Early Access Isn't Just For Christmas

I was just reading the combined September and October update for Monsters & Memories. I probably should say I was skim-reading because there's a lot of detail in there, everything from minor tweaks for individual classes to the re-writing of entire back-end systems.

As I was reading, I couldn't help making a few mental comparisons with a couple of other in-development MMORPGs seeking to bring back the experiences of the past. One of them went into Early Access years ago and is still there now. The other enters EA next month. M&M is proposing to join them in 2026.

I think it has an excellent chance of emulating the slow-burning, aesthetic success of the former, something I am not anywhere near as convinced will be the latter's fate, not after years of jumping around all over the place and not really seeming to know what it is or who it's being made for.

The longstanding Early Access game is, of course, the well-respected Project Gorgon, first mentioned here in December 2013 although, as Wilhelm pointed out in the comments, I'd left a comment of my own on his post about the same game over a year earlier. Technically, I've been writing about PG for a dozen years now.

The game about to enter Early Access is Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, which made its first appearance on the blog just two months after Project Gorgon, in January 2014. I find it astonishing - scary, even - to see these dates put down in print like this. 

I was still in my early-to-mid 'fifties when these two games entered the public discourse. I'll have hit state retirment age before Pantheon makes it to Early Access and it's likely I'll be in my seventies by the time either of them meets an official launch date. If that doesn't tell you how ludicrously overcooked game development has become...

The huge difference between the two games is that for the whole of the last twelve years I've been able to play Project Gorgon as much as I liked. Even before it went into Early Access, there was an open alpha/beta client available to anyone who cared to download it. In the end, it turned out I didn't want to play it as much as all that but it was still great to have the option.

If nothing else, it gave me a great deal of confidence in the game and its development team. The game may not be "finished" in the eyes of the devs but it's as playable (And as feature-complete, most likely.) as many supposedly launched MMORPGs and I can say that with the experience of having spent many hours there.

Pantheon, despite being the same age, give or take, remains largely a mystery. It spent a decade in closed development, tucked away out of sight behind the money-wall of some hugely expensive buy-in options and even those for only limited test windows. The portcullis has been raised occasionally to allow the curious a peep inside and in the last year or two there have been some cheaper, limited passes available but the upcoming EA launch marks the first time the game will have been widely available to anyone who cares to give it a try at (What we assume will be...) a reasonable price.

Monsters & Memories sits somewhere between the two extremes but considerably closer to Project Gorgon's ready accessibilty than Pantheon's gated privacy. There have been numerous open tests, some lasting several days, with many more promised as the team behind the game readies it for it's EA launch on Steam the year after next.

They seem to have a very clear idea of what they want to achieve and a very realistic timetable in which to achieve it. I've played the game in open testing several times and it already does a surprisingly good job of recreating the era it seeks to emulate. So does Project Gorgon, coming from a slightly different perspective.

Pantheon, by contrast, on the one occasion I was able to play it, felt weird. It didn't look right and it didn't feel right, something the other two easily manage without seeming to try. I also found it quite astonishingly dull, even for the hour or two I spent with it, which was absolutely not the case with either of the others and not at all what I expected.

Visionary Realms released a newsletter a few days ago to say there's been a big uptick in people interested in playing, that the current round of testing has been extended to the end of the month and that there is now a European server. It also warns us all that the Pledge packages will cease to be available on December 1st.

What it does not say is how much EA access will cost, so it remains impossible to judge whether it would be better to buy the cheapest Pledge now (It costs $50.) or wait for the EA package itself. It's very hard to imagine any basic EA access costing more than $50 though, and the fifty dollar pledge now comes with a "Buddy Code", meaning if there are two of you it's effectively $25 each.

Although I think Mrs Bhagpuss's MMORPG days are probably over, this was one of the few new games she was interested in, once. I wouldn't mind having that Buddy Code just in case she fancies giving it a go sometime. On the other hand, if EA turns out to cost $25, as I suspect it might, it makes more sense to wait for that and then just buy a second copy if and when she does express an interest.

In practice, though, I wouldn't mind betting she'd get more enjoyment out of Monsters & Memories, which, in my brief exposure so far, feels closer to the original EverQuest experience and not that disimilar to Vanguard, the game I think Mrs Bhagpuss and I both hoped Pantheon would ressemble a lot more than it appears to at the moment.

I'll have to make an effort to play more during the next Monsters & Memories test. See if I can get a bit further than the starting city. I hope there's a test soon, preferably before Pantheon opens the doors, just so I can get some data for a comparison. If M&M would only go the full Project Gorgon route and have a client up for testing all the time I think I could strike Pantheon off my wishlist altogether.