The big news: Tyr launches into Early Access on September 2nd, 2026.**

Welcome back to another Tyr dev update. This is a big one.

As always, we’ve got this update in written and video form, so if you’d rather watch and listen, you can do that right here.

With that, let's begin.

Tyr** is launching into Early Access on September 2nd**

We don’t have the exact launch timing locked in yet, but we’re currently shooting for the afternoon Pacific time.

This is a big step for us, but we also want to frame it the right way.

We’ve been working on Tyr for about four years now. We started private playtesting with a very small group more than three years ago, and some of those players are still hanging out in our Discord and playing today. Over time, those playtests have slowly expanded, the game has grown a lot, and we’re really happy with the direction things are moving.

Early Access is not the finish line, though. It’s the next step.

Today's patch represents the content that will be available when Early Access launches. The biggest difference is that, starting on September 2nd, Tyr will be online all the time. No more waiting for playtest windows. No more downtime between public tests. We’ll be moving into a new phase where we take feedback from a much larger audience and keep building, adjusting, and improving as we roll.

It’s another day for Tyr. Just with the servers on. All the time. 😅

Tyr will be free to play

We only sell cosmetics. Nothing is pay-to-win. We don't sell tanks, lock playable content behind money, or sell boosters.

At the start of Early Access, you'll buy cosmetics with Gold. The only way to buy Gold at launch will be through the Tyr Founder’s Pack, though that may change later.

The Founder’s Pack is totally optional. It will launch on September 2nd, 2026, and it will cost $14.99. The Founder's Pack includes:

• 3,000 Gold
• An exclusive Founder title
• An exclusive Golden Founder charm

We value 100 gold at $1, so the pack includes $30 worth of Gold for $14.99, plus the title and charm.

The Founder’s Pack will be available when Early Access launches. We don’t know exactly how long it will stay up, but it is temporary. The current plan is for Tyr to be in Early Access for about 12 months, though that can obviously change, and we do not expect to offer the Founder’s Pack in its current form once we leave Early Access.

This is really for players who want to support Tyr, who have been with us, who believe in the game we’re making, and who want to help feed the server hamsters while* Tyr* is online all the time.

Also, you get some skins and stuff, which is cool.

We are not wiping progress

We will not be wiping progress made during the current playtest phase of Tyr.

If you’ve been playing the playtest and making progress on Tyr, that progress is carrying forward into Early Access.

The final playtest before Early Access starts today

Our next playtest starts today, August 27th, at 12pm PT.

This will be the final playtest before Tyr launches into Early Access on September 2.

Here’s the start time for time zones around the world.

Timezone	** Start Time**
Pacific Time (PT)	12:00 PM (August 27)
Eastern Time (ET)	03:00 PM (August 27)
UTC / GMT	07:00 PM (August 27)
Paris/Berlin (CEST)	09:00 PM (August 27)
Singapore/China (SGT/CST)	03:00 AM (August 28)
Tokyo (JST)	04:00 AM (August 28)
Sydney (AEST)	05:00 AM (August 28)
Auckland (NZST)	07:00 AM (August 28)

We don’t have the exact end time yet, but the playtest will end at some point during the day on September 1st. After that, Tyr will go offline while we handle the server migration for Early Access.

That includes Custom Games, which will be offline during that same time.

Custom Games have been available between playtests recently, but from September 1 to September 2, Tyr will be fully offline. Once Early Access launches, the game will be available again alongside Customs and Standard Queue.

For this playtest, we’re also reopening access on Steam. That means you no longer need to request access and wait for approval. You should be able to go to the Tyr Steam store page, click the playtest button, and jump in.

If you were already waiting for an invite, one should land in your inbox later today when the playtest goes live.

This playtest is also your last chance to earn the Alpha Player Title. That title is only available to players who participated during the playtest phase, so if you want it but haven't played yet, now is the time.

A brand new patch is here

This one is a bigger content patch, with a new graduated tank, a new ping wheel, medals, performance improvements, collision improvements, and more.

We'll highlight the marquee changes here, but you can dig into the patch notes on Steam on the Tyr Playtest page if you have access and on Discord.

Ranger is out of the Alpha Program

Ranger is the fast, aggressive tank that deploys ramps, and with this patch, it now has brand new VO and three new components.

• Redirector Gear: Increases Hull Rotation Speed by 10.00%. Effect doubles while you are reloading.
• Overflow Shunt: Increases your damage by 1.00% per 10 Energy you're holding.
• Cascade Gate: Using an ability while above 50 Energy increases your Energy generation from all sources by 35.00% for 15 seconds.

If you made progress on Ranger while it was in Alpha, that progress is retained. You’ll just need to unlock the tank again.

Ranger's also arrived with a new skin, Ollie, and a Chibi Ranger charm that you can nab with Gold.

(Don't worry, Fortis fans, we've added a Chibi Fortis charm for you to unlock as well).

The ping wheel is here

The new ping wheel is also live in this patch.

Players have been asking for this for a long time. We’ve had a temporary ping system in place for a while, but this is the real starting point for the new ping wheel.

You can bring up the ping wheel by holding T while looking at something in the world. From there, you can ping allies, enemies, and locations with more context than before.

For example, you can tell an ally to move up, fall back, or let them know you’re going to support them. You can ping an enemy. You can ping caution to a location.

You can still open the minimap with V and click to ping there, too.

This is a big upgrade over the basic ping system that’s been in place for a long time, but it’s also a starting point. We’ll keep improving it and tuning things like cooldown timings based on feedback.

So please try it out and let us know how it feels.

Alpha tank pings now have VO

Alpha tanks don't have their final VO yet, but with the new ping wheel, we wanted to make sure they could still communicate audibly in the moments that matter.

So, for now, my dumb voice is the audio for all alpha tank pings. Yes, Joey, the person writing this post, is now the one telling you to fall back or go here when an Alpha tank pings you.

If you hate my voice, please let us know. Or don’t. Actually, maybe don’t.

Medals have been added for more feelsgood.jpg

Medals are another mastery layer for Tyr. If you have a strong performance in a match, you can earn a medal for that tank.

It’s a small way to revel in your own mastery moments with specific tanks, and it feels pretty good to see all of your accomplishments in one place.

Bush performance has been improved

Players have reported frame drops when looking through large amounts of bushes. We’ve improved this with this patch, so you should see better performance in those situations.

As always, if you’re still running into problems, please let us know. The more details you can share about where it happened and what you were looking at, the more helpful it is.

Collision issues have been improved

This is a big one.

Players have reported collision issues around maps. You’d line up a shot that looked like it should clear a rock or another piece of cover, fire, and then boom, it hits something you did not expect it to hit.

This was not just a bad model or collision mesh on one rock somewhere. It was a more pervasive bug, and we believe we’ve solved it.

Collision has been reworked across maps, and you should see a dramatic improvement with this patch.

That said, we are not saying it is 100% gone forever. If you still run into a spot where a shot hits something it looks like it should clear, please tell us.

Screenshots are great. Map coordinates are great. A short description of where it happened is great.

You can share that with us in Discord or on the Steam forums. This kind of stuff is incredibly helpful, and this was something we really wanted to improve before Early Access.

We think we’ve got it in a much better place now, but we still want your input.

The Tyr Community Directory**

We’re adding a new Community Directory to PlayTyr.com, the official Tyr site.

If you go to the Communities section on the official Tyr site, you’ll find a directory of player-run communities, tools, guides, channels, and other resources.

If you have a Tyr community or resource you want listed, you can submit it through this form.

To be clear, these are player-run spaces. We are not affiliated with them, and they are not official Tyr communities. But we wanted to give those communities a visible place on the official site.

Players finding other players is good. We want more of that.

Cyanic defended their tourney title 💪

Team Cyanic defended their title in our August 15th monthly tournament. You can catch the VOD of that championship below.

Congrats to Team Cyanic. The team to beat, two months running.

We host monthly tournaments for Tyr. These tournaments are open to any player so long as they sign up and either have a team or are placed on a team, and there’s a standard cash prize pool at stake.

• 1st place: $1,300 USD
• 2nd place: $700 USD
• 3rd and 4th place: $250 USD each

Signups for the next tournament are live now. The next tournament will take place on September 19th, 2026.

No team? No worries. You can register as a free agent. If we have space for a free agent team, we'll form one. Otherwise, existing team captains can pick up free agents, and that happens pretty often.

If you want to play, hop into our Discord and grab the competitive role to get access to the tournament channels and info. If you’re not sure how to do that, just ask in the Discord and someone will point you in the right direction.

Tyr is almost here for good

The final playtest before Early Access starts today. Tyr launches into Early Access on September 2. Remember, this is your last chance to get the Alpha player title for playtesting* Tyr*.

If you haven’t wishlisted Tyr on Steam yet, it’s the easiest way to get notified when we launch.

Thanks for playing, thanks for testing, and we’ll see you on the battlefield. 🫡