After joining the Somnia ecosystem in June this year, developer Realm Studios has officially kicked off its Open Playtest for Variance on July 31, 8 PM UTC, on the growing gaming blockchain, and you have a very limited time to play and earn leaderboard rewards.

What Is Variance?

Variance is a free to play anime roguelike RPG in which you fight your way through dynamic dungeons in fast-paced 2D combat while upgrading heroes and beating questlines delivered in the form of seasonal content. The game runs on Somnia to enable seamless integration of various web3 features, such as recording all actions on-chain for on-chain verification and anti-cheat security while enabling true player ownership of in-game items that can be traded on secondary markets.

Inspired by web2 hits such as Enter the Gungeon, Dead Cells, and Hollow Knight, fans of such games may very well enjoy this blockchain-powered title, which you can now try out during the playtest for free on PC as a browser-based game. In the future, the game will also be available on Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as on mobile devices, including Android and iOS.

What’s New in Variance’s Somnia Open Playtest?

The Somnia Open Playtest is the game’s very first public playtest that is open to all to play in for free while also being the first test session to have all actions be on-chain.

Next to having all actions recorded on-chain thanks to integration of the Somnia network, players can enjoy a new game mode and compete for leaderboard rewards while participating in giveaways for lootboxes and Golden Tickets.

The new game mode in question is called Endless Challenge. As the name implies, the Endless Challenge mode has you fight an endless wave of different enemies in order to try and survive for as long as you can while clearing up as many waves as possible to rack up a high score. After beating each wave, you get to choose one ability from a set of 3 different powers, giving you more ways to attack your enemies, just like in the game’s main dungeon-based mode. To unlock this new mode, simply play the main Challenge mode a couple of times. This will light up a pink portal on the bottom right side of the Sanctuary map that you start the game in, in the area underneath the main portal and jump pad, with the pink portal accessed by opening a door. If you want to unlock this new mode right away without playing the main one, there is an easy way to do it in-game. If you want a hint: simply explore the Sanctuary map, and you’ll figure it out. But if you just want the answer, then here’s the secret: go all the way to the left side of the Sanctuary map (avoid the jump pad), at the end of which you will find an override switch. Flip it and then go back to the right side, where you should now be able to see the pink portal activated, with the door now open to allow you jump in and enjoy some endless roguelike fun.

Endless Challenge Mode

There seems to only be 1 map for the new Endless Challenge mode at the time of writing, and while it is fun to try and continuously reach high scores, your score in the Endless Challenge mode will not count towards your leaderboard ranking, at least not for this playtest. If you want to compete for leaderboard rewards, then you should try to do your best in the regular mode instead.

When it comes to leaderboard prizes, the top 100 players with the highest scores from the game’s main mode will win various rewards, but even if you don’t rank high enough, it does seem like you will still win at least 1 Lootbox. A Lootbox contains a variety of in-game items and is also awarded to the top 100 players in varying quantities, with the top 3 also winning a Golden Ticket each. The Golden Ticket gives you free guaranteed access to the upcoming mint of the game’s own PFP collection, so if you want a whitelist spot that guarantees you 1 free NFT mint, then this item is one you will very much want to secure.

Here is how the full leaderboard reward distribution looks like:

  • Rank 1: 25 Lootboxes + 1 Golden Ticket
  • Rank 2: 15 Lootboxes + 1 Golden Ticket
  • Rank 3: 10 Lootboxes + 1 Golden Ticket
  • Rank 4-50: 7 Lootboxes
  • Rank 51-100: 5 Lootboxes
  • Rank 101+: 1 Lootbox

Next to earning Lootboxes and a Golden Ticket through skill-based leaderboard rankings, you can also try your luck at winning both of these items through official giveaways. There will be more raffles than usual during the playtest, and you can find them in the #raffles channel of the game’s official Discord server. The server however has its own points system, and you can collect these points by doing social quests accessed through the server’s #quests channel. You can enter raffles with at least 1 point, but you can also enter with more points to potentially increase your chances of winning. If you have enough points, then you might even be able to redeem them for a Golden Ticket through the server’s store section.

How to Play and Earn in Variance During Somnia Open Playtest

You can get started with playing to earn leaderboard rewards by heading to Variance’s official website to launch up the game on your web browser. Signing in is required, and you can do so by using your email address or a social sign in option such as Discord and Google, but after that you’re good to go with playing in this Open Playtest for free.

Variance’s Somnia Open Playtest started on July 31 at 8 PM UTC, and will end on August 3 at 8 PM UTC. You can participate entirely for free, and you don’t need to have an expensive PC to run this game, as it can run very smooth on low-end machines thanks to its use of hand-drawn animations and graphics, which are combined with responsive 2D side-scrolling combat and fun abilities that make for an enjoyable browser-based blockchain gaming experience.

You can complete daily and weekly in-game quests as well as achievements to earn Lootboxes, and as you do so, your goal during this phase should ultimately be to try and rack up the highest score possible by doing your best at progressing through the game’s main dungeon mode, where you need to clear a certain number of waves or complete a certain objective before going to the next map. Head on over to the game’s official website to get started.