Frostkeep Studios is bringing Rend up the Pacific coast to Los Angeles for Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, better known as E3! In addition to presenting a new Rend preview to industry partners and journalists behind closed doors, Rend will be playable at the Dell/Alienware Gaming booth (South Hall, Booth #647) with a hands-on demo from June 12-14, 2018 on the expo floor. This latest version of the game will feature Control Points, the Reckoning event, and a first look at mounts and pets.
If you’re enjoying E3 from afar, Rend will be featured on four livestreams during the event:
Twitch
Tuesday, June 12 at 5:45 PM PT (15 minutes)
http://www.twitch.tv/twitch
NVIDIA
Wednesday, June 13 at 11:00 AM PT (15 minutes)
http://www.twitch.tv/nvidia
Alienware
Wednesday, June 13 at 2:00 PM PT (60 minutes)
http://www.twitch.tv/alienware
Indie Heaven
Wednesday, June 13 at 5:30 PM PT (15 minutes)
https://www.twitch.tv/shacknews
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/rend-livestreams-e3-2018
Beasts of Rend: Frabbit
By the time you glimpse one of these elusive creatures, it’s already gone. Skittish and quick to bolt, a frabbit relies on its elongated ears to sense predators and bony front limbs to flee to safety. Muscular prehensile tails allow them to raise their sightline above tall grasses to spot food and threats alike. When cornered, a frabbit will burrow deep into the ground and hide there, listening for the danger to pass. Perhaps it is this behavior that makes them such compulsive groomers, having evolved a tongue the length of a man’s arm that they use to habitually clean soil and parasites from their fur, claws, and even eyes.
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/beasts/frabbit
Biomes of Rend: Hearthhome
Idyllic and bountiful, the gently rolling hills of Rend are the home of your faction base and a sanctuary from the untamed wilds beyond. The dense, verdant grasslands yield fields of bright goldpoppies, ripe hearthmelon clusters, and thick tanglevine bushes. Freshwater pools give way to a shimmering pond on the forest’s edge, frequented by grazing beasts. Still, only the foolhardy let their guard down while they slake their thirst: lone prowlfangs have been known to leave the Stagswood to hunt unwary prey.
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/biomes/hearthhome
Alpha Roadmap: Control Points
Rend’s first Alpha roadmap feature is Control Points, a set of nine ancient relics that can be captured by factions for tactical advantages. Introduced in this week’s game update, they grant valuable rewards that can sway the balance of power for the faction that holds them: a bounty of experience points, faction reputation, and loot drops when captured as well as a steady source of spirits, research sparks, and the chance for artifact items while held. Owning these Control Points could be the difference between losing a cycle or beating the other factions, proving your worthiness to the gods, and ascending victorious to Valhalla.
Let’s highlight how Control Points can make or break a faction!
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/alpha-roadmap-control-points
How to Survive in Rend
Rend challenges players to survive both as an individual warrior and as a team-based faction. This overview provides insight into the obstacles you’ll face to stay alive in the unforgiving world of Rend. Those who have played survival games will feel right at home but should skip ahead to learn about poison debuffs, exacerbating diseases, temperature resistances, and more.
EVERYTHING IS TRYING TO KILL YOU
From the moment you arrive unarmed and defenseless in your faction base, you will have real-world needs to address. Your hunger, thirst, and temperature will be affected by your actions and environment. You’ll need to find water, hunt food, and protect yourself against the elements. Ignoring these basic needs will rapidly damage your health and can cause death.
The insights you gain from learning which resources are dangerous or how to cope with a biome’s temperature are critical discoveries that you can share with your faction. This will create tribal knowledge that will help your faction survive the harsh obstacles of Rend.
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/how-to-survive-in-rend
Before expanding on Rend’s Alpha roadmap with detailed articles exploring the game’s upcoming features, we figure this is the perfect time for a Rend recap!
WHAT IS REND?
Rend is a team-based survival game set in the fabled universe of Nordic myth. This epic fantasy world is a harsh domain where the strong ascend as gods. You must choose from three rival factions, combine forces to build your team’s stronghold, and battle foes and brutal creatures. Together, you will endure the dangers of Rend’s treacherous landscapes to discover valuable resources and powerful artifacts. With the game’s deep talent trees and skill systems, you’ll have the freedom to choose how you want to fight for your team’s victory. When a cycle ends, one faction will be declared the winner… but the end is only the beginning. Victorious players will receive rewards they can use in subsequent cycles as they ascend to legendary heights as heroes.
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Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/rend-introduction
Announcing Rend Alpha
On fansites and forums, Discords and Reddits, even at conventions and on airplanes, we've been asked one question above all others: "Are we there yet?"
Today, we proudly answer: "Yes, we are there!"
Our Rend Friends & Family test is expanding into Rend Alpha, a major milestone for the game and one that we're certain the community has many questions about. While previous playtests have been focused on game client readiness and server stability, Alpha is all about gameplay and your insights as survival genre fans. This feedback-driven stage of testing will not be covered by a non-disclosure agreement or NDA: we encourage our Alpha testers to discuss the game and share their experiences in Rend with the greater community both on the official forums and external channels. Our Alpha forum is public for all to read and engage in but with a small caveat.
Instead of an NDA, this test phase will begin under a strict (but brief) media embargo as announced in December, prohibiting the publishing of Alpha screenshots, videos, and streams by players. This temporary restriction will help our team position and maximize opportunities for Rend by leveraging the game's new content and visuals, such as biomes, monsters, and game mechanics, for exclusives and features with press outlets timed to coincide with our release roadmap. We absolutely plan to engage our current and future content creators during Alpha with initiatives such as invitation giveaways, partnerships, and much more.
By this point, we anticipate "How do I get in?" is our new most common question but there are a number of other important Rend Alpha topics to address. We've assembled the following FAQ based on what we think you want to know about the game's next test phase but want to hear your questions as well: we've created a thread on the Rend forums so you can ask and we can answer them!
Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/announcing-rend-alpha
Developer Letter: Rend's Roadmap
Spring has arrived! Here in Southern California that means daily blue skies, tree pollen covering everything, and for this particular Irvine studio, the arrival of Rend’s next major milestone: Alpha. The team here at Frostkeep has been heads-down and hard at work to get to this stage. Let’s kick off the Rend Alpha right by catching up on what we’ve been up to, what to expect from Alpha, and what’s just over the horizon.
Before diving in, be sure to read about our Rend Alpha announcement and new website and forums!
Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/developer-letter-rends-roadmap
Welcome to the New Rend Website!
Heroes, we welcome you to your new home!
After a little more than a year sharing the same domain, Frostkeep Studios and Rend now have individual websites, each focusing on the company and game separately. We look forward to bringing you a steady cadence of Rend news and feature articles as the game progresses through playtesting.
A sleek new website is just one of our latest developments. We've also launched our official Rend community forums, written a new Developer Letter detailing Rend's roadmap to Early Access on Steam, and perhaps most importantly announced that today marks the beginning of the Rend Alpha! Things are just getting started so, if you haven't yet, be sure sign up for our first public playtest phase and join the community.
From everyone here at Frostkeep Studios, our sincere thanks for being with us on Rend's journey to launch and beyond!
Read more at https://www.rendgame.com/news/article/welcome-new-rend-website
Rend Recap from PAX East 2018
The away team is back from PAX East 2018 where we learned three very important things:
1. Boston is cold, even in April.
2. PAX East may now legitimately be bigger than PAX West.
3. PopSockets are this year’s hot giveaway swag.
This was our third convention of the year and much like with GDC 2018 the response from game journalists shows how well our latest Rend demo was received! Click the news URL below for some clips and quotes from a few press outlets along with links to their full coverage.
