Sci-fi tabletop sim Moonbreaker is getting two rounds of playtests on Steam in September ahead of its launch into early access, devs Unknown Worlds have revealed. These run on September 9th to 11th and again on September 16th to 18th, giving access to most of the game. You can take a look at Moonbreaker in action from its announcement at last month’s Gamescom below.

Moonbreaker is quite a departure for Unknown Worlds, known for the Subnautica series. The game’s story has been dreamt up by author Brandon Sanderson. It puts you in the spaceboots of a team of interplanetary pirates, represented by a digital team of tabletop miniatures made up of six characters led by a captain. You’ll be able to paint these yourself using some snazzy tools, in true Warhammer 40K hobbyist fashion, before pitting your team against AI, other players, and a roguelike single-player mode.

The playtests are intended to stress test Moonbreaker’s servers, but will give anyone interested a chance to play the game for the first time. You’ll have the chance to try the various captains, construct team rosters and paint characters up to your liking. Any custom paint jobs from the playtests will be carried over when Moonbreaker heads into early access, Unknown Worlds have promised. As long as you buy the game, obvs. Player progress is going to be wiped though.

Alice Bee previewed Moonbreaker last month, and she thought it was looking pretty interesting indeed. “The board you're on has landscaped features designed to look like a custom build you'd see in Games Workshop on a Friday night,” she said. “The water looks like poured epoxy resin, and the banks are covered in plants made of that grassy dust stuff. It's a sort of labour of love for Unknown Worlds, a digital exploration of a favourite hobby.” Her only issue was whether people who enjoy tabletop miniatures will be bothered about the game, rather than just buying more miniatures in real-life.

You can sign up for the playtests by logging into Steam, heading to the Moonbreaker store page and clicking Request Access. Moonbreaker is launching into early access on September 29th. There’s more info about Moonbreaker on the official site here.

CJ used to write about steam locomotives but now covers Steam instead. Likes visual novels, most things with dungeons and/or crawling, and any shooter with a suitably chunky shotgun. He’s from Yorkshire, which means he’s legally obliged to enjoy a cup of tea and a nice sit down.

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