First Pre-Alpha Playtest of 2026

First Pre-Alpha Playtest of 2026 

Greetings Scavengers, 

the time has come: the next Persist Online playtest is just around the corner! 

Start Date: Tuesday, 7. April 2026 - 04:00 PM (CEST)*
End Date: Sunday, 12. April 2026 - 11:59 PM (CEST)

*Please be aware that the scheduled start time of the playtest is subject to change. Join our Discord or follow us on Social Media for more information.

Sign Up Now for Your Chance to Test

If you haven’t had a chance to test the game in one of our previous playtests, now is your chance. Sign up and with a bit of luck, you will receive an email invite shortly before the test begins. Please note, that playtest invites are randomly drawn from the full pool of sign-ups and there is no guaranteed access.

Since our last test in 2025, we’ve been hard at work improving the game, iterating on feedback, and adding new content and features to the world. Here are a few highlights that you can look forward to trying out in the coming test:

New Content/Features

• Fully reworked the new Player Tutorial 

  • To help new players take their first steps in Persist Online, we have completely reworked the tutorial into three separate parts at the beginning of the game. 

  • Note: A newly created account is needed to experience this.

• New Areas in the world

  • We have expanded and updated multiple areas in and around Ashwater (including stores, warehouses, residential buildings, and rooftops). Additional new areas include the Harbor and Industrial District (north of Ashwater), featuring a train station, nightclub, casino, several hotels, shops, warehouses, and memorial gardens.

• Nodes Feature

  • If you are running low on raw materials, Nodes are the place to go. Nodes are small areas that can be controlled by a single player character for a set amount of time in order to harvest pristine items. When recycled, pristine items provide a higher amount of raw materials for Safehouse tasks than normal junk items. More details here.

New Graphic & Sound Effects

• New Outline Shader

  • To give the game a more distinct and timeless look, we have added outline shading for characters, creatures, and world objects.

• New Ragdoll System

  • We have introduced a new ragdoll system for humanoid zombies and NPCs, resulting in more realistic death animations and reactions.

• We have also added many new visual and sound effects to the game.

Other Content, Game & QoL-Updates

• Nameplate Changes

  • Player (solo, party, and guild), NPC, and creature nameplate colors have been updated and optimized to improve readability and recognition during gameplay.

• Quest Markers

  • Added quest markers for NPCs who still have quests available for player characters.

• Inventory Update

  • We improved item handling in the player inventory and storage (both in the open world and Safehouse).

We have also implemented a large number of bugfixes in the last several pre-alpha updates. You can find the full details in the patchnotes on our website.

Share Your Playtest Feedback on Discord

The best place to stay up to date and connect with our team and fellow testers is our Discord Server. There you can:

• Team up and discuss the game with other community members and testers.

• Report bugs and issues that you run into during the playtest.

• Share your thoughts, impressions, and feedback directly with the Persist Team.

• Suggest ideas on how we can improve the game in the future.

  • Note: In our Discord forums, we also plan to create multiple focus feedback threads to gather in-depth insights on specific Playtest topics. 

Our Community Team (and sometimes members of the dev team) are active on Discord and are looking forward to talking with you.

Content Creation during Playtests

If you love creating content around games and get access to our playtests — fear not! There is no NDA for Persist Online playtests. This means you can livestream your sessions, upload videos to YouTube, and publicly talk about the game. We would love to see your content! 

We also have a small Content Creator Program running. So, if you are interested in joining, you can find all details and requirements in our blog. We look forward to your application.

This playtest is an important milestone for Persist Online and you are a key part of it. Your feedback will help us improve gameplay and overall feel, validate new features, content and systems, and shape the future of the game.

Good luck out there, Scavengers. And remember: Some survive — but only the best persist!