This 40-Player Smash Bros. Battle Royale Game Is Free to Play Right Now

Platform fighters don’t get much better than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the rest of the Super Smash Bros. games, but one studio is trying something different with the formula, and it’s letting try it as well for free. Developer Odyssey Interactive announced this week a new game called “Byte Breakers” which the studio itself has described as a “Smash Battle Royale.” That’s exactly what it is, too, with 40 people able to battle on a massive platforming stage at one time. There’s one big caveat to the game, however: it’s only a prototype, and the full version may not ever actually release.

Unlike Super Smash Bros. Ultimate which is only on the Nintendo Switch, Byte Breakers is only playable on Steam right now. If playing on the PC isn’t an issue, you’re basically in the clear to start playing right now since Odyssey Interactive said all you have to do to play is head to the Steam page and request access. Players may be let in in waves to avoid too much congestion, but people are already playing as of this week when the test went live sooner than expected due to popular demand.

“We’re not trying to make a better Smash,” said Dax Andrus, the founder of Odyssey Interactive. “We’re trying to build an evolution of the genre that Smash started way back when we were kids.”

But the developers also stressed that this is just a prototype — one of several prototype games that Odyssey Interactive is working on, actually. This game may not release, and the next game that the studio may not release, but the developers said they want to get very early feedback from players to see if Byte Breakers is something worth pursuing or if they should just “go next” instead.

If the Developer’s name sounds familiar, Odyssey Interactive is the studio known for creating its debut game, Omega Strikers, which released in 2022. Omega Strikers featured a cast of original characters created by developers who used to work at Riot Games and other high-profile studios while the game itself featured a blend of combat, character abilities, and hockey. In 2023, however, Odyssey Interactive announced that it was moving away from Omega Strikers to work on something else while still staying within the Omega Strikers universe.

Which, if you played that game, explains why the characters look similar, because they’re the exact same characters. Not all of them are playable yet, but ones like Juliette, the poster player in Omega Strikers, is in Byte Breakers. Omega Strikers added new characters at a pretty brisk pace when work on the game was more active, so the same can hopefully be said for Byte Breakers moving forward.

For those who want to play Byte Breakers for free on Steam, all you have to do is request access. The servers will be off and on at certain times throughout the weekend, however, so it’s best to keep an eye on the game’s Twitter account for updates so that you know when you’ll be able to play.