Dota started off its life as a mod called Defense Of The Ancients for the RTS game, Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. It was so successful that it spawned one of the earliest forms of esports. Then Valve came in and capitalised on the name and thus, Dota 2 was born.

Sometimes the modders are offered to work on the official version, while other times they break off to create their own take. The latter happened with Dota 2 Auto Chess and developer Drodo came up with a standalone version, Auto Chess, so Valve came up with a solution.

They came up with their own standalone iteration: Dota Underlords.

Dota Underlords is a new stand-alone game that pits you against seven opponents in a battle of wits that will have you building, combining, and leveling-up a crew in a battle of dominance for the city of White Spire. This game is very different from the Dota 2 as it’s a strategy title and not a battle arena.

You Can Play It Now

… provided you purchased the Battle Pass. The preview phase is open to all Battle Pass owners and will feature online battles against seven other players, practice against AI ranging from easy to hardcore, and bring friends to party up against bots or players.

Battle Pass owners will find a link to add Dota Underlords to their Steam collection. The game will be in Open Beta in a weeks time.

Is It Free?

Yes! Once it hits Open Beta, the game will be free for all to play on Steam. The game will also hit mobile devices on Android and iOS. Open Beta will also introduce new features such as:

• Ranked matchmaking.
• Cross-play across all devices.
• Rank and progression shared across all devices.

The game is in active development and is looking for feedback as it approaches its first season soon at an unannounced date. If you want the OG flavour Auto Chess on PC, you may need to get the one that’s slated for Epic Games Store.