I’ve been playing in the beta of Steambirds Alliance this weekend. I got on Spry Fox’s mailing list back when I was playing a ton of AlphaBear, and signed up to try out new stuff as it came out. Steambirds Alliance isn’t anything at all like AlphaBear, but it is right up my alley.
This game is a MMO shmup (aka bullet hell), which is not something I’ve ever heard of or tried before. From what I’ve seen so far it is quite fun! I especially like the fact that they are intentionally trying to design this game to promote co-op play rather than competitive. There’s no friendly fire, and all loot is “personal loot” so trolling has been at a minimum. There is perma-death, which is sometimes a turn-off for me, but so far it hasn’t been too onerous. I believe they are still handing out some beta keys for folks on their mailing list or for people watching them stream. Their release date is listed as “sometime in 2018 (probably)”, so if it seems interesting I suggest you try to snag a key or at least put it on your Steam wishlist!