Firefall paints a beautifully devastating vision of Earth, 200 years in the future. The promise of a new clean energy source, Crystite, leads to the disastrous arrival of the Melding, a hostile energy storm that engulfs most of our home planet. Earth’s surviving humans must band together in the eye of the Melding storm to save our species. Unfortunately, a new danger emerges as a bloodthirsty race known as The Chosen threatens humanity’s survival.

Players will protect the Earth through the use of high-tech battleframes, which can be customized extensively to unlock the power of Firefall’s class-based combat. Battleframes allow players to specialize in their favorite style of play, while giving them the flexibility to swap and trade their way to new configurations on-the-fly. Whether you enjoy supporting your team, aggressively assaulting an enemy position, or sneaking behind enemy lines, there is a battleframe for you.

Firefall will feature a free-to-play model that allows players to experience every detail of the vibrant world without having to pay a penny. Updates to the game, dynamic world events, and other content will also be offered without a price tag, while a marketplace will allow fans to purchase optional enhancements.

Red 5 Studios will be hosting a series of “Beta Weekends", offering thousands of new players 48-hour beta access to experience Firefall’s gameplay and to stress-test the servers.

“We’ve seen an overwhelming demand for access to Firefall’s beta since we began testing last year,” said Mark Kern, CEO of Red 5. “The fact is, the growing number of registered players continues to outpace our servers and with closed beta testing going into 2013 that won’t change in the short-term. These Beta Weekends are the solution. We’re inviting thousands of new players to temporarily join Firefall for some huge server stress-tests, giving us valuable feedback, giving them a taste of the game, and helping to prepare Firefall for much larger numbers.”

Firefall’s upcoming Beta Weekends are scheduled Nov 30-Dec 2 and Dec 7-9. These are North American and European 48-hour stress-tests with players encouraged to find bugs, test various features and help the developers improve the beta by providing feedback. Interest fans can sign up here for Firefall and the upcoming Beta Weekends.

Red 5’s Founders Rewards program unlocks exclusive bonuses for founding members as new funding goals are reached. With the first funding goal already achieved thanks to early supporters, all founding members have been given Virtual Camouflage Goggles. Upcoming items and live progress updates can be tracked, and new players will still gain access to all unlocked rewards by purchasing a Founders Pack.