update it again, it would be considered a complete game worthy of purchase by its players," it wrote. "We think Rend has reached this state. (Rest assured, we will be updating Rend with PvP and PvE content well beyond Early Access.)"

The Early Access release of Rend will sell for $30. If you want to take a crack at the alpha, you can sign up at rendgame.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.