Fragmentary Order has finally shown how it plays, and it came with a price tag. Escape from Tarkov game director Nikita Buyanov has premiered a 14-minute gameplay trailer for his sci-fi tactical shooter, then opened paid closed testing from $44.99, Inven Global reports. Automaton reports the same reveal and the same two prices.
We could not check the official announcement or the Prime Batch page directly, so every detail below is credited to the outlet reporting it.
What the footage showed
Inven Global describes the trailer as 14 minutes of in-engine footage, and the first proper look at the game. Automaton says it was shown during a Twitch broadcast featuring Buyanov.
The setting is the Solar System in 2251. Players fight through RepEnts, remotely operated clones, across large maps with changing environmental conditions, vehicles, drones and smart systems, according to Inven Global. Squads can hold up to four players.
Automaton gives the closest description of how it actually plays. In the video, a player scavenges for supplies and fights alongside a teammate, and at one point connects to a drone the ally has deployed to scout the area. The weather shifts during play.
Tarkov players will recognise a lot of it. Automaton says much of the interface and systems resemble Escape from Tarkov, with health tracked per body part, plus hydration and food gauges and carry weight.
The fiction has its own twist. Inven Global reports that war in this future has been outsourced, and losing a clone counts as a cost, not the end. The announcement calls death "a business expense" and combat "labor".
What Prime Batch costs
Prime Batch is the paid early access programme, and Automaton says it gets buyers into the game before any public beta. Inven Global lists two tiers, citing the Prime Batch page:
- Candidate, $44.99: alpha sessions, major technical playtests, a "Candidate" rank designation and an in-game package yet to be announced.
- Founder, $79.99: adds a "Founder" package, earlier experimental builds, early roadmap visibility and a closed community with direct access to the developers.
Prime Batch can't be bought once the pre-public development phase ends, Inven Global says. It also reports that a player's rank on cor3.gg, the game's ARG-style companion experience, lowers the price, and that those discounts stack with vouchers from the cor3.gg event.
The first closed alpha wave is planned for later this year under a non-disclosure agreement, per Inven Global. That matters if you're buying in for a look: don't expect testers to be free to share what they see. Automaton says the first test sessions will start soon, and both outlets say another FragOTV podcast episode will share more on the alpha.
Neither report gives a release date.
Who is making it
Fragmentary Order is the debut game from Rant Gaming, an independent studio led by Buyanov with a team of 150 that plans to grow to at least 500 developers, Inven Global reports. It will also be the first major title published exclusively on COR3, a direct-to-consumer PC publisher and platform.
Buyanov's pitch is about longevity. "We're not building a match you play. We're building a world you live in, for years," he said in the announcement quoted by Inven Global. "Tarkov is still worth playing after ten years, and I want Fragmentary Order to be just as playable and engaging a decade from now."
Jax's take: Fourteen minutes is a proper look, but it's still a trailer, not a test. The detail worth reading twice is the NDA: you'd be paying $44.99 or more for a game with no release date, with a first wave nobody can talk about yet. If you're tempted, check your cor3.gg rank and vouchers before paying, because they're the main thing here that can knock the price down.
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