Astrae Oratio CBT Applications Open 19 August at 03:00 UTC and Close 21 September, and the Test Itself Still Has No Date

Applications for the first Astrae Oratio closed beta open on 19 August 2026 at 03:00 UTC and close on 21 September 2026 at 03:00 UTC, which is 12:00 KST and JST on both ends. NC published those exact timestamps on 30 July, replacing the 20 July announcement that said only "August". The window runs 33 days, and most of it sits in September.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. The dates above belong to the sign-up form, not to the beta. NC has said the test period will be announced later, so applying on 19 August tells a player nothing about when they would actually play.

The copyright line printed on that key art is the cleanest statement of who does what here: Dynamis One develops, NC publishes under licence.

Two windows, one date

Every ranking article on this announcement answers "when do applications open" with a month. The full shape is two separate windows.

The application window is dated: 19 August to 21 September, 03:00 UTC at both edges. The test window is not. NC's wording is that the date of the closed beta itself will be announced at a later date. Nothing published so far links the two, so a 21 September application deadline does not imply a test that starts in late September, and it does not rule out one that starts in October or later.

This is also the game's first public test. Project KV, the studio's previous announced title, was cancelled before any test build reached players, so there is no prior beta to reason from.

The eligibility ledger

Here is what a player deciding whether to apply actually needs, and what is on the record for each line. NC's most recent statement on any of this is 30 July 2026.

Retail platforms are a separate question and the coverage splits. NC's announcement is reported as PC and mobile by Automaton and Game8, while GamingOnPhone, Pocket Tactics and Netto's Game Room list iOS and Android only. Expected, not confirmed. For the beta specifically, NC says platforms are not finalised, which is why no platform belongs in a checklist for 19 August.

What the test would put in front of players

Combat is 3D turn based, built on AP combos and manual defense rather than a pure auto-resolve exchange. Story runs through visual-novel sections with dialogue choices, which is the half of the game a beta build is most likely to gate or truncate.

Two gacha systems were confirmed in the promotional video. Currencies, rates and pity are all unpublished, and a closed beta economy is rarely the shipping one, so beta rate readings should be treated as provisional whenever they appear.

An alternate 1889 Tokyo

The setting is 1889 Tokyo in a timeline where magic pushed technology roughly a century ahead. The city is preparing a World Expo, Tokyo Tower is nearing completion and Odaiba is under coastal reclamation, which is what makes a skyline like the one above legible at that date rather than an error.

The player is the Shunin, a public official at the Special District Office, the agency that administers the magicians living in Tokyo while concealing their identities. NC markets the genre as "Shindenki", or New Denki, magic RPG: magic and paperwork as joint themes. The party is a group of middle school girls who resolve magical incidents across the city's districts.

Three terms carry the systems. Glacé is the medium magicians cast through. Artifacts are specialised magician weapons. Duel Trials are a formal legal procedure that settles disputes between magical parties through combat, which is the mechanism that turns the bureaucracy premise into fights.

Two real dates before and inside the window

Comic Market 108 runs on 15 and 16 August 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight, four days before applications open, with an NC corporate booth carrying an official art book and merchandise. That is the nearer date on a reader's calendar than the sign-up form.

Tokyo Game Show 2026 lands in September, inside the application window, with an appearance confirmed and demo booths expected. If the test period gets a date before the form closes, TGS is the most likely place it gets one.

The record on Dynamis One

Dynamis One was founded by former Nexon Games staff who had worked on Blue Archive. It announced Project KV on 18 August 2024. Backlash was immediate: halos above characters, a "Master" figure that read as Blue Archive's "Sensei", armed schoolgirls in a Japanese-styled city. The nickname that stuck was "Red Archive", and one theory held that KV stood for Kivotos. The studio cancelled the project on 9 September 2024, 22 days after announcing it, and apologised.

The legal thread did not close there. South Korean police raided Dynamis One's Seoul offices in February 2025. In October 2025, prosecutors announced an investigation covering embezzlement, unfair competition, and the use of assets from a Nexon production codenamed "MX Blade".

Astrae Oratio is not that project under a new name. Project KV was cancelled outright; Astrae Oratio is a separate title that was teased under the codename Project AT. NC announced it would publish it on 30 April 2026, the countdown site resolved on 7 May at 05:00 UTC, and the gameplay and story trailer followed on 2 June.

Three things will say where this lands

The test period date, first: if it is not published before 21 September, the form closed without anyone knowing what they signed up for. Second, the region list, which decides whether "closed beta" means Korea and Japan or something wider. Third, whether the prosecutors' investigation opened in October 2025 produces a filing before the 2026 release window closes, since NC is the party carrying the publishing risk on it.

We will update this piece when NC dates the test itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

When exactly do Astrae Oratio CBT applications open? 19 August 2026 at 03:00 UTC, which is 12:00 KST and JST. They close on 21 September 2026 at 03:00 UTC. NC published both timestamps on 30 July 2026.

Is the application window the same as the beta test? No. Only the application window has dates. NC says the closed beta test period will be announced at a later date, so applying in August does not mean playing in August.

What platforms will the beta run on? Not finalised. NC states that the application process and supported platforms have not yet been decided. Retail coverage splits between PC and mobile and mobile only, so no platform is confirmed for the test.

Is there a region restriction or an NDA? Neither has been announced. Regions, device requirements, tester headcount, selection method, NDA and footage rules are all absent from every published source as of 3 August 2026.

Will beta progress carry over to launch? Not announced. No statement exists either way, so treat carryover as unknown rather than as ruled out.

Is Astrae Oratio the same game as Project KV? No. Project KV was announced on 18 August 2024 and cancelled on 9 September 2024. Astrae Oratio is a separate Dynamis One project developed under the codename Project AT, with NC publishing since 30 April 2026.

Does this confirm a 2026 release? NC still lists 2026 as the release year with no date attached. A closed beta with no test window announced does not narrow that.