Xaviant Games announces that The Culling has been released ahead of time. Originally slated to release on March 8th, the Battle Royale-inspired title is out now.

The Culling was slated to come to Steam via early access on March 8th, but developer Xaviant Games evidently got a little excited about their latest title. After last week's closed alpha, it turns out the developers worked overtime to get the product as close to finished as possible and were evidently satisfied with their work: instead of next week, The Culling is available right now on Steam's early access platform.

We got our hands on the aforementioned closed alpha last weekend, and walked away impressed with the game's entertaining multiplayer. Steam has no shortage of over-the-top gore-filled PvvP titles, but we can't help but feel like The Culling fits in with games like Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, which was recently confirmed to be getting a follow-up title of its own. If The Culling ends up being a hit and gets a successor, we only hope Xaviant Games does a better job crafting a sequel than the actual Battle Royale movie got.

Xaviant Games CEO Michael McMain sent out an email explaining the snap decision to launch the game early. Here's the message the from the main himself:

After we took the Alpha test offline, we decided to do something a little crazy. Based on watching you play and hearing your feedback, we knew there was a lot of work to be done. We decided that if there was a way to get that work done faster, we would make it happen. So the team buckled down even tighter and put in five very late nights. The result is a game that’s seen over fifty significant changes. We’ve fixed bugs, rebalanced systems, refined art, and generally made the island a nicer place to die.

Despite the fact that the concept behind the game is far from new (in fact, when the game was announced we immediately made allusions to both Battle Royale and The Hunger Games), this is a multiplayer game idea we're quite frankly surprised wasn't attempted before, and the potential for a sneaker Steam hit is high with The Culling. Moreover, the game's popularity on Twitch has helped widen its reach in just a few short days, to the point Xaviant felt it was in their best interests to speed up development.

For those who might not be familiar, the game includes free-for-all multiplayer, two player team multiplayer, and an offline mode for practice against bots. With a price tag of $12.99, it's not much of a risk for interested gamers to pick up, though the game is best spent with a group of friends 'voting' each other off the island.

What do you think about The Culling, Ranters? Will you pick up a copy?

The Culling is currently available for PC via Steam early access.