Survarium open beta and North American servers arrive this week

The very Stalker-like online shooter Survarium has actually been in open beta for awhile now, but gamers on this side of the pond have been hobbled by the fact that the servers were all located in Europe and Russia. That situation is about to change, however, as Vostok Games has announced that the beta will arrive on Steam Early Access on April 2, and that servers based in North America will be rolled out at the same time.

The beta version of Survarium includes only the PvP portion of the game, which Vostok said allows it to work on the engine stability and mechanics in a relatively simple environment. "However, this is not to say that this is all we have planned for the game," it explained in the announcement of the looming Early Access release. "No doubt many of you are awaiting the much anticipated Freeplay mode, also referred to as PvE. This mode is in development. So please do not make the mistake in thinking that Survarium is just an PvP shooter. We have extremely ambitious plans for the future of the game and with your help, we can achieve them."

Three Steam-exclusive starter packs will be available for a limited time following the Early Access launch, which is planned to go live at 1 pm PDT. In the meantime, you can find out more about Survarium's Freeplay mode (which is the part of the game that most interests me, because it sounds like multiplayer Stalker) right here.

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.