Studio Menhir Interactive has published the August issue of its development diary for third-person MOBA Ethereal: Clash of Souls. In it, the developer finally announced the date for the first open beta phase in a long time. The competition will be held from October 16 to 18, 2026. You can already register to participate through the game page steam.
The October test will include 6v6 matches, bot mode, updated class abilities, items and familiar changes, and redesigned UI screens. The server will be open to players in Europe and North America.
Much of the team’s work in August focused on reactive controls and visual feedback in combat. All heroes now have separate animations for reacting to hits, the severity of which depends on the damage taken. The developers also redesigned the inverse kinematics of the legs and added inverse kinematics of the arms. Characters can better interact with uneven surfaces, vertical sections of the map, and walls, and can place their hands on obstacles when near them.
These changes also affect the balance of the Sky Fighter and Reaper classes. Adjustments were made to their stamina and ability usage frequency as the developers felt that using abilities too frequently was too much. Now, teams must monitor resources more closely and choose the right moment to attack.
A new familiar selection screen appears in the interface, showing the third level branch of passive improvements. The tab menu has also been redesigned, with match statistics, program sets and team performances now more clearly presented. Additionally, the developers held a vote on the visibility of the enemy team’s gold total. They’re considering making stats open or hidden, forcing players to evaluate their opponents’ economic advantage based on items and objective controls.
As of September, the studio estimates readiness for the next test to be 95%, and overall development progress for Early Access to be about 55%. Class and mythic abilities, game quality improvements, review system, animations, and bug fixes still need to be improved ahead of the October beta.
There will be no new dev diaries for September. In early October, the team plans to start releasing game videos and training materials specifically to prepare for the open test.
