Airframe Ultra Beta: A History of Playtests and What's Next
From Beta 1 to Beta 5, here's how Airframe Ultra's playtests evolved and what to expect in the full release.
What was in the Airframe Ultra beta, and how did it change?
Airframe Ultra ran a series of short beta playtests before its November 5, 2026 launch, and each one tested different maps and systems rather than shipping a final build. Some details, like exact Beta 4 dates and the full contents of every build, are not fully documented in official posts, so treat those gaps as undocumented until Videocult or Akupara Games fills them in.
When did the Airframe Ultra betas happen?
They stretched across roughly a year, moving from closed events to a public demo. According to the community wiki's Versions page, Beta 1 ran January 10 to 13, 2025, with later closed betas in May, July and December, followed by an open beta that anyone could download through the demo on Steam during its run. Exact Beta 4 dates are not confidently documented there, so the month-level range is the safest way to read it.
According to the Akupara Games closed beta recap, the January 2025 test pulled in over 1,800 players, well above the 500 to 700 the team expected, and testers mostly spent time on the tracks, fighting with pipes and molotovs, and gathering on the sandbox warehouse map.
What did each beta add?
The early betas were about nailing second-to-second gameplay before building out the wider game. In the "A Message from Videocult" Steam announcement, the developers said the initial 1.0 release focuses on establishing the fundamentals, with new content planned roughly every quarter afterward.
Maps rotated between builds according to the community wiki, including Warehouse, Storm Drain, Chasm, Night Ride, Quarry, Ocean Drive and Estate across the closed and open betas. The full per-build feature breakdown is not completely documented in official posts, so the map list is the clearest picture of what changed build to build.
What was in Beta 5: Desperada?
It was the public playtest that added progression, shops and bike building, plus a new character. The official launch post for Beta 5 described the playtest button going live on the store page, with a new progression system, shops and bike building included, and it introduced Desperada, a jet-fuel figure tied to the ultra circuit. The playtest ran for a short window and shut down on a Monday morning, with feedback and bug reports routed through the game's Discord and bug portal.
How did feedback shape the game?
It shaped both controls and the tech players found. According to the Akupara Games closed beta recap, crashes when rolling the airframe and some controller issues were reported and investigated, and the team previewed sensitivity sliders plus inverted X and Y axis options for accessibility. The same recap notes players discovered tricks like shotgun-hopping, velocity storage and wall-kicking within a weekend.
A later development post from the developers said the 1.0 release deliberately focuses on getting the fundamentals solid before rolling out bigger ideas, so some features veterans expected are absent at launch rather than cut permanently.
What content is planned for post-launch?
Videocult intends to keep adding content in roughly quarterly batches, but no specific features or dates are officially listed. The studio's message said it plans to continue the beta pacing and fill out the world over time, while the specifics of what comes next have not been detailed in official posts yet.
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