The first-person online melee battler Mirage: Arcane Warfare came out of our review looking pretty good: "Interesting classes, engaging melee gameplay, and an exciting arena mode" is solid praise by any measure. There's only one problem: The game servers are woefully underpopulated. That's a situation developer Torn Banner Studios hopes to turn around with a free weekend, beginning at 10 am PT on June 8 and running until 1 pm PT on June 11.
Torn Banner also announced that the first major content update for Mirage will add a pair of new 3v3 Arena maps, new customization gear, and other content that will be revealed later. A solid release date hasn't been revealed but it's expected to be ready to go in July.
Free weekends are great for gamers, but this one is definitely not great for Mirage and Torn Banner. The game went live on Steam just two weeks ago, and the fact that it's already being dangled as a freebie does not bode well for its future. The Steam numbers tell the tale: There are, at this moment, only 25 people playing, and its all-time peak is just 190.
Mirage: Arcane Warfare is currently on sale on Steam for ten percent off, dropping it to $27/£21/€25 until June 21, so if you give it a shot over the weekend and like what you see—and hey, it's not like you can go wrong for the price—you can pick it up for a bit of a break.
