Former Blizzard CCO Rob Pardo’s new development studio, Bonfire Studios, has announced today their new game, Arkheron. Arkheron is being pitched as a dynamic PvP game where 15 teams of 3 must battle to ascend a mysterious tower built from fragments of their life.
The trailer does a decent job of showcasing some gameplay and the aesthetic achieved by Bonfire Studios, but a second trailer was also released that’s a considerably longer gameplay overview. Arkheron is also having a few alpha playtests this month, allowing players to get hands-on action with the new title.
Rob Pardo has even published a letter inviting players to the alpha test with a fairly long-winded about how iterative game design can be and all of the different forms Arkheron has taken before getting to even this stage of development. I was originally cherry-picking quotes from the letter but realized that it’s not really published anywhere. So here’s Pardo’s letter in its entirety.
It’s been a long road to get here. Making games is incredibly hard, and I have enormous respect for every team that perseveres through the journey to put something into players’ hands. Anyone that has built a game knows how messy it gets. Ideas that seem great on paper fall apart in practice, and you spend months chasing something you can only feel once it’s finally in your hands.
One example for us was combat. It’s the soul of Arkheron, but it didn’t come easy. We tried one model, then another, then another, and every time we thought maybe we were close, it still didn’t feel right. But the team persevered. Not because it was easy, but because they believed in the game we were making. They believed in each other.
We tore down and rebuilt the combat four separate times before we finally found the right version. After the long road, what we have now is something rare; a game that looks familiar at a glance, but when you play, you realize it’s authentically unique.
Once we had a representative game, one of the most important things we did was start a ritual that continues to this day: Every morning, first thing, the team sits down to play Arkheron. Afterward we gather, talk about what worked, what didn’t, and what we want to change. Then we spend the day making adjustments. By the next morning, we’re playing a new build.
There’s something powerful about working that way. Instead of debating design documents or speculating about what might be fun months down the line, we get to feel the results of our decisions immediately. It’s the experience of playing a game you already enjoy, making it better, and then playing the improved version the very next day. That process cuts through all theorycrafting – either something is fun or it’s not.
That daily loop of playing and improving became the heartbeat of our development. It also shaped how we thought about opening the doors to others.
At first, it was just us. As we playtested Arkheron internally, something rare happened. The team fell in love with the game. That might sound obvious, but for experienced developers it isn’t. Many of us have been through projects where the work is meaningful, but the daily playtests feel like a chore. With Arkheron it was different. People didn’t want to miss a session. They got frustrated if servers went down on a holiday. They grumbled when a playtest was canceled.
That’s when you know you’ve found something that is special. It’s when a group of veteran developers can’t stop playing their own game.
After that, we began expanding the circle. Friends and family joined our sessions. Later, we brought in highly skilled players who could stress-test the game in competitive play and push Arkheron in ways we never could have on our own.
Earlier this year, we ran a private playtest tied to a small teaser announcement. Because Arkheron doesn’t sit neatly in a genre box, we wanted to bring in players from all kinds of competitive backgrounds. It was a wide net, and it gave us valuable lessons. Not only about the kinds of players who felt most at home in Arkheron, but also about what it feels like to operate the game like a live service.
Now we’re ready to take the next step. This weekend, we’ll be expanding the circle again and welcoming thousands of new players into Arkheron for the Alpha.
We want to set expectations for the Alpha clearly – Arkheron has a steep learning curve, and onboarding is still early. We are working on ways to improve it, including videos, tutorials, and social matchmaking, but there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. You’ll also see an early version of bots in the game this weekend, but right now their main role is to give newer players a bit of breathing room in their matches and to help smooth out requeue times when the player population is low.
Matchmaking is in an early state as well; what you’ll be playing this weekend is essentially our first prototype. With only a weekend of play, it will get a little better as more matches are played, but you should expect to run into games with players of mismatched skill as we work on tuning and improving it.
Playtesting is how we make Arkheron better. It’s how we’ll continue to play the game to make the game, listen to our community and let the fun guide us toward launch.
For some of you, the rough edges may feel too sharp right now. That’s okay. We will keep working, and we hope you will give it another chance down the road. Some of you might even try it and realize Arkheron is simply not for you. That’s okay too. There are so many great games out there, and every player should spend their time with the ones they truly love.
But maybe you’ll connect with Arkheron right away. You’ll find yourself drawn into the combat, experimenting with builds and fighting alongside your team to reach the top of the Tower. If that happens, we want your help to make Arkheron better. Tell us what is exciting, or where we miss the mark. Your feedback is how we will turn this into a game that lasts.
On behalf of the Arkheron team, thank you for joining us on our journey. We hope you feel what we feel every day when we sit down to play: the passion, the fun, and the belief that Arkheron can become something truly special.
We cannot wait to ascend the Tower with you!
-Rob
Gameplay Overview And Arkheron Alpha Test Dates
I think the gameplay overview does a good job giving the broad strokes about what we’ll be doing in Arkheron and how the game works. I like the idea of items determining your character’s abilities and load out.
Another thing the gameplay overview highlighted that I really like is the comeback mechanics. Not just allowing a team to become more powerful at an accelerated rate, rather, allowing down-and-out teammates to come back into the game once defeated. I like the idea of doing poorly, having my team make up for my inability, and being able to bring me back into the game.
If you want to get your hands on the game as soon as possible, Bonfire Studios is having an alpha test weekend that’s coming up with the dates posted below. The alpha test will have set times when the servers are up and, because the developers are smart, times seem to be adjusted for time zone:
- North America, South America and surrounding island countries:
- Friday Sep 19 || 11:00am – 11pm PDT
- Saturday Sep 20 || 11:00am – 11pm PDT
- Sunday Sep 21 || 11:00am – 11pm PDT
- Europe, Russia, EMEA, and Africa:
- Friday Sep 19 || 5pm – 11pm CEST
- Saturday Sep 20 || 11:00am – 11pm CEST
- Sunday Sep 21 || 11:00am – 11pm CEST
- Most of Asia as well as Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific:
- Saturday Sep 20 || 11:00am – 1am (Sun) KST
- Sunday Sep 21 || 11:00am – 1am (Mon) KST
- Monday Sep 22 || 6pm – 1am (Tue) KST
You can sign up for the alpha playtest on the Arkheron Steam page by clicking the ‘Request Access’ button under ‘Join the Arkheron Playtest’. Though the game has no official release date, announcing and holding a playtest within a few weeks is good news for those excited for the game. We’ll make sure to keep you up to date on development around Arkheron and any future tests.
