Starbase, the EVE Online-meets-Minecraft game, is looking for more alpha testers

Starbase struck us as an "EVE Online-Minecraft hybrid" when it was announced by Trine studio Frozenbyte in mid-2019, and it certainly promised big things: Build spaceships and entire stations from basic nuts-and-bolts components, explore the stars, form corporations, and go to war with one another (because we always end up going to war, don't we?) in a very destructible universe.

An Early Access release on Steam was expected to take place that year, but it didn't happen and in fact still hasn't happened. Work has continued, though, and going by the latest trailer it's come a long way—far enough that Frozenbyte is now looking for more alpha testers.

There's still a long way to go, of course: The concept of alphas and betas have been muddied over the years but Starbase is still in a very early state. "During Closed Alpha the game will break often and many features are missing or not fully functional - the game is not yet ready for the majority of gamers to join in," Frozenbyte warned. "For most gamers, we would recommend wishlisting game on Steam, that way you will get notified when the game enters Early Access."

But if that doesn't put you off, you can sign up to take part in the testing here. (If you've signed up previously, no need to do so again—all previously-entered names remain in the hat.) Invitations to the alpha will be sent out in "moderate amounts" to start with, but numbers are expected to ramp up significantly over the next couple of months so Frozenbyte can "properly stress-test the game with massive player counts" ahead of the Early Access release, which is now slated to take place in early 2021.

While you wait for that, you can get a closer look at what Starbase is all about at frozenbyte.com, and there's also a Discord server to jump into.