The Grove Street Games name may still remind many players of the troubled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, but the studio is now moving in a very different direction. BeastLink is a sandbox action game built around human-scale combat, destructible cities, and Godzilla-like kaiju, where destruction is not just spectacle but part of the gameplay itself.
The name War Drum Studios LLC may not immediately ring a bell, and Grove Street Games may not sound much more familiar either, although that name can easily bring GTA: San Andreas to mind. There is a reason for that: the American studio was founded in 2007 and changed its name in 2020, paying tribute to CJ’s adventure after spending more than nine years working with the Rockstar Games franchise, mainly on mobile and console ports. Since then, many players have associated the team with the troubled launch of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, but after years as a support studio, Grove Street Games is now trying to build a new identity with its own original project. BeastLink is an ambitious multiplayer title that mixes human-scale combat with kaiju-driven chaos in cities designed to be torn apart.
The gameplay is built around matches that evolve through two distinct phases. At first, players fight as humans, using weapons and vehicles while facing enemies and enormous creatures inside a collapsing urban battlefield. As the match progresses, it becomes possible to bond with dormant kaiju, which completely changes the scale of the game: players are no longer just survivors or soldiers running through the ruins, but can take control of the monsters themselves and become the main force behind the destruction rather than merely watching it happen. The idea seems to be more than a simple monster arena, since the studio wants the environment, the difference in scale, and the combat rhythm to shift as each match develops.
Unreal Engine 5, Real-Time Destruction, And Hundreds Of Thousands Of Breakable Objects
Grove Street Games needs serious technology to support those promises, because BeastLink is not trying to sell itself with a few scripted wall collapses or flashy debris effects. The game is powered by Unreal Engine 5 and uses the studio’s own SuperDestruction technology, which allows every player to alter the environment in real time. The developers are talking about more than 250,000 destructible objects and millions of physics-driven pieces that react to every impact. The point is for destruction to be more than background decoration: cover can disappear, routes can open or close, and the city itself can become a weapon.
As kaiju, combat will naturally lean heavily into melee, but special attacks will also be available, including sonic charges and beam attacks. Based on the details shared so far, the system will include four types of throws or attack options, and the environment will not simply sit in the background: it can be used against other players or to create isolated areas for one-on-one fights. Each creature will have its own style, ranging from beasts focused on raw strength to others built around speed or aerial attacks. There is also a strange historical echo here, because Rockstar once had an unreleased Godzilla-starring game concept that we never got to see, and whose fate was reportedly sealed by the success of GTA 3. BeastLink is not connected to that lost project, but it is an interesting turn that a studio known for its GTA ports is now trying to step away from that past with giant monsters and city-wide destruction.
The developers say their goal is to create “the ultimate kaiju experience”, and given how few similar games exist, the core idea alone could put them in a useful position. BeastLink is built around multiplayer, but it will not be limited to multiplayer only: the studio also promises single-player gameplay, although it has not yet clarified whether both modes will be available when the game enters early access. According to Grove Street Games, BeastLink is scheduled to arrive this summer in early access for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with several community testing phases planned before release. The first of those will be a closed beta on May 8 on Steam. This could be an important turning point for a team that became widely known after the debacle surrounding Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, whose technical state and reception forced Rockstar to apologize. BeastLink is therefore not just a new game, but an attempt by the studio to leave its support-team image behind and stand on its own name.
Source: 3DJuegos
