'I think we'd accidentally created the most hardcore extraction game of all time:' EVE Vanguard is taking hard-won playtest lessons into a '24/7 Alpha'

Tomorrow, November 10, EVE Online is releasing a new expansion, Fractured Skies, and companion FPS EVE Vanguard is going into something Fenris Creations is calling a 24/7 alpha. Formal early access on Steam is coming late next year, but you can buy the game and play it through EVE's own client⁠ —and it won't go away like prior playtests.

Tomorrow will also see Vanguard start to fulfill its promise as a linked game to EVE Online⁠—completing contracts in the multiplayer FPS will create military campaign opportunities players can find and act on in EVE—marking the return of a dream Fenris (formerly CCP Games) has pursued since the ill-fated PS3 shooter, Dust 514. I sat down with Vanguard game director Scott Davis and EVE design director Greg Hennessey to talk about what's coming tomorrow and further down the line.

From a pure gameplay perspective, Davis told me that NPC AI and new player onboarding are the biggest improvements in Vanguard since …