Alliance, you may recall, is the co-op focused expansion to Guns of Icarus Online, a game that was primarily competitive. Rather than players shooting their ships at each other, in Alliance 1-4 people can run a ship together and combat AI-controlled ships. Much like the Left 4 Dead games, Alliance employs an AI director, which provides a dynamic experience. This director controls things like when and where enemies will respawn in addition to studying and reacting to the human players.

The alpha will features a portion of the content the developer is planning for the expansion to the PvP focused Guns of Icarus Online (which you will need to buy in order to play this add-on). In the alpha, you'll be able to side with one of four world factions before getting the keys to your very own airship and take on a few different mission types, including running down cargo, defending bases, and raiding enemy outposts. It's unclear if the alpha will support the planned max of 16 players (four airships and four players per ship), or if it will only be a four player affair.

Check out the prologue.

The new mode allows players to play co-op in the true Co-Optimus sense i.e. playing against the AI, rather than another team of humans: