Beautiful Light, answered

A PvPvPvE tactical first person extraction shooter from Deep Worlds SA, an independent studio. Six squads of three operators enter a hostile map, Ground Zero so far, secure an artifact and try to extract by helicopter, while anomalies, monsters controlled by other players, hunt them.

The pitch is horror first. The interface is diegetic, the audio carries breathing, footsteps, heartbeat and gas mask muffle, and the studio is open about the steep learning curve. If a term here is new, the glossary defines it, and the videos page gathers every trailer and dev update.

December 2026, in Early Access, on PC. Deep Worlds has not announced an exact day. The studio intends to release as a work in progress and develop with player feedback, so the launch build is a foundation rather than a finished game.

The release date page is updated the moment anything changes.

PC only for now, through Steam and the Epic Games Store, as detailed on the platforms page. No console version has been announced. Neither store lists a price yet. The only official figures come from an April 2023 Deep Worlds FAQ: 39.99 euros for the Standard Edition and 69.99 euros for a Supporter Edition, with France as the reference. The release plan has changed a lot since, so read them as an old intention rather than the launch price.

Minimum is an i5 8600K, 16 GB of RAM and a GTX 1070, targeting 30 fps at 1080p on low. Recommended is a Ryzen 5 5600X, 16 GB and an RTX 3060, targeting 60 fps at 1080p on high. DirectX 12, 60 GB of space, and an SSD is required at both tiers.

Deep Worlds marks both lists as temporary, which is normal this far from launch. Expect them to move.

Full system requirements breakdown

Yes, and it is the mechanic that separates Beautiful Light from the rest of the genre. A limited number of players per raid take an anomaly slot instead of an operator slot, and their objective is to stop anyone extracting with the artifact.

Anomalies keep a progression track of their own: killing and eating operators earns experience, which feeds a skill tree that unlocks abilities and additional playable anomalies. Early Access ships with one playable anomaly and four AI controlled ones.

Everything confirmed about anomalies

Yes. Full loss rules. Whatever you carried in, and whatever you picked up, is gone unless you reach the helicopter. Leaving without the artifact is a legitimate call, and often the right one.

Quests, secured artifacts and clean extractions pay out. Rewards go into an RPG style progression tree that levels your character and improves skills, or back to the traders for the weapons and equipment. Traders hand out the jobs, and failing them has consequences.

Deep Worlds organises playtests through its Discord and runs them in closed waves rather than open registration. No open beta has been dated. Wishlisting on Steam and sitting in the Discord are the two practical ways to catch the next one.

The studio's own list for full release: a mercenary and contractor system with missions you can publish or complete, a team system with stats, leaderboards, ranks, roles and management, more weapons, gadgets, cosmetics and anomalies, more maps, and a secret expedition game mode.

No date, and no indication of how long Early Access runs.

No. Steam lists it as a paid game and neither store shows a price yet. The only figures Deep Worlds ever gave date from April 2023: 39.99 euros for the Standard Edition and 69.99 for a Supporter Edition. The price page explains why they may not hold.

You can queue alone, but the raid is built for squads of three, and Deep Worlds said after its July 2026 playtests that playing solo is less fun than playing in a team, and that it wants to improve that. Nothing official describes a dedicated solo mode.

24: six squads of three operators, so 18 humans on the ground, plus six anomaly slots held by players. The beginner guide breaks down how a raid runs.

Nothing official. Deep Worlds' CEO discussed wipes in a February 2026 interview, but the studio has published no wipe policy for Early Access. Anyone telling you the wipe schedule today is guessing.

Not yet. The April 2023 FAQ planned a demo for mid 2025, which did not happen, and no demo or open beta has been dated since. Access has only ever been through the closed playtests.

Not announced. In April 2023 Deep Worlds said the game releases on PC and that it was considering PS5 and Xbox Series X if it does well, with no date. Nothing since has updated that, as covered on the platforms page.

Neither, on the part that matters. It shares full loss extraction with both, but the asymmetric monster role is closer in spirit to Dead by Daylight or Evolve, dropped into a tactical shooter. The comparison that holds is tonal: this is the Metro end of the genre, enclosed and oppressive, not the open daylight of ARC Raiders.

Side by side: Beautiful Light vs Tarkov and Beautiful Light vs Hunt: Showdown.