Hang glide and snowboard in Tencent’s BR Ring of Elysium next week

A couple of days ago we talked about one of the most promising Battle Royale games in the works, Tencent's Ring of Elysium. Previously announced as Europa, this game is shaping up to give PUBG a run for its money. As for Fortnite Battle Royale, well… let's not get too enthusiastic.

Ring of Elysium will be available on Steam on September 19, 2018, Tencent has officially announced. It will be free-to-play and runs on the studio's in-house next-gen engine QuickSilver X. The snowy, mountainous region where the game is set is the star of Ring of Elysium. What makes this game stand out from the crowd – apart from the realistic visuals – is the addition of features such as a dynamic weather system that affects the zones of the map and forces players into adopting survival strategies. For example, there is a risk of avalanche in some places which will destroy all buildings and players within range. Hypothermia is another one of the dangers that players will face.

You can play in first-person or third-person, use vehicles to travel by land, sea or air (hang gliders, among others), and you can climb cliff faces using an ice ax, just like that one adventurer called Lara Croft. Tencent says that there are objectives to complete apart from the tired ‘kill them all' of other Battle Royale games, and there won't be a winner – there will be four, as the escape helicopter has four places, hence four winners.

There are a couple of versions of Ring of Elysium available in Thailand and Indonesia and these feature a second, ‘less snowy' map that doesn't seem to be included in the English release, at least for the Steam launch. It could eventually come into the game later down the road.

Ring of Elysium is one of the most exciting Battle Royale games in development, and while the shadow of the aforementioned games and the promising Blackout mode from the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 game is huge, this could turn out to be a nice surprise.