If you want to try The Flock, and there are many reasons why you might want to, I suggest getting in quick.

The Flock is an asynchronous multiplayer horror game, which by itself is a hell of an interesting pitch, but the thing that has really got people interested is the fact that it’s only good for a certain number of player deaths, after which it will be withdrawn from sale, and existing players can tune in for a climactic final phase. When that concludes, The Flock will be unplayable.

As long as you know this before you pony up your ticket price this is a pretty compelling idea. Good news: you can start whittling away at the game’s limited population next week. Polygon reports The Flock will release via Steam on August 16 for $17.

The Steam product page isn’t up yet, but the Humble Store has gone live. Pre-orders will include a second Steam key apparently, which is important as The Flock is all about multiplayer.

The game’s starting population will be 215,358,979 – but while that sounds like a lot now, if you consider the millions of hours totted up during closed beta testing, and that dying is kind of the point of a round of The Flock, we can expect that figure to slim down pretty quickly. For more information on this unique feature, check out a handy FAQ which covers things like suicide trolling and includes some great discussion of why Vogelsap want to do this:

“Most indie multiplayer games lose their player base within a year. Even heavy hitters such as Titanfall and Evolve have a fast dwindling player base,” the team wrote.

“The most popular games such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike still have a somewhat anticlimactic ending of their players’ experience. Because in the end at some point – and this can be after five years or two months – you’ll stop playing because you either got bored of it, you’ve seen it all or you, or your friends have no longer time to play.

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“We want to tackle that problem, and make sure The Flock ends with a climax after which the game will be fondly remembered. Much like a lot of single player experiences where you have a huge battle or a boss fight.”