Sometimes you see a game and know its special. For me, back in the day, it was Diablo 2, or League of Legends when I graduated from single-player story-heavy RPGs to online videogames. Over the years I’ve spotted a few ‘star power’ games, but Supervive is the one that, in recent memory, feels most like it’ll be the next big thing. Blending top-down MOBA action with the encroaching ring and drop-in features of battle royales like Apex Legends and Fortnite, Theorycraft Games’ upcoming brawler has something for everyone, and is the reason I’ve found myself straying away from LoL’s Summoner’s Rift.
In my Supervive preview back in June, I claimed that Theorycraft’s fresh take on the MOBA genre might be the reason I finally quit League of Legends. I’m obsessed with the game’s fast, frenetic action, colorful visuals, and sprawling, reactive map; in many ways it harkens back to the glory days of League when there were Seasonal Rifts and modes like Butcher’s Bridge.
For me, Supervive is the most exciting game I’ve seen in a long time. In an online multiplayer world filled with hero shooters, extraction shooters, and Valorant clones, Theorycraft has managed to break through the noise with something truly unique. It’s no surprise to me, then, that the game is currently surging on Steam as a result of its free Next Fest demo.
But why now? After a series of smaller playtests it certainly feels like the Supervive release date is imminent, but Steam Next Fest is a huge step up from internal alphas and betas.
“As a small, independent game studio, it’s incredibly hard to break through the noise, and Steam is one of the few platforms where generating real player interest translates directly to even more growth and visibility,” executive producer Jessica Nam tells me. “So we figured… why not make our debut at Steam Next Fest, when players are ready to try something new?”
At its peak, Supervive has reeled in 16,887 players, quickly earning itself a spot on Steam’s trending games list. It’s peaked at 15,001 players in 24 hours, and with the addition of the new Ranked and Solo modes, I expect that number to grow exponentially over the weekend.
It’s also rivaling League of Legends on Twitch, clocking in at 103k views as opposed to LoL’s 146k, with a peak of 124,744. Given it’s Worlds season and we’re into the quarterfinals, that’s pretty damn impressive.
The demo itself has a slew of new features, including enhanced visuals, a new gear system, and the debut of the game’s official voice cast. “Honestly I think the sheer number of visual upgrades that have gone into the build these past few months are kind of mind-boggling,” Nam tells me. “Not only have we updated our entire in-game UI, but every hunter has a new portrait, the environment art has gotten a huge upgrade, new VFX have gone in, powers have new icons… There’s just so much; it feels like the game has really leveled up.”
There are improvements to the tutorial as well, because Supervive is, at first glance, scarily complex. “There’s definitely a lot to learn and master in Supervive, but since we’re an in-development game, we knew some of that complexity would come from placeholder art, UI, and systems,” Nam continues. “So, we deliberately deprioritized our onboarding and tutorial while we focused on polishing the 1,000-hour depth of Supervive.
“Now that we’re getting closer to open beta and things are getting really solid, we felt our tutorial and onboarding could finally get some love, which combines well with all of our newly polished UI and systems.” As someone who hasn’t been able to play since June, the tutorial is somewhat of a lifesaver – despite Supervive’s immediate complexity, getting to grips with everything all over again isn’t the LoL-style nightmare I thought it would be.
Theorycraft’s Supervive demo will be live until Monday October 21. Then there’s the upcoming open beta, which is scheduled for late 2024.
Supervive is easily one of my favorite games of October’s Steam Next Fest, and potentially one of the most exciting upcoming PC games of the year (or next, those Founder’s Packs are only available until March 2025, after all). I really can’t recommend it enough, so c’mon, do it, I dare you.
In the meantime, however, refine your skills by diving into some battle royale games or, alternatively, we have a list of all the best multiplayer games to play with your pals when the Supervive demo comes to a close.
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