Master X Master gets a June launch date and a really good cinematic trailer

YouTube

Master X Master, the game lots probably stopped reading about the moment they saw the word "MOBA" even though Tom did his best to explain that it's actually an interesting and unique take on the genre, will leave closed beta and go into full, free-to-play release on June 21, developer Ncsoft announced today. To mark the reveal of the launch date, the publisher also released a new trailer called "Shadows of Rentu," and even if you don't care about MXM, you should probably take a minute (six of them, actually) to watch it.

The video is a silly, Saturday morning cartoon type of thing, showing no gameplay whatsoever. But it sets up a fun, campy story, and also manages to show off MXM's "Tag mechanic," which enables players to switch immediately between Masters while in combat. We described the feature in our PAX East preview as the game's "most interesting mechanical twist."

"At the start of a match, every player picks a team of two Masters that they can instantly swap between with a flick of the mouse wheel, barring a roughly 15 second cooldown. In the standard 5v5, that means there are 20 characters in a single match, though only 10 in play at any given time," we wrote. "Your two characters don't share a health bar, so you can quickly tag-in to get a boost of life if you are about to die, but doing so means the enemy knows you won't be able to swap back anytime soon."

Ncsoft said the game will launch with "a whole host of improvements we made using player feedback from CBT," and also gently reminded everyone that the three Founder's Packs currently for sale will no longer be available for purchase once the game goes live. You can find out more about Master X Master at playmxm.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.