"Alliance of Valiant Arms" (commonly known as "AVA") is an online FPS that has been in service for many years. "AVA RE:BIRTH," scheduled to launch in the fall of 2026, is the successor title that carries on its legacy.
Officially, the game is positioned as a “new online FPS for PC.” While retaining the three traditional soldier classes and the unique characteristics of each weapon, it also features new content such as “HUNTING FIELD,” a PvPvE mode where players gather supplies and aim to escape. The title is described as aiming to return to the “original FPS experience.”
In this article, we’ll share a play report from the game’s closed beta test.
Additionally, this article avoids detailed comparisons with the original *AVA* and instead focuses on how *AVA RE:BIRTH* looks as a new FPS set to launch in 2026.
*Images are from the development version.
An overwhelming sense of “old-school PC gaming” permeates the game from the moment you launch it
The first hurdle I encountered in this game came even before firing a single shot.
To play *AVA RE:BIRTH*, you need to install the dedicated “Pmang” launcher, but simply launching this launcher on your PC and clicking “PLAY” doesn’t mean the game will start right away…
In the environment I used to play, I first had to access the website and navigate to the game launch page. From there, I had to launch the game via the already-installed launcher. While this seems to be a mechanism commonly seen in online PC games in the past, it felt less like I was playing a “new” title set for release in 2026 and more like I was launching a PC game from about 15 years ago.
This impression doesn’t change much even after the game starts.
A large character is displayed on the screen, with panels for the Battle Pass, Shop, and game lobby lined up next to it.The mode selection below “PLAY” isn’t a dedicated UI but a simple drop-down menu. Of course, you shouldn’t judge a UI solely by its appearance. However, from the cheap-looking buttons and icons to the fonts and even the image resolution, I honestly couldn’t shake the first impression: “Is this really a game from 2026?”
Setting aside my complaints about the visuals for now, how does the core FPS gameplay hold up?
You can fire your gun. It’s playable as a game, but I found myself at a bit of a loss when trying to offer any further praise.
What bothered me most was the feedback when firing. Even when I hit an enemy—and blood does spurt—the enemy’s reaction is lackluster, and the sound and visual feedback upon a hit leave absolutely no impression. The feel of firing the gun itself is also very light; there’s almost no sense that the bullets I’ve fired are actually hitting the enemy.
The same goes for when I get hit—I often find my HP has dropped to zero before I even realize it.
Even though this isn’t a game like *VALORANT* where a single headshot results in instant death, this lack of feedback really bothered me.
Since there’s no sense of actually dealing damage to enemies and it’s hard to tell when you’re in a pinch yourself, you often have to check your HP bar to decide whether to retreat or keep pushing—which makes it difficult to play the game intuitively.
Also, while there aren’t any major issues with the controls themselves, I was a bit taken aback—as someone accustomed to modern FPS games—by the fact that double-tapping the W key is designated as the dash command, and unless you change the settings, you can’t dash by combining it with another key. Furthermore, the inability to incorporate mouse side buttons into the controls may be another factor contributing to this negative impression.
Retaining a traditional control scheme isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the real issue, I think, is that a 2026 release titled “RE:BIRTH” has kept this system exactly as it is.
I also played the “Bomb Defusal” mode in standard PvP. Considering the current landscape of free-to-play FPS games, as a new player, I can’t help but wonder:
What’s the reason to choose *AVA RE:BIRTH* over *VALORANT* or *Counter-Strike 2*?
There’s probably an answer for players who loved the old AVA. However, from the perspective of someone entering this game for the first time, I couldn’t find a reason to deliberately play this title based on this CBT. I also have lingering concerns about matchmaking.During my playthrough, I was often placed in Bomb Mode even though there weren’t enough players. Games would even start in 2v2—or worse, 2v1—situations.
Furthermore, I was sometimes thrown into a game midway through, and I found it difficult to stay motivated when placed on a team that was already losing badly in terms of both score and player count. Of course, since this is a CBT, the player base is limited, so I can’t directly judge what the player population or matchmaking will be like at launch. However, given the current situation where games start without a full roster—and without even bots filling in—I’d like to see some improvements here.
Could the new “HUNTING FIELD” mode offer a glimpse of “RE:BIRTH”...?
If there aren’t any major changes to the traditional competitive modes, I naturally find myself looking forward to the new features. That’s where I came across the new PvPvE mode, “HUNTING FIELD.”
According to the official description, this is a mode where you fight enemies while gathering supplies on the battlefield, with the goal of escaping alive. It features the so-called “extraction” gameplay style, as seen in games like *Escape from TARKOV*.
I was surprised when I tried this game mode. There’s surprisingly little joy in scavenging for supplies. While there are some locations where you can search chests and doors, most of the time on the field, when you destroy objects like barrels, boxes, or vases with a gun or knife, items drop directly onto the ground.
In games like *Escape from Tarkov*, there’s a sense of anticipation—it takes time to see the item’s details as a silhouette while you’re inspecting it—but in this game, you simply shoot it, it breaks, and you pick up the item that falls to the ground. I felt the design made it difficult to generate that sense of anticipation or excitement that comes with exploration.
There are no noticeable visual effects when you obtain an item, so you don’t get that sense of “Wow, I found something amazing!” or “I want to take this home!” based on its rarity. In fact, I didn’t even feel the desire to “search some more!”—which should be the natural next step—to begin with.
Furthermore, since it’s often unclear just how rare a particular item is, it doesn’t seem to create that sense of tension where you think, “I don’t want to lose this item!”
Since this is the game’s flagship new mode, I had expected it to better demonstrate “why AVA is reinventing itself right now.” However, as it stands, while it incorporates the modern “extraction” format, it doesn’t seem to fully capture the exploration and tension unique to that genre.
Weapon Gacha, Armor Gacha, and the Enhancement System
Personally, what worried me even more than HUNTING FIELD was the equipment system. There are separate gacha systems for weapons and armor.
There’s also a synthesis system that allows you to combine identical items to create new gear.
However, these are merely the specifications confirmed during the CBT. It is currently unclear whether the official service will use the same acquisition methods, or what the monetization system will entail—such as whether paid currency will be required or if in-game currency will suffice.
On top of that, what concerns me is the element of randomness involved in acquiring and enhancing weapons and armor—which directly affect performance—in a competitive FPS. In an FPS where players’ skills are pitted against one another, the extent to which equipment performance influences the outcome of a match is a critical factor. If gacha and synthesis create disparities in equipment, I’m a bit worried about how that will be reconciled with competitive balance.
Is “being able to play AVA again” the same as “RE:BIRTH”?
There are likely still people today who are looking for a simple competitive FPS, and for players who have been playing *AVA* for many years, I think there’s clear value in being able to experience the gameplay they once loved all over again.
However, as a new player trying it out, I was left with one major question. If this were a game that simply “retained the essence of the old AVA,” I could understand it, but the title of this game is *AVA RE:BIRTH*.
Since the developers themselves are releasing it as a “new online FPS for PC,” I’d like to see something that goes beyond simply recreating the past—something that makes even players unfamiliar with the original *AVA* feel there’s a reason to choose this game in 2026.
I hope that by the time the game launches, players will be able to feel the true meaning of “RE:BIRTH” in the game itself.
