Hey Hunters,

We wrapping up development for 2017, and before the year is through I want all of you in the Relic Hunters community to be as excited as we are for 2018!

I guess the best way to do that is to share detailed plans for the Alpha next year. I’ve been talking a lot with you on Discord and I see a lot of confusion about exactly how much game will be available to play next year, and what you will be doing.

So let’s fix this!

Big disclaimer first: this is all very much subject to change. The main reason why developers don’t do this often is because things tend to change a lot in game development. We’ve been making games for 10 years, and I assure you: things never, ever go exactly as planned. We trust you in the Relic Hunters community a lot more than the average developer, as you’ve proven several times already to be very understanding and mature when it comes to the ups and downs of game development.

We trust you, and you trust us in return – this is the best way to keep our relationship healthy!

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at our current plans for the first Alpha, estimated for the second quarter of 2018!

Galyno Desert

Very rough sketch of the Galyno Desert Region

On the Alpha, you will be able to explore the first Region of the game, called Galyno Desert. Located on the planet Cradle, right next to the social space called “The Secret Market”, the Desert is the starter zone in Legend, with most of the action taking place against the Ducan faction, although a few Kami missions will be available as well.

With the exception of the first Dungeon (Kami Kave) and Explorable Area (the Galyno Desert Forbidden Territory), the entire Region will be available! We expect to have at least 6 Regions like this when the game is out of Beta, so this will be roughly 15% of the planned content of the game.

You will be able to play on the Normal timeline and the Hard timeline, with 11 Missions each, for a total of 22 Missions. You can play all missions solo or with up to 4 players online (including matchmaking for random groups).

Missions

There will be no story content (“Adventures”) available during the Alpha. We are making good progress on the story, but we will withhold all of it for as long as we can to avoid spoilers and to keep it fresh for when the game is closer to public release.

That’s why we are focusing on the Missions, which are 10-minute experiences focused on quick action and online co-op. The final game will have lots of different Game Modes to keep Missions varied and interesting, but for the Alpha there will be 5 Modes available: Skirmish, Defense, Payload, Scavenge and Distraction.

In Skirmish, you will go through short and relatively linear stages, and have to defeat enemies as fast as possible to access the next area. On the third and final area, a Champion enemy will appear.

In Defense, you will have a gate that has to be defended for 8 minutes. Regular enemies will spawn constantly, but special enemies called “Gate Crashers” will appear and go straight for the gate. Defeating these enemies will be key to keeping your gate intact.

In Payload, you will escort a slow-moving train with important supplies. The train will move at a constant pace, and enemies will spawn regularly and target it. You will have to keep up with the payload and clear the way of enemies in order to succeed.

In Distraction, you will have to survive for 8 minutes while making as much trouble as possible. An “Alert Meter” must be kept full by defeating enemies and picking up Comms devices that they drop.

All Missions will have Normal and Hard versions, and your performance on each of them will be measured from 1-star to 5-stars. Getting more starts means better rewards when the Mission is over!

There will be an “Endless” version of the Distraction mission “Ducan Desert Outpost”. This will serve as the Alpha’s “mini-endgame” where players can keep playing after completing all of the content, if they so desire.

Hunters and Progression

You will be able to play as Jimmy, Pinkyy, Raff and Ace when the Alpha first releases. We will work to add Seven, Biu and Panzer as fast as possible, and then the new Backer-created Hunters, as well as Red.

In the Alpha, you will be able to level up your Hunters up to Level 20, and equip items of Crude, Common, Uncommon and Rare rarities (no Epic, Legendary and Relic items will be available yet).

You will be able to complete Missions and farm them for Materials so you can upgrade your items (up to +15 for Rare items).

Content and Length

We expect that this Alpha should take about 2-4 hours to “complete” (as in, doing all Missions on Normal and Hard difficulties), but if you want to get your favorite Hunter to level 20 with all slots in Rare +15 items it might take you about 10 hours.

If you want to go even further and do it for all 5 Hunters, it might take you around 20-30 hours.

TL:DR? No Story, Dungeons or Explorable areas yet, only grinding co-op Missions up to Level 20, and enhancing Items up to +15. Five game modes, two enemy factions (Ducans and Kami), and 11 Missions with two difficulty settings for each.

See you in 2018!

Whew! Glad we got the word out! Now we can all be on the same page as we image how the game will shape up next year.

Our fist milestone is a super-polished 10-minutes build for the Game Developers Conference in March. It will include the Skirmish game mode and four Hunters (Pinkyy, Jimmy, Ace and Raff) with their full sets of skills and abilities, as well as new Ducan enemies – including a Champion Ducan. This build will be available early for Alpha tier backers, and then at the show floor and for select journalists and influencers.

We are taking a break until January 2^nd. We look forward to developing this game with you for many years to come. Thank you very much for supporting Relic Hunters Legend!

Cheers,

~Mark