Otherside: Legends of the Mara Open Beta Launching in September

Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs announced this week that an open beta test for its Legends of the Mara (LotM) game experience will launch in September, granting Otherdeed virtual land NFT holders a new NFT and another taste of the broader Otherside metaverse.

According to the firm, Legends of the Mara is a “collection-based 2D strategy game,” whereas Otherside itself is a large-scale 3D game. LotM will also reveal more information about the Kodas, which are small, bipedal creatures that exist on 10% out of the original 100,000 Otherdeed land plots—but are not tied to them forever. 

LotM is billed as part of the broader Otherside metaverse game in development at Yuga Labs, which has offered two closed Otherside playtest experiences (or “Trips”) thus far.

In Legends of the Mara, players will be able to evolve their Mara into a more powerful Kodamara, harvest “sediment,” and defeat evil forces that may attack their Otherdeed lands, according to Otherside’s website.

All Otherdeed NFT land holders will be able to claim a Vessel, regardless of whether they possess a Koda on their land plot. Each Vessel will grow into a Mara character that, “under the right conditions with the right catalyst,” will be able to evolve further into a Kodamara. Mara and Kodamara characters will also be able to protect Otherside, but they won’t be as powerful as the original Kodas. 

There will also be three main types of Maras: Hunter, Farmer, and Enchanter. Mara evolution is partly determined by Otherside’s five constellations, known as its “Odiac,” which are spread across four seasons. Maras will have to consume a “seasonal Catalyst” to evolve, and the traits of the land they live on as a Mara will determine their traits when they evolve into a Kodamara.

Yuga Labs shared Thursday that the Legends of the Mara experience will “evolve over the coming months” and that Otherdeed NFT holders will receive various rewards. "More capabilities will be uncovered as the full launch nears," the company tweeted.

The firm first released its Otherdeed NFTs in May 2022 to much fanfare, with a high-profile mint that clogged the Ethereum network and sent gas prices soaring. To date, Otherdeeds have yielded over $1.26 billion worth of trading volume, per data from CryptoSlam.