Fragmentary Order Reveals 14 Minutes of Unreal Engine 5 Gameplay as Nikita Buyanov Opens Paid Testing from $44.99 to $79.99
After months of cryptic puzzles hidden inside the interactive COR3 terminal, Nikita Buyanov officially pulled back the curtain on his next major shooter on November 4, 2026: Fragmentary Order. Through a 14-minute official in-engine gameplay showcase running on Unreal Engine 5, the Escape from Tarkov director delivered the first concrete look at the hardcore sci-fi tactical shooter built by his independent studio, Rant Gaming.
Rather than stopping at a simple trailer, the broadcast immediately opened pre-orders on the official Fragmentary Order website through a paid closed testing initiative called Prime Batch, priced between $44.99 and $79.99. Just days after polling his community about a standalone Escape from Tarkov Zombies co-op game, Buyanov is proving that his ambitions now extend well beyond the traditional Battlestate Games banner.
In 2251, Outsourced Warfare Turns Death Into a Business Expense
The setting of Fragmentary Order transports squads across the Solar System in the year 2251 under the rule of an overarching organization known as Core. In this heavily industrialized future where armed conflict has been completely outsourced, human soldiers have been replaced by RepEnts (Replicated Entities), remotely operated biological clone bodies deployed from safe orbital or off-site stations.
That lore foundation directly feeds into the core extraction loop: losing a clone in the field is treated as a financial cost rather than a permanent game over. Risk becomes a calculated investment, and every planetary drop, playable in squads of up to four operators, plays out like a high-stakes corporate contract where wasted ammunition eats straight into your bottom line.
Visually, the leap to Unreal Engine 5 stands out within the first few seconds of footage. Where longtime extraction shooter veterans have spent years wrestling with Unity engine bottlenecks, the 14-minute walkthrough highlights expansive planetary terrain, shifting weather conditions, armored vehicles, and real-time reconnaissance drones.
Tarkov DNA Meets On-the-Fly Field Weapon Modding
Despite the shift to hard sci-fi and a new engine, the unmistakable signature of Buyanov's previous work appears the moment the player opens their inventory. Grid-based looting, the anatomical health and posture indicator in the bottom-left corner, and the deliberate weight of character movement closely mirror the muscle memory that defined Escape from Tarkov.
The footage also showcases tense short- and long-range firefights alongside a major mechanical upgrade: players can now swap attachments and modify weapons on the fly in the middle of a raid. Veterans accustomed to punishing ballistics and sudden balance shifts, such as the recent emergency nerf to Labs boss Scourge in Escape from Tarkov, will recognize the same unforgiving gunplay enhanced by magnetic accelerated firing modes.
"We're not building a match you play. We're building a world you live in, for years. Tarkov is still worth playing after ten years, and I want Fragmentary Order to be just as playable and engaging a decade from now." - Nikita Buyanov, Game Director of Fragmentary Order
To back up that ten-year vision, Rant Gaming already operates with 150 developers worldwide and is actively recruiting to expand the team to at least 500 staff members. The title will be self-published directly to PC players as the flagship exclusive on the COR3 direct-to-consumer platform.
Prime Batch Tiers: What Is Included in the $44.99 and $79.99 Packs?
Following the gameplay premiere, Rant Gaming opened registrations for Prime Batch, an elite paid testing program available exclusively during pre-public development. Two tiers are currently on sale for players looking to join the first NDA-protected closed alpha wave scheduled before the end of 2026:
- Candidate Tier ($44.99): Grants entry to closed alpha sessions and major technical playtests, an in-game "Candidate" rank designation, and an exclusive digital starter package.
- Founder Tier ($79.99): Includes all Candidate perks, a dedicated "Founder" package, priority access to experimental builds, early roadmap visibility, and access to a private developer communication channel.
Players who participated in the cor3.gg alternate reality game can stack their earned account rank discounts with event vouchers to lower the price of either tier. An upcoming episode of the studio's FragOTV podcast will outline the exact schedule for the opening closed alpha tests.
My Take
Give Nikita Buyanov credit where it is due: nobody stages a claustrophobic corridor firefight or captures the mechanical clatter of a rifle quite like his team. Moving to Unreal Engine 5 finally shakes off the dated visual stiffness of his previous project, and framing the extraction loop around disposable RepEnt clones gives the corporate war economy a sharp, believable edge.
Still, asking players to drop up to $79.99 for NDA-locked alpha access on the exact same day you show your first 14 minutes of gameplay takes serious nerve, especially after the pricing uproar that surrounded Tarkov's Unheard Edition. Until those closed alpha servers actually hold up under live squad traffic later this year, keeping your wallet closed and waiting for real hands-on performance reports is the smartest play.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles "Grimtag" is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
