Welcome to the latest Tyr dev update.

We're talking about the end of the current playtest, a new weekend event, the dates for our next playtest, the Founder's Pack, this week's balance patch, and a sneak peek at what's coming at the end of the month.

Find the update in video and written forms below.

Let's get into it.

The playtest ends Sunday, August 16th at 6:00 PM PT

We've extended this playtest a few times now, and this time is 100% the last. The current playtest ends on Sunday, August 16th at 6:00 PM PT, and there will be no further extensions.

The last several weeks have been incredible. You've shown up in force and given us the kind of feedback that only comes from thousands of real matches. Now we need the time to go heads down, put that feedback to work, and get Tyr ready for showtime.

Here's when the playtest ends in major time zones worldwide.

Once the playtest ends, we'll close access on Steam. You'll still be able to get in, though. As with previous playtests, our Discord community has access to invites that provide instant playtest admission, so if you're not in yet, or you have a friend who wants to join, ask for an invite in our Discord.

And while the playtest is offline, Custom Games will still be playable. We have custom games kicking off in our Discord all the time, so if you're looking for a match between playtests, that's the place to be.

Full Stack Saturday & Sunday

You've told us you want more opportunities to form full Squads of 8, and we hear you. This weekend, when our player population is at its highest, we're turning on Full Stack Saturday & Sunday.

From 9:00 AM PT on Saturday, August 15th, until the playtest ends at 6:00 PM PT on Sunday, you'll be able to queue up with a full Squad of 8.

Our goal is to offer this all the time. As our playerbase grows, though, we'll need to limit full Squad queueing to windows like this one to keep matchmaking healthy for everyone. Enjoy it while it's here, and let us know how it goes. We're especially interested in match quality for all players.

The next playtest begins August 27th

We'll be back with another playtest beginning Thursday, August 27th, at 12:00 PM PT. Access will open again on Steam once the playtest begins, and the duration of this one is still to be determined. We'll share the full schedule as soon as it's locked in.

Here's when the next playtest starts in major time zones around the world.

This playtest will likely also be your last opportunity to earn the Alpha Player Title, which we'll grant to every playtester who played before our Early Access release. If you've already been playing, you're set. If you've been waiting to jump in, this is your chance to lock in a title that says you were here from the beginning.

And speaking of Early Access: we're still slated for Q3 2026. Every playtest gets us closer, and this next one will include a larger patch with plenty of new things to dig into.

The Tyr Founder's Pack

If you've been playing Tyr and enjoying it, the Founder's Pack is a way to support development and get some cool stuff in the process. It's purely optional cosmetic content that looks sweet but provides no gameplay advantages. Tyr is a free game, and it will stay that way; this pack exists for players who want to go a step further and put their name behind what we're building.

The pack includes:

• An exclusive in-game founder title to showcase your early support

• An exclusive golden Tyr charm

• 3,000 Gold to spend on tank styles, charms, or Kill VFX of your choice (that's enough for up to six tank styles)

• Our thanks and gratitude for your vote of confidence in Tyr

At $14.99, you're getting 3,000 Gold at half price, plus the exclusive title and charm, plus the warm fuzzies that come with supporting Tyr's development. And if you haven't played Tyr yet: the game will be free, so give it a spin first and only pick up the pack if you really love it.

View game page

Mid-month balance patch

We typically patch at the end of each month, but this week we shipped our first small mid-month balance patch. The goal is to address things we've discovered since the last big patch with targeted changes and number tweaks, while keeping our stride for the next big one. If this experiment works well, expect more of these between the major patches.

Highlights:

• Ikarus: Increased drag in glide mode so gliding slows more over time. We have more changes in the works for Ikarus, so this is an interim nudge in the right direction. Repeated strafing runs should now be harder and riskier, since you'll lose more speed each time you glide through. We're particularly looking at strafing runs and how to increase opportunities for counterplay.

• Rook: Reduced armor on the mantlet weak spot from 60mm to 50mm.

• Helio: Made the inner front armor, rear hull, and rear of the turret more readable and consistent to shoot at, especially at low penetrations, and reduced turret "ear" armor from 65mm to 45mm.

• Tempest: Increased max speed from 44 to 46, max reverse speed from 20 to 28, hull traverse speed from 41.72 to 48, and gun depression from -6 to -6.5. Tempest can be extremely strong in the right situations but has struggled to find them as we've introduced more maps and tanks. These changes make it more flexible and easier to drive rather than increasing its raw power.

We also fixed a handful of bugs, including match start spawn walls now blocking projectiles, a fix to Drift Sparker's description to match its behavior, and an issue that forced you back to the Standard Game Mode when someone left your squad.

Community showcase

The fanart showing up in our Discord has been incredible, and it keeps getting better. This week, we want to highlight the simplified LEGO tanks from @callmeanuglybugagain and @The lil' sengi on Discord, who have been recreating Tyr's roster brick by brick.

We've also been loving the in-game photography thread from @Momstuff.

If you're making Tyr art of any kind, share it in our Discord. We see it, we love it, and it might end up in a future post.

Tournament this weekend

Our $2,500 pre-release tournament kicks off Saturday, August 15th at 1:00 PM PT, and it's shaping up to be our most competitive one yet.

• First place takes home $1,300 USD

• Second place $700

• Third and fourth $250 each

Team Cyanic is our newest champion after dethroning THUMBS, and they'll be looking to defend their title against a hungry field. If your team wants in on the action, pop into our Discord server to register for future tournaments.

We even take Free Agents. If you don't find a team, we'll do our best to form one for you. Just sign up.

Thanks for being here, thanks for playing Tyr, and thanks for making this community special. If you haven't already, wishlist Tyr on Steam.

Hope to see you on the battlefield this weekend for one last ride in this playtest. 🫡

View game page