Nosgoth closed beta starts Thursday, features new Siege game mode

Nosgoth's war between humans and vampires inches closer to full release with the announcement of a closed beta set to begin Thursday. An heir to the long-dormant Legacy of Kain universe, the online-multiplayer game's closed beta should debut a new game mode, according to developer Psyonix.

You can get a taste for Siege, the new mode, in the more-than bite-sized helping of Nosgoth gameplay footage released earlier this month. The Siege mode joins traditional team deathmatch and has humans defending capture points from the blood-mad vampires. And in a nod to Kain veterans, Nosgoth is also working to bring new vampire skins to the game. The player models are being created with the help of Daniel Cabuco, the art lead on an earlier game in the series, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

"It's with great pleasure that I announce my involvement with Psyonix in creating these classic Soul Reaver clan skins," Cabuco says the beta announcement. "They heard the fans and sought me out to ensure an authentic tie to the original series."

The Legacy of Kain series always had a strange and beautiful charm for its unique take on vampire mythology. I'm eager to see how the setting translates to the class-based, free-to-play model being developed for Nosgoth. Participants who took part in Nosgoth's closed alpha will be invited automatically, according to Psyonix, while new players can register to take part in the closed beta here .