Beastieball Final Playtest Preview: Sailing on the Chroma Sea

The third and final playtest for Beastieball takes the game to a completely new area, the Chroma Sea. I was lucky enough to get a preview of it over the last week thanks to developer Wishes Ultd. and publisher Klei Publishing. Previous playtests have been stuck on land but at the beginning of this new playtest, the player takes to the open water. Having already played six hours of playtest content, I was shocked to find such a different gameplay experience when I obtained my boating license in Beryl. This small preview has me even more excited to see what the full game has in store when it launches in Early Access later this year.

It’s no secret that I have been a long-time fan of monster-taming games, and Beastieball has been a huge obsession of mine this year. It wears its charm on its sleeve in its vibrant and creative beastie designs, catchy soundtrack, and turn-based volleyball matches. But one thing that has impressed me is Beastieball’s insistence on respecting the beastie’s autonomy. They are never stuffed into a ball, a computer, or even made to engage in direct combat. Up to five teammates will always follow you around in the open world and any that are “on reserve” will simply return to their natural habitat. You can even find them in the wild and have practice matches against them.

The final playtest, featuring the Chroma Sea, will be available on Steam starting October 14th, the first day of Steam’s Next Fest. If you’ve already been accepted into a previous playtest, you will automatically gain access on that date. But if you haven’t participated yet, now’s the time to sign up on Beastieball’s Steam page for a chance to be included. Any previous playtime, whether in a previous playtest or the free demo, will carry over to the new playtest.

My first few moments in the new area, the Chroma Sea, found me recruiting multiple new beasties to my team, such as the adorable shark/puppy creature called Pupper and the turtle/ruffian, Turogue.

There is a lot to enjoy about the Chroma Sea, from the new beasties to discover, to the slightly changed battle theme. It feels completely different from the land in that the boat slides around a lot more, the environment itself is just so wide open, and discovering new places to explore also involves finding where to dock the ship. There is also one island that I don’t want to spoil, but it has a really fun side quest tied to it that will send you all over the sea.

For those who haven’t heard me talk about Beastieball before I do also have to mention how much more tactical and deep the beastieball matches are. When I first learned about the game I thought it looked great, but I wasn’t sure how much detail could go into a turn-based volleyball game. If I’ve learned anything from playing Beastieball, it’s that a lot can go into it, and even with multiple major wins under my belt, I can tell there’s still a lot to learn.

The Chroma Sea playtest is available on October 14th! If you haven’t participated in a playtest previously, now is the time to sign up! There is also still a free demo available and, while there isn’t an exact release date yet, Beastieball is planned to launch in Early Access on Steam before the end of the year. The entire story will be playable in Early Access so don’t worry about having to wait even longer.

Also, there are plans for a Beastieball tournament at the end of this final playtest. Maybe I’ll compete? No matter what though I will be very curious to see how that plays out.

Are you going to sign up for the Beastieball playtest? Are you looking forward to the Early Access launch later this year? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!