Billed as a 'spiritual successor' to 2011's free-to-play MOBA Bloodline Champions, Battlerite has become a runaway hit since entering Steam's Early Access programme in September. As a measure of its popularity: just two weeks after launch it'd accrued somewhere in the region of 200,000 players, and is now free to try this weekend if you fancy adding yourself to that list.

As you've no doubt spotted here at PC Gamer and over on PC Gamer Pro, Chris knows a thing or two about Dota 2. When he first discovered Battlerite, he admitted expecting a "stripped-back" version of Valve's multiplayer battler—"a sort of 'just add water' teamfight solution"—however instead found this:

"Battlerite is an extraordinarily well-designed game, and digging into each of its heroes reveals a skill ceiling that I can just barely glimpse from my position down here in the trenches. Where once I looked at a MOBA's compressed action bar and thought 'easy', now I'm looking at six abilities and their EX variants plus bespoke conditional effects and seeing the long road to mastery stretch out in front of me."

Starting this Thursday, December 1, and running through till Sunday, December 4, Battlerite is free to try on Steam and is also running a 25 percent discount. "Use this opportunity to invite your friends who have shown an interest in Battlerite," says developer Stunlock, who has also dropped the following trailer to welcome new faces.

For even more Battlerite-ousness, check out Tom's interview with Stunlock Studios' Martin Lövgren.