Fear the Wolves drops players, in squads or as lone wolves, into the oppressive environments of a radiation-ravaged Chernobyl. The classic Battle Royale mode forces them to fight to be the last man standing out of 100 fighters, while another to-be-unveiled mode brings an exciting twist to the genre.

To secure the top spot out of 100, players must worry about more than just survival. Across the hostile wastes, everyone is threatened by deadly anomalies and the dynamically-changing weather. With time wearing on and the day turning to dusk, survivors are forced to constantly adapt their strategies. Protective gear allows players to explore dangerous off-limit radioactive zones inaccessible to less-equipped opponents - but filled with powerful loot. All the while, the howls of mutated creatures echo through the wasteland…

While it’s possible to win a game through simply being the last alive, the helicopter extraction adds a whole new dimension to endgame strategy. In the final stages, all remaining players will be alerted to the arrival of the helicopter, which will hover over a fixed area before dropping a rope – and there’s only room for one. Will you rush to be the first to attempt an escape in the hope no one else is there yet? How will you deal with the oncoming assault of not only players, but mutant wolves, anomalies and radiation? How will your squad ensure a teammate survives the intense haul up to the chopper?

Further breaking the mold of the genre, every game is made truly unique by the irregular and unpredictable spread of deadly radiation, which organically closes in on players with different stages of toxicity. Safety is rarely certain, and adept players will need to read the environment to determine when it is no longer wise to remain in an area. Between all this, other players, tight shooting mechanics, and an arsenal of guns and melee weapons at your disposal, no two matches are the same.

Enter the battle for Chernobyl, as Fear the Wolves is available now on Steam Early Access.

Fear the Wolves has already seen tens of thousands of players battling across Chernobyl during the beta period, which has allowed the team to roll out multiple updates and improvements in preparation for the Early Access launch. The focus for the last few weeks has been on ironing out the performance and bug fixes, but stay tuned for a content roadmap in the near future which will give insight on the exciting (and game-changing) new features still to come!

A new map and mode, more weapons, items, mutants, and weather – Vostok Games promise regular, large content patches, with a full plan of the update timeline available on the Steam page throughout development. The community will also play their part, with feedback welcome on everything from weapon balance to new ideas for Fear the Wolves’ unique weather and PvE systems. Further work on server and game stability will also continue for as long as needed.

We’ve seen an incredible range of creative strategies for this endgame, and we can’t wait to see what players come up with over the coming months.

Join us for a developer livestream at 19.00 CEST/ 18.00 BST/ 13.00 EDT / 10 PDT for a Q&A session and giveaways along with live gameplay on Focus Home Interactive Channels.

Fear the Wolves' full game is planned for 2019, including a release on consoles.