Airframe Ultra Closed Betas, Next Fest, and Later Tests
Closed betas 1–4, the February 2026 Next Fest open beta, then 2026 Join the Playtest weekends.
Airframe Ultra did not jump from announcement trailer to a finished store page. Videocult and Akupara ran short betas — four closed in 2025, a public Next Fest open beta in February 2026, then later 2026 playtests — to stress maps, riders, voting, and whether anyone would touch the Cruiser. The full game is still coming soon. This page is the test timeline, not a ship recap.
Closed weekends were Discord sign-ups with post-play surveys. Builds were labeled janky on purpose. If you only played a 2026 Join the Playtest, the closed tests explain why Warehouse feels like home and why Estate showed up late. Pair this with Demo and Playtest for how to join, and with tracks for how the courses ride.
Beta 1 — January 10–13, 2025
Maps: Warehouse, Storm Drain, Chasm. Warehouse is the lobby that never left. Storm Drain and Chasm were the first real courses. The loop — race, dismount, brawl, remount — was readable even with prototype menus. Later builds kept asking for rebinds because of it.
Beta 2 — May 2–5, 2025 (announced April 2025)
Announced with the Nuclear Them trailer. Community records list Warehouse, Night Ride, and Quarry. Night Ride is the after-dark street pass; Quarry is the wide industrial pit. The crawl still called the build janky.
Beta 3 — July 25, 2025 weekend
The Jackrabbit weekend. Ocean Drive (Oceandrive) entered as the coastal course. Jackrabbit entered as a rider: Slabtown mechanic, speed-tuned airframe, trailer face. Sign-ups crossed 1,600. Maps: Warehouse, Storm Drain, Ocean Drive. The open beta kept the course; it is still in the tracks guide.
Beta 4 — Estate, new UI, Bluntnose near 50%
Estate is the new track: cliff wall, trespass, wrecked mansion. Community dates put the test around December 19–22. After the weekend, Akupara published pick rates: Bluntnose about 50% (51.4%), Hopper 19.4%, Vector 18.1%, Cruiser 11.2%. The team said the Bluntnose share was fine for a generalist. Compare frames in Compare Airframes. Maps: Warehouse, Chasm, Estate. New UI was the other headline.
February 2026 Next Fest open beta
The first open beta, during Steam Next Fest. Download the demo, no form. Window: February 23 to March 2, 2026, servers down 9am PST March 2. Some recaps say March 1 because the last full play day was March 1; the official cutoff is 9am PST March 2.
Content: every track from previous betas — Oceandrive, Chasm, Nightride, Stormdrain, Quarry, Estate — plus Warehouse as lobby. Systems that define this test: rebindable keys, voting between races (walk to pads, two random tracks, ties broken at random), circuits of three races with points that carry.
Naming: Community pages, including Miraheze, often labeled this open weekend Beta 5 because it followed closed betas 1–4. Steam’s September 2026 playtest is also titled Beta 5: Desperada. They are not the same build. This section is Next Fest only. Desperada lives on Desperada Playtest.
What the open beta recap said
After Next Fest, Akupara posted What We Learned From the Open Beta. Circuits stayed three races with points that carry, plus a hard extra rule: you must win at least one race to take the circuit, even if you lead on points. Single races were pulled for that test and will return at launch. Voting was walk-to-pads in Warehouse; testers asked for a menu instead.
Hopper was widely called bad. Bluntnose sat near a 60% pick rate, up from the Beta 4 recap. Melee hold-time leaders: Bat, Pipe, Machete, Crowbar. Ranged hold-time: Blaster, Shotgun, SMG, Rebar. Shotgun took about 27% of ranged kills, Blaster about 22%. Special hold-time: Chain, Traffic Sign, Sledgehammer, Chainsaw, Laser Ranged. Hosts got a control room and a golden-gun kick tool the recap called janky.
Josh’s notes from that recap: circuit goals felt engaging, rewarding, and impactful; minigun and plasma pistol were weaker than old glory; SMG lost to shotgun; a menu overhaul and new-player onboarding were coming; audio work was on the list.
After Next Fest — April through September 2026
April 17, 2026: Akupara streamed at 10am PST.
June 26–29, 2026: Megacity Open / Weekend Megacity West. Join the Playtest on the Steam store page. Twitch bookends Friday and Monday at 10am PST on twitch.tv/akuparagames, plus a clip call.
August 3, 2026: Discord-voted Josh Q&A on playtest goals, map polish, cosmetics wiping when EXP ships, mods, and the Direct.
August 20, 2026: Steam news for Akupara’s ten-year Direct on September 6, 2026 at noon PST on Akupara Twitch, hosted with Alpha Beta Gamer, including Airframe Ultra news.
September 3, 2026: Steam Beta 5: Desperada — a later playtest with progression, shops, bike building, and a new rider. See Desperada Playtest. That is the Steam Beta 5 title. It is not a redo of the February Next Fest open beta that community wikis also called Beta 5.
The four airframes stayed Bluntnose, Vector, Cruiser, and Hopper. Loadouts stayed one melee, one ranged, one throwable, one special. Online play and split-screen both existed in the design even when a package hid a mode. The game is still coming soon. Use Updates as the index.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for racers still learning Megacity West.
How many Airframe Ultra betas have there been?
Four closed betas in 2025, then the February 23–March 2 2026 Next Fest open beta. Later 2026 public tests include Megacity Open (June) and Steam's Beta 5: Desperada (September). Community pages often labeled the Next Fest weekend Beta 5 as well.
Why do two tests both get called Beta 5?
Miraheze and other community pages called the February 2026 Next Fest open beta Beta 5 because it followed closed betas 1–4. Steam's September 2026 post is titled Beta 5: Desperada. Different tests. This page keeps them separate.
When was Ocean Drive added?
Beta 3, the July 25, 2025 weekend, introduced Ocean Drive (Oceandrive) and the Jackrabbit rider. The Next Fest open beta kept the course in the full track list.
What was new in Beta 4?
Estate as a new track, a new UI pass, and a published airframe pick-rate recap. Bluntnose sat near 50% and the developers said they were fine with that for a generalist.
Did the February 2026 open beta add a new map?
It did not add a brand-new course. It loaded all tracks from previous betas plus Warehouse as the lobby, and it shipped voting, circuits, and rebindable keys.
Is this timeline the retail changelog?
No. Airframe Ultra is still coming soon. These weekends were tests. Features can change before 1.0. Use Demo and Playtest for the current download story.