By Sagar V. Mankar Supervive, the highly anticipated game featuring a character inspired by League of Legends player Faker, has launched on Steam in early access with impressive numbers. The game has already attracted over 36,000 concurrent players at its peak, building on its earlier success as the second most-played demo during October’s Steam Next Fest, where it was only surpassed by Delta Force.
A Fresh Genre Blend from Gaming Veterans
Developed by Theorycraft Games, a studio founded by former Riot and Blizzard developers, Supervive brings together multiple gaming genres in an innovative way. The game combines MOBA-style perspective and controls with battle royale elements and hero shooter mechanics. This unique blend is immediately apparent in its polished presentation, which shows clear influences from games like Overwatch in its character design.
Gameplay Features and Modes
The free-to-play game offers several engaging modes:
- Put 40 players into a top-down battlefield where they compete in teams of two or four players
- A 4v4 deathmatch mode
- A comprehensive practice mode
- A teased solo mode coming as a “special game mode event”
What sets Supervive apart is its hybrid gameplay system. While using familiar MOBA controls, players drop onto a battle royale map instead of traditional MOBA lanes.
The game also features a unique PvE element, with players encountering minions and challenging “Meteor Bosses” throughout their matches.
The Faker Connection
Among the game’s diverse roster is Jin, a “dangerous blink assassin” character inspired by T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
Jessica Nam, Supervive’s Executive Producer and former League of Legends producer, explained at the latest G-Star 2024 event press conference (noted by Korea JoongAng Daily) that they wanted to capture Faker’s iconic flashy playmaking style in this character design.
[He] is kind of this flashy playmaker, and I think that’s why he’s iconic in so many ways. He has that mechanical gift, and I wanted to [have] a flashy playmaking hunter.”
The development team is also working on “culturally resonant” skins for Jin, who is one of 16 playable hunters in the game.
Early Access and Future Plans
Theorycraft Games has outlined a six-month to one-year early access period, during which they plan to:
- Polish art, environment, and UI to launch quality
- Add more metagame progression systems
- Address emergent gameplay issues
- Implement community feedback
Joe Tung, CEO of Theorycraft Games and former Vice President at Riot Games, expressed long-term commitment to the game. Tung stated, “We hope [Supervive] goes on for years and years… We hope to build the game, with our players, over a long period of time and continue to iterate on it and improve it, hopefully, forever.”
The game’s launch has been met with positive reception from players and viewers alike. Along with its impressive player count, Supervive has garnered favorable user reviews on Steam and maintained strong viewership on Twitch, with around 48,000 viewers during its initial launch period.