Free-to-play Super Monday Night Combat announced

Fans of Monday Night Combat will be happy to hear that Uber Entertainment hasn’t forgotten about the beloved franchise. No, they’re not finally releasing the DLC packs they promised for the Xbox 360 version—you can just about forget about those. Instead, they’re prepping a pseudo-sequel, entitled Super Monday Night Combat, for release within the next few months. Best of all? It’s going to be free-to-play, and supported by optional microtransactions that Uber claims are completely optional. "You literally could spend zero dollars and be entertained for a long time. That's really important to us," Uber president Bob Berry told Kotaku.

But slashing the price off isn’t the only change coming. MNC is essentially being completely repurposed into an experience that’s much closer to a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), akin to Defense of the Ancients. It will still retain the same combat mechanics, visual style, and class-based structure as 2010’s release, but with several key differences that will slow down the gameplay a tinge while keeping the intensity high. Players will level up as they play, gaining power as the match proceeds. They’ll also live longer in general, thanks to some gameplay modifications and the elimination of one-hit kills. In Super, the only way to die instantly is to fall off the level (or, we’re guessing, be blown off). Towers and bots have been changed around as well to make the experience feel more similar to a traditional MOBA, a move that the developers say encourages teamwork.

There will also be three new characters joining the game’s original cast: the Combat-Girl (a playable version of Pit-Girl), the Veteran (a former wrestler with grapple-based attacks), and the Gunslinger (a sniper, though a significantly different sniper than the original). More will be added after launch, too, and odds are the new classes, as well as high-larious costumes, will be the game’s revenue. If we spend half as much on SMNC skins as we do League of Legends skins, Uber won’t have any issue making up the money they’re losing by making it F2P.