Fair Weather Studios announced that the role-playing strategy space game, Ancient Frontier: Steel Shadows, is currently available to play for free in its beta over on the Steam store right now.

The new Steel Shadows follows up on what was established with the original game, which came out back in the third quarter of 2017.

Earlier in the year the developers released some additional content for the game, in the form of additional quests and events. The Steel Shadows chapter of Ancient Frontier is a standalone entry in the series and you don’t need to own the base game or any of the previous outings to take part in the new adventure.

The story revolves around an ex-convict named Rogan Harker as he travels to the outer reaches of the Frontier to find his old buddies and start anew. However, the Federation controls the Frontier and the Alliance are rebelling against the Federation, which has created a warzone of sorts around the Frontier, which involves Harker and his friends, forcing the space pirate to pick sides in the battle for the freedom of the Frontier.

The new entry in the series features 50 procedurally generated side missions, 20 main story missions, turn-based combat, 50 random events that take place across the sector, and the ability to unlock new tech, upgrade your ship, and acquire ships as you battle across the hexagonal playing field while acquiring new weapons, weapon systems, and other flight instruments to help you fend yourself off from attackers.

The beta for Ancient Frontier: Steel Shadows is free right now over on the Steam store page. You can download it now to see if it fits your fancy.