Alpha access
How to get into the Closed Alpha
WARDOGS is playable for the first time from 7 to 9 August 2026. It is Steam-only, invite-only, and Bulkhead is distributing invites through its FirstLook programme.
Closed Alpha starts in
Status
Closed Alpha is live
Servers are up until 9 August. Check the WARDOGS Discord if your invite has not arrived.
Status
Closed Alpha has ended
It ran 7–9 August 2026. Early Access is still scheduled for 2026 with no date announced.
Read this before you sign up
ConfirmedThe hardware-survey deadline for the first round of invites was 16 July 2026, and it has passed. If you are signing up now you have missed that round.
Signing up is still worth doing. Bulkhead says it is sending tens of thousands of invites and has kept distributing them in the run-up to the test, so later waves are plausible — but nobody outside Bulkhead can promise you a seat, and any site that tells you otherwise is guessing.
Official playtest post, Steam discussions ↗The five steps
In order. Steps two and three only work once step one exists.
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Sign up for FirstLook
FirstLook is Bulkhead’s playtest programme and the only route into the alpha. Create the account first — the later steps attach to it.
community.wardogs.com ↗ -
Join the official WARDOGS Discord
Invite waves and any last-minute schedule changes are announced there first. It is also where Bulkhead asks people to introduce themselves, which the playtest post lists as something that helps your chances.
Current invite link, in Bulkhead’s playtest post ↗ -
Link Steam and Discord to FirstLook
Without the Steam link there is no account for Bulkhead to grant access to. This is the step people most often miss.
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Complete the hardware survey
Bulkhead wants a spread of PC configurations to test against. The playtest post says people who finish the survey are “basically guaranteed to get in” — the single highest-leverage thing on this list.
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Wishlist on Steam and set your wishlist to public
Listed as a way to improve your odds rather than a requirement. It takes a few seconds, so there is no reason to skip it.
Steam store page ↗
Alpha at a glance
What is still unknown
Questions people are asking that nobody can honestly answer yet.
- The exact start time. Bulkhead has published the dates but not a clock time or a time zone. The countdown on this page runs to 00:00 UTC on 7 August, which is the earliest the test could begin.
- Whether streaming and screenshots are allowed. No NDA terms have been published either way. Check the FirstLook terms you agree to at sign-up rather than trusting a forum answer.
- How much of the game is in the build. Bulkhead has said the alpha shows combined-arms combat and destruction, but not which vehicles, weapons or map areas are switched on.
- Whether progress carries over. Nothing has been said about the cash metagame persisting from the alpha into Early Access. Assume it does not.
If your invite has not arrived
Invites land on the Steam account linked to your FirstLook profile, so check the Steam client rather than your inbox — a playtest grant shows up in your library, not as an email. If the link between FirstLook and Steam was never completed, there is nowhere for the grant to go.
After that, the Discord announcement channel is the only reliable place to find out whether another wave is going out. There is no queue position to check and no way to appeal.