Survive the Arena Shrouded in Darkness: Every fighter must fend for themselves as the darkness creeps in ever closer... Countless will fall and only one will ultimately rise victorious on the fields of the Shadow Arena.

Master the visceral, real-time action to both land attacks on enemies and evade their blows to become the last spirit standing.

Shadow Arena pits 40 players against each other in a ruthless fight to be the last person standing on the battlefield. Players can choose from nine playable characters in the beta, each with their own unique fighting style. To climb to the top of the pack, players must slay monsters and collect loot to upgrade their gear and gain buffs. However, impeccable skill execution and well-timed evasive tactics are critical in securing victory.

Shadow Arena is currently available through Steam Early Access ahead of its full release later this year.

Pearl Abysshas been adding new Shadow Arena content every week based on constant user feedback to improve the game since it entered Early Access in May. 

A new matching system has been introduced to Shadow Arena for beginners. With the new rules, beginners will now be matched against those with similar levels. Players are also encouraged to learn about various content that is currently offered in Shadow Arena to adapt to the game more quickly.  

The Ancient Altar is a special location where players can acquire a variety of buffs or items. There are a total of six Ancient Altars within the battlefield, offering players a buff upon defeating a Shadow Lord. They can activate these altars after destroying the Artifacts that are there. 

Ancient Weapons Laytenn and Puturum are powerful creatures that players will have a small chance of summoning when they activate an Ancient Altar or combine two Ancient Weapon Fragments. They can ride Laytenn or Puturum until its health is completely depleted, but its health will gradually decrease even if players are not under attack. 

Players who defeat monsters will also have a small chance of receiving an item called Red Dragon’s Offering. When they use this item, a Red Dragon will fly towards the players and launch a fire attack using Red Dragon’s Breath, causing great damage to Heroes caught in the flames. 

A Jump Gate is a special feature that allows players to transform into a Black Spirit and quickly move across the map. There are five Jump Gates randomly created in the field that players can access up to four times per match. It is important to plan strategically as the gates have a long cooldown once they are used.  

Last but not least, a Suspicious Cauldron is an object that will appear for the first 10 minutes of each game. Nearby monsters will gather around the Suspicious Cauldron, allowing players to defeat a great number of monsters in a short amount of time. 

Early Access includes 10 heroes, a new skill level, and a quest system. Early Access will also feature six game modes: Solo, Team, Dueling Grounds, Custom, Normal, and AI matches. While the AI and Normal modes return from the open beta testing, players will have four new modes to explore during Early Access. The new Ultimate skill level enables players to level up above level 3 and have more lethal skill. 

During Early Access, there will be 10 heroes available to play, including Jordine Ducas, Orwen, and Badal the Golden. New hero Venslar introduces a new combat style that can be very aggressive or very defensive. Players can enjoy the tactical gameplay by choosing to focus their skill sets on either style of gameplay.

Early Access will also include Beta Seasons, where players’ results in ranked matches will be recorded so they can compete to achieve higher tiers and ranks. Top players will earn prizes such as special hero skins when the Beta Season ends. Pearl Abyss plans to support the competitive aspect of Shadow Arena through events and tournaments. More information about these events will be announced in the future. 

Shadow Arena was originally a game within Black Desert, but eventually evolved into its own stand-alone game. While Shadow Arena does draw from Black Desert, it has created its own unique style, drawing from the MOBA, battle royale, and MMO genres to create an arena fighter. Shadow Arena has two gameplay modes: solo and team. While players can boast their skill in the solo match, complex strategic gameplay is required in the team mode. Players can also enjoy a distinctive co-op mode with a new style of PvP action.

Shadow Arena will be released in the first half of 2020 for PC first and console later.