4J Studios brings Reforj to PC with a closed playtest in Q1 2027

4J Studios has announced that Reforj, its open-world survival sandbox, will come to PC through a closed playtest beginning in the first quarter of 2027. The studio revealed the plan on October 14 at Game Republic New Horizons, during an interview with Chris van der Kuyl and Joseph "Stampy" Garrett at the conference's VIP reception, GamesIndustry.biz reported.

According to details 4J shared with GamesIndustry.biz, the playtest will initially be invite-only, which the studio said is meant to ensure an optimized experience while it continues to update the game based on player feedback. 4J has not said which PC platform will host the playtest and said it will confirm that in a full announcement later in the year.

Reforj is already available to early testers on Xbox Series X|S through the Xbox Insider Program. Garrett said 4J announced the game when it was still a prototype, nine months into development, with world generation and creative-mode building but no survival elements or threats, and put it in the hands of a select group of community members the day after the announcement.

He said the team reviews player feedback every week, much of it gathered on Discord, and that it goes directly to CEO and director Patty Burns and lead designer Tom Fife rather than through a community team. Those reviews often lead to changes in the game the following week, he said.

Garrett said starting on Xbox gave the studio a safer space than PC, where early builds are more likely to be shared publicly, and that 4J wanted the game to be ready before a wider PC release.

Reforj runs on 4J's proprietary Elements Engine, which the studio built to make its own sandbox games after porting Minecraft to consoles and handhelds. The engine integrates Rixels, a texture technology 4J recently debuted that it says uses a fraction of the memory of conventional textures.