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11 Overview
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33 Blight: Survival uses an ongoing playtest program to gather community feedback during development. The program operates on a closed, invitation-only basis, with testers recruited from the official Discord server. Haenir Studio and Behaviour Interactive have confirmed that public playtests are coming in 2026, though no specific date has been announced. The developers have stated that the game will not launch in 2026; the playtest program is part of the path toward an eventual release.
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56 Closed playtests
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78 The closed playtest program recruits testers exclusively from the Blight: Survival Discord community (45,000+ members as of March 2026). Selected players gain access to development builds and provide direct feedback to the team. The developers describe these sessions as giving players "their initial chance to experience the game firsthand and directly influence its ongoing development."
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910 Closed playtests began in late 2025 with small groups. The sessions are periodic rather than continuous. Testers are selected based on internal criteria that the team has not publicly detailed. Selection is not guaranteed for anyone who signs up; the team picks from the available pool.
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1112 What testers play
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1314 Based on developer communications, playtests focus on the core gameplay loop: entering No Man's Land, combat encounters with infected and human enemies, extraction decisions, and the flow between preparation at the camp and field missions. Specific builds tested may vary between sessions as the team iterates on different systems.
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1516 Feedback areas
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17-The December 2025 developer update summarized what the team worked on throughout the year: "the core fundamentals of melee combat, enemy behavior, and environments, ensuring they all support the tension, grit, and brutality the medieval world demands." These are the areas where playtest feedback is most impactful. Testers report on:
18+The December 2025 developer update summarized what the team worked on throughout the year: "the core fundamentals of melee combat, enemy behavior, and environments. This keeps they all support the tension, grit, and brutality the medieval world demands." These are the areas where playtest feedback is most impactful. Testers report on:
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1920 Combat feel: whether the 5-directional melee system feels weighty and responsiveEnemy AI: whether infected and human enemies create interesting, varied encountersMission flow: whether the pacing between exploration, combat, and extraction worksEnvironmental design: whether levels communicate danger and reward through visual cuesGeneral polish: bugs, performance issues, balance concerns
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2122 How to sign up
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2324 Players can sign up for playtests through two channels:
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2526 Playtest Squad: Register at bhvr.com/playtest through Behaviour Interactive's official playtest portalDiscord: Join the official Blight: Survival Discord server and watch for playtest recruitment announcements in the designated channels
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2728 Both registration methods feed into the same selection pool. The team recruits from this pool on an as-needed basis for each playtest session.
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2930 Community role
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3132 Senior Creative Director Ashley Pannell has spoken about the community's role in development. At the Future Games Show 2026, he said: "One of the things that we have as a result of this is that we have a community with us, and we have a group of people who are on this journey with us." He added: "We may have not been loud to the world, but we've been very active with our community, talking to our community, making sure that we get their feedback whenever we can."
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3334 This positions the playtest program as more than quality assurance. The community is treated as a collaborative partner in development, with feedback from Discord discussions, playtest sessions, and community polls (such as the May 2023 Twitter/X poll on enemy concepts) all feeding into design decisions.
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3536 Public playtests
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3738 Public playtests are confirmed for 2026 but no date has been announced. These will be broader in scope than the closed sessions, giving a larger audience access to the game for the first time. The March 2026 development update committed to "reveals, playtests, and content" ramping up throughout the year.
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3940 The public playtests represent an important milestone. For most players, they will be the first hands-on experience with the game that has been generating anticipation since its viral 2022 trailer. How the game performs in broader public testing will likely shape both community expectations and the final development priorities before launch.
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4142 Timeline
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4344 DateEventMay 2023Twitter/X community poll on enemy concepts influences design directionJune 2025Discord AMA confirms core design decisions based on community feedbackLate 2025Closed playtests begin with small Discord-recruited groupsDecember 2025Dev update confirms foundational systems are in playable stateMarch 2026FGS 2026 confirms public playtests planned for later in 20262026 (TBA)Public playtests scheduled