Promising RTS Dinolords, which is basically Age of Empires with dinosaurs, is getting a closed alpha playtest that you can join later this month

Dinolords is one of those ideas that sells itself the second you hear about it, a colourful blend of RTS and ARPG that sees medieval knights and marauding Vikings take to battle on the backs of roaring, stomping, terrible lizards. I've been eager to try it ever since it was announced, and the first real opportunity to do so is rapidly approaching. At the end of this month developer Northplay is running a closed alpha playtest, and you can sign up to test its tyrannosaurs right now.

In a Steam post, Northplay explained the closed alpha will comprise a "small slice" of Dinolords, though to my eye it looks like a sizeable slab of stegosaur steak. The closed alpha will let players get hands-on with a three-part tutorial, after which they'll be able to explore four distinct maps, two different game modes, and a "'campaign' setup with cross-level progression." That's enough to give Fred Flintstone indigestion.

All of this will let players experiment with Dinolords' core systems, which includes typical RTS mechanics like basebuilding and unit control, as well as the more ARPG-inspired combat. The playtest will apparently focus on the game's Viking faction, though you'll naturally be able to control an array of dinosaurs too.

Lucky lizard wrangler Robin Valentine managed to grab half an hour with Dinolords at this year's Gamescom. He came away convinced it'll prove to be more than a one trick pachycephalosaur, describing it as "mechanically a much more creative and interesting game than you're likely expecting."

A crucial part of this is how your perspective on battles is locked to your titular dinolord, meaning you're always at the centre of the action, as Robin explained: "Jumping onto a velociraptor steed lets me speed between different settlements and battlefronts. Then I'm hunting for nests in the forest so I can steal the giant eggs and use them to recruit new dino species. As I set up my base, I'm enchanted to see that the lumber mill sends out a specially trained triceratops to uproot the trees and carry them back for sawing into logs." Sounds rad, honestly.

If you're interested in participating in the closed alpha, you can request access to the playtest via the Dinolords Steam page. Northplay stresses that not everyone who asks to join will necessarily be invited, and that when the playtest commences, the studio will be "letting in players in batches starting at the end of October."