Grimoire: Manastorm is a shooter in which guns and power-suited marines are replaced by spells and beardy wizard types. You can sign up for its open alpha test right now.
After initially failing to makes its $42,000 goal on Kickstarter, Grimoire turned to Steam Greenlight. After being successfully voted through, it’s set to hit Valve’s retail platform in Early Access mode next month.
Before that happens, however, you can sign up to try out the alpha on developer OmniConnection’s website. You’ll get to test out the game’s ten different classes of wizard, each of which can be customised with your favourite loadout of spells and abilities, as well as see what you think of its MOBA inspirations.
“Grimoire borrows from DotA 2 and League of Legends to deliver a unique spin on classic multiplayer shooter action,” claim the developers. “Introducing everything from devastating “ultimate” attacks to atypical shooter abilities like teleportation and invulnerability. Grimoire’s spells include everything from gravity-affected boulders to fireballs that increase in size the longer you charge them- even calling down massive meteor showers.”
Sounds fun. You can take to the field in Conquest mode, which sunds a bit like a kind of capture the flag spin-off, and Arena mode, which is a more straightforward team deathmatch. A co-op Safeguard mode will allow you to team up with other players to take on legions of monstrous creatures. This PvE mode promises “a special in-match progression system, quest objectives, and procedural event-driven enemy attacks .”
You’ll have to register on the Grimoire forums to grab your alpha key. Head here to do just that.
