Update: All 10,000 keys have been distributed! Enjoy the beta, gang.
SOS is pretty and promising, and I've got a few thousand beta keys to give away today. The first project of Outpost Games, SOS is an interesting take on the battle royale genre. 16 players compete not just to stay alive, but for fame and the adoration of real viewers watching via livestream. Here's an official description:
Players are tasked with retrieving a valuable relic in order to claim one of three seats on an escape helicopter. Survival is key, but winning isn’t as simple as outlasting the competition. In order to escape the island, players will need to use the power of both voice and personality to build bonds with other contestants and navigate the dangerous terrain. Scheming, strategizing and even backstabbing are commonplace and the contestants who do them most skillfully often have the best chance to escape.
It's like a mock reality TV show mixed with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. From my article last week: "You've probably seen clips of clever roleplaying and acts of social engineering in sandbox games like DayZ, or GTA 5 roleplaying, or our very own Steven Messner being drugged and forced to sing karaoke in ARK. SOS' pitch is that it explicitly encourages and designs for the sort of pretending that players are already getting up to in these games."
Get a key
Keys are available through the widget above—simply use the enter your email and look for an email shortly thereafter. We won't distribute this information elsewhere, it's purely for this giveaway.
Here's instructions on how to redeem the key on Steam, if you need help.
For more info on SOS, visit the game's website at www.sosgame.com.