The Arena player-versus-player system coming in Diablo III blew fans away at BlizzCon 2010. Stunlock Studios' newly-released free-to-play PC arena combat game Bloodline Champions feels a lot like Blizzard's competitive multiplayer mode.


I couldn't get enough of Diablo III Arena combat at BlizzCon. Bringing the fast-paced, mouse-drive combat of Diablo into a competitive multiplayer game made for an extremely satisfying experience. It's the kind of player-versus-player combat that an action role-playing fan might excel at. I did rather well, all things considered.


Unfortunately we've still got a long wait before Blizzard is ready to release Diablo III. In the meantime, there's Bloodline Champions.

Developed by Stunlock Studios in cooperation with Age of Conan developer Funcom, Bloodline Champions is a five-on-five arena combat game in which players choose from a selection of pre-made characters to participate in action-packed team-based battles for dominance.

The game began life as a student project, and evolved into a game that drew more than 200,000 players into its beta test.

"We started working on this game as a student project during our time at university, and it is fantastic to sit here today and see our game launching worldwide to the general public," says the CEO of Stunlock Studios, Tau Petersson. "We are very proud of what we have achieved, and would not have done so without the support of our brilliant beta testers. The game now stands as a testament to all our hard work and we are very happy with the result. We are very excited to keep supporting and growing the game even further."


The end result is a game that plays a great deal like the multiplayer Blizzard unveiled last year for Diablo III, only without the balance issues caused by Diablo's deep character customization system. It's fast, furious, and ridiculously entertaining.

Now Bloodline Champions has officially launched, and it's available right now Just head over to the game's website and download the client.