Steam's latest free battle royale could be a worthy rival to Fortnite

While it’s going to be tricky for any battle royale to truly dethrone the almighty and powerful Fortnite, this upcoming PC release looks at least like it may appeal to the fanbase of Epic Games’ behemoth.

Developed by Mistil Games and set to be published by NC, Time Takers is a battle royale shooter that sees players team up in four squads of three.

The idea, as you’ve probably guessed, is to be the last team standing.

Perhaps more akin to something like Overwatch though, here, players will have to select a Traveler before each match to play as with the various options each boasting unique builds and abilities.

It’s nice to see, however, that those builds aren’t fixed. While every Traveler has their own unique perks, you can pair any Traveler with any weapon ultimately, allowing you to change your playstyle on the fly.

Even still, you’re probably going to want to consider if you have a complimentary line-up of Traveler’s within your team as co-ordinating attacks is important if you want to come out victorious.

There are options to upgrade throughout the match and, according to the developers, “victory depends on teamwork, adapting to the battlefield, and making the most of every second”.

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As for why Time Takers is called Time Takers, time energy is a key resource in the game; it allows you to heal and upgrade, making it the game’s best resource.

NC

“Collect it across the battlefield to stay alive, share time with teammates when they need it most, or take it from defeated enemies to gain the advantage. Every second changes the match,” devs note.

You can even take time from enemy squads to slow their progress although it’s not exactly detailed how.

Time Takers is far more photorealistic than Fortnite, offering a pretty visually pleasing map.

In fact, the map should transform throughout the game as the idea is that you’ll fight through different periods of history.

An early free playtest is running from September 4 to 7 on PC

The game hasn’t pinned down a release date just yet but we do know that it’s going to be free-to-play and available across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Already, PC users have a chance to dive in as a playtest is being held in the coming days.

Tomorrow, on September 4, a 72-hour playtest is kicking off with registration open now.

If you want to get involved, you’ll need to be quick and head over to Time Taker’s Steam page; there you’ll find the ‘request access’ button to register your interest in the playtest.

You should then be sent everything you need to get involved and try the game out early for free over the coming days.

The playtest officially draws to a close on Monday September 7 at 10am PT.

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If you have participated in previous playtests for Time Takers, you should expect some improvements this time around as developers have refined the app system, colourblind mode support, the tutorial, and the pod system in addition to adding a training field and more.

Pre-download is available now for those already signed up to the playtest.