Two years ago the game Beacon was introduced by developer Monothetic. The Unity 3D-powered title was pitched as a trap-laden, isometric shooter with tons of weapons, lots of traps to dodge, and a cool synth-fueled soundtrack in a violent, stylistic alien world that begs for you attention in order to maintain a fine thread on survival.

The developers recently announced that Beacon is currently available in first access and can be downloaded right now for $19.99 from the itch.io page.

Keep in mind that there are limited keys available for the first access version of Beacon, so if you’re absolutely desperate to play you might want to play it now, but if it’s not all that serious then you can wait for the full release at a later date when it launches on PC and Xbox One.

The story behind the game is that you take on the role of Freja Akiyama, who ends up on the extremely hostile planet of Kovus-18. However, she doesn’t last long… in fact, she keeps dying.

The gist of the game is that Freja eventually discovers through progress and death – lots of death – she’s been cloned, and that lots of her clones have been attempting to survive on Kovus-18. The latest gameplay trailer gives you an idea of what sort of violent machinations you’ll encounter from the very hostile alien inhabitants and hungry lifeforms that Freja will encounter.

Beacon centers around exploring the planet for resources, fashioning weapons out of the destroyed drop ship that crashed on the planet, and utilizing the clone machine to keep coming back and making your way through the harsh alien environment in order to find a way off the planet.

The game has obvious rogue-like elements, but it ties into the story about the discovery of Freja’s roots, as well as evolving her using a DNA genome mechanic where the more DNA you collect the more abilities you can unlock and add to her arsenal.

The developers wish to use the feedback from the first access phase in order to improve and refine the gameplay. Their goal is to gather feedback and then make a final pass on development before fully releasing the game on Steam and the Xbox Store.

For the limited keys handed out to the itch.io crowd, at the end of the first access phase they will also receive a free Steam key as well.

The first access version contains 25 different enemies, 50 mutations, 50 weapons, 75 items, six unique weather events, four randomly generated levels and a single boss fight. The full version will include 75 mutations, 75 weapons, more than 100 items to collect, six randomly generated levels, and six boss fights.

You can learn more about Beacon by visiting the official website.