Shadow Arena is a new standalone “Action Battle Royale” from the makers of Black Desert, Pearl Abyss. Right now, the global beta test is live- the first beta available outside of Korea and Russia.
The global beta is adding a few new features. One is a new hero: Badal the Golden. He is a melee fighter that has fast combos with his bare hands, and can land a shoryuken-style uppercut.
Other than that, there is the introduction of Team Mode, where you can pair up and fight together in this 40-person battle royale. There’s also a Practice Mode, where you can try out movesets of heroes with other folks on your own leisure. Private Matches are also added to play with specific people.
The global beta of Shadow Arena is also introducing tier-based matchmaking, a purely skill-based system that will bring better players to play with players of their level.
Note that the servers for the Shadow Arena beta are not live entirely all the time. For Malaysia (GMT+8), servers open at 1PM and close at 10:59PM each day. The beta is running until March 8th.
Shadow Arena is what an MMORPG, more specifically Black Desert, is condensed into a battle royale. It sort of works (we are playing a bit of it right now in this beta). So expect some first impressions of the game soon.
Shadow Arena is slated for release in the first half of 2020, with a console release also planned.