Game studio tests “crazy” 40-player Smash Battle Royale it may never fully release

Game studio Odyssey Interactive is launching a playtest for its latest “crazy” project but it may not even release if players aren’t into it.

Byte Breakers, as it’s currently known, is a 40-player Smash Bros-style Battle Royale. The studio shared a look at gameplay on social media alongside the playtest announcement.

However, this is one of many prototypes the studio has developed as it aims to “find a blend of genres that you haven’t seen before, because as a studio we’d rather try something crazy and fail than just make a game that you feel that you’ve already played”.

The game tease features colorful cartoon characters battling it out on floating platforms, but the camera eventually pans out to show huge arenas with tons of players fighting together.

“We hope you can see the potential,” said the studio, admitting the footage is still early days. “We envision that by taking aspects of the multi-team environment, big open map, power progression, information asymmetry and just general strategic decision making of BRs, smashing those together with solid fundamentals from Smash, we can let players have wild experiences that they ‘d never find in a straight-up platform fighter.

“Parts of it will feel familiar, but we hope that as a whole it’s a new experience.”

The studio concluded: “We trust you and we trust your feedback.”

The prototype follows the previous game from Odyssey Interactive, the “footbrawl” game Omega Strikers, but now it aims to develop the platform fighter genre and welcomes comparisons to Nintendo’s iconic series.

It’s certainly a bold move to launch a prototype that may never receive a full release, but more and more developers are looking to early access to gather feedback from players.

And when releases like Sony’s Concord are removed from sale weeks after release, perhaps an initial playtest before fully committing is a wise idea.

Byte Breakers is available to playtest now over on Steam. Will you be checking it out?