6 ways Strife makes standard MOBAs feel old (preview)

Multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, is perhaps the most-used phrase you’ll hear in gaming this year. Many developers already have or are in the process of making their own free-to-play MOBA, including a veteran studio that isn’t afraid of adding one more game to that crowded list.

Set for release in 2014 (with a beta planned in the fall) for PC, Mac, and Linux, Strife is S2 Games’ second MOBA. Its first, Heroes of Newerth, will live side by side with it. The developers showed off Strife last week at an event in Sausalito, Calif., and gave me an exhaustive overview of their goals and motivations for the new game.