If you're curious about the crazy-ambitious space survival game from the makers of EVE Online, it's got a free trial running through the next week and change

CCP Games' space survival MMO, EVE Frontier, is having another free trial for curious players. The trial period started on June 27 and will run through July 7, and you can get in on the action by making an account through EVE Frontier's website. EVE Frontier is a weird one: CCP has described it as its laboratory for experimenting with features and ideas too disruptive or risky to attempt in O.G. EVE Online, which has been running for 23 years and counting now.

Even though it uses blockchain on the backend, Frontier is the one crypto-adjacent game I've been willing to hear out. CCP's prior experience with managing a digital economy got its foot in the door, while the game's ambitious and unique modding support presents a blockchain use case that actually intrigues me as someone who likes games⁠—not more empty promises to any crypto joiners somehow still lurking out there.

Frontier offers "server-side modding at runtime," which is to say you can implement mods that will impact you and other players alike all while the game is running, with hard-coded rules implemented through blockchain serving as the "moderation"—no giving yourself god mode or infinite ammo. Examples of mods produced so far in early access include DIY PvP matchmaking and a game-within-a-game 4X strategy sim.

That's just inherently cool to me, and firmly earned Frontier a similar status to base EVE as a game I don't have room in my life for⁠—I could see the appeal in a brief hands-on experience, but also felt like I might need a master's degree to really enjoy myself⁠—but absolutely want to keep tabs on⁠.

There's just nothing else attempting to incorporate modding and user-created content in a live service game in the same way. Well, maybe Roblox, but Frontier might actually be more approachable for someone born before the year 2000 and less cutthroat on the monetization front, crypto and all.

Some features promised for later updates might lure me in directly though, particularly a more cinematic and action-oriented "driving camera" for those of a dogfighting persuasion. Currently, Frontier has controls and UI closest to base EVE, like an RTS with no pause where you only control one unit. It's possibly one of the most "in progress" early access games I've ever seen, with multiple server wipes and huge gameplay overhauls in the cards before a 1.0 launch that sounds like it's years away.

But if you're undaunted and want to check in on a pretty singular MMO experiment, there are no strings attached until July 7. You can get in on the action by making an account through EVE Frontier's website then downloading the game client.