Toy Soldiers developer Signal Studios has been quietly working away on Ascend: New Gods since the game’s coming out party at last year’s E3, and now the time has finally come for beta testing to begin.
For those who missed it before or haven’t been keeping a close eye on the game, Ascend: New Gods is a third-person action RPG that seamlessly blends single-player gameplay with online multiplayer warfare in a free-to-play format, one of the first games of its kind on Xbox Live. In the game, players must pledge their Caos Warrior’s allegiance to one of three Gods and wage war across randomly generated battlefields to spread their chosen God’s influence. Each player’s world is private but runs parallel to the worlds of other players, opening up the possibility for players to invade the worlds of rival warriors as bosses, or to pass along curses or blessings. Similar to Demon’s Souls, the ghost images of other live adventurers are visible to other players for a shared multiplayer experience.
If the concept piques your interest and you have an active Xbox Live Gold membership, charge over to the freshly relaunched Ascend: New Gods website and submit an application to join the game’s closed beta test. Once you’ve registered, Signal Studios will send an email, and by sharing the provided link with friends your odds of being accepted into the beta will increase the more friends you refer.
Below, you can check out the initial gameplay footage released at E3 last year. A more in-depth sneak peek gameplay stream is also available for viewing at the game’s official website here.
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Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
