How to Start Decimated: Free Steam/Epic Alpha, DIO Optional
Decimated is a free open-alpha sci-fi survival shooter on Steam and Epic — you can drop into its decaying future Earth right now with nothing but a download. The honest framing: the blockchain layer is explicitly optional (the team’s own position), and the game is mid-rebuild — the studio just restructured and switched its DIO token to a demand-based reward model ahead of full launch.
What Decimated is#
A third-person online survival shooter — Mad Max energy in a hostile Earth wasteland where you pick a faction (human or cyborg), salvage, fight, and complete missions in an open world built on Unreal. In development for years, it opened a free public alpha on Steam and Epic Games Store in January 2025. In April–May 2026 the studio announced a restructure — pausing large content updates to focus toward a full launch — and overhauled its economy: the DIO token moved from emission-based play-to-earn rewards to a demand-based model, an honest admission that endless token inflation doesn’t survive contact with reality.
Requirements#
- A Windows PC and either Steam or the Epic Games Store — the alpha is free on both.
- No wallet, no purchase, no token. The team states blockchain features are optional layers.
- A wallet only matters if you later want to earn/hold DIO or own vehicles, weapons and items as NFTs.
The start#
- Search “Decimated” on Steam or the Epic Games Store (or go through decimated.net — use the official site, not a search ad) and install the free alpha.
- Create an account, pick your faction allegiance — human or cyborg — and drop into the world.
- Run missions, loot, hunt and survive — the alpha is the actual game loop, not a demo slice.
- Optional: if the economy interests you, the DIO layer and item ownership sit behind a wallet connection — earning and trading are choices, never requirements.
What the NFT layer adds#
- DIO — the ecosystem token you can earn in-game; as of mid-2026 it rewards on a demand-based model rather than continuous emissions.
- Vehicles, weapons and items — owned gear can be minted/held as NFTs you can trade.
- A visible economy experiment — Decimated is a live case of a mid-game pivot from inflationary P2E rewards to a sustainable demand model — worth watching precisely because it’s honest about the problem.
Safety notes#
Three honest warnings. First, alpha means alpha — the studio is restructuring toward launch, so expect development pauses, rough edges and shifting systems. Second, DIO’s new reward model is young: don’t treat token earnings as money you can count on; they’re in-game rewards whose design just proved it can change under your feet. Third, only install through Steam, Epic, or decimated.net — never a “Decimated airdrop” or free-NFT claim in DMs; impersonation is constant in this genre.
Verified September 22, 2026 · how we verify
