The DeFi Kingdoms team, together with Wisdom Gaming, has announced the official soft launch of the pre-alpha version of Combat Testing Grounds.

Through this early version, players have a chance to take a look at the "backstage" of the in-development combat feature and share valuable feedback and suggestions to the developers in the process in order for them to be able to provide enjoyable and polished combat gameplay. This is also the first time that the team has opened up a pre-alpha of a feature to its community, and as is the case with the pre-alpha of any project, expect various bugs and unfinished parts, with nothing currently on display being a proper representation of the final version.

So, what's included in this very early, desktop-only test phase? Well, you can try out the first 3 combat classes, which are: Archer, Knight and Priest. Each of these heroes comes with placeholder animations, and so do their abilities for the time being. Throughout this pre-alpha, you'll be able to face "cutting edge" Blub AI, which are cute little slimes visible in the above image. Don't expect mobile support, sound effects, status effects nor finalized animations and UI in this pre-alpha.

Players can access this mechanic through Crystalvale and Serendale using the new "Backstage Pass" Power-Up, which costs 50 c/sJEWEL. The power-up can be found at the Power-Up Manger in the Jeweler.

For more detailed info, check out the official article found here.