Arkheron Closed Beta Test Begins July 16 on Steam
DRIMAGE and DRIMAGE JAPAN announced on July 9 that the worldwide simultaneous closed beta test for the team-based PvP game Arkheron will run on Steam from July 16 at 10:00 a.m. to July 27 at 4:00 p.m. JST. Developed by Bonfire Studios, Arkheron is a battle royale where up to 45 players (15 teams) climb a tower as memory-less beings called Echoes, competing to be the last team standing. The CBT uses version 0.21.0, which incorporates feedback from the September 2025 alpha test and the February 2026 demo. New player-friendly modes are introduced: Learning Spires, a practice mode for learning item selection and build crafting after the tutorial, and Spires, a 3v3 arena mode for honing combat skills. These modes address a skill gap identified in earlier tests between the tutorial and the main Ascension mode. During the test, Ascension is available only on weekends and holidays from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, while Learning Spires, Spires, tutorials, training, bots, and custom games are always open. The update also includes performance improvements such as reduced crashes, lower ping, shorter load times, and optimized CPU/GPU usage, plus new progression and collection systems to encourage repeated play. Arkheron is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.