Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Talks Early Access Plans, Including Monetization, Level Cap and More

While we've known for a while now that Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen was coming to Early Access this December, Visionary Realms announced some new information about exactly how that Early Access launch will look.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's biggest change will be how it handles its monetization, with the current pledge packs being retired ahead of the Early Access launch. This means, according to Chris Perkins, Creative Director on Pantheon, in an accompanying video, that if you want the perks associated with the current pledge tiers, you'll need to act fast. The wording on this morning's press release leaves the door open that these perks may be available at a later time, so we asked for that clarification.

According to Perkins, the base game without any perks will be "more accessible than ever," though the team stopped short of announcing any pricing details today. However, that should be coming in the next few weeks, and players will be happy to hear that there won't be a subscription fee—at least not right now. The team is evaluating this and may decide to charge one at the full 1.0 launch. 

There will also be "special Early Access editions," which will include "unique in-game cosmetics." 

Early Access's content got some details as well, with the launch opening up content up to level 40 across six different zones. The launch will also include two thirds of the planned character races, 12 of the 14 classes, crafting and much more. 

One major refrain Visionary Realms wants to get across with this announcement is that the early access launch is not a "soft launch." Rather, this is a way for the team to "build" its audience while it still actively develops Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen towards that full 1.0 release.

"We want to emphasize that this is not a soft launch," Perkins says in the video. "Pantheon will still be in development during Early Access. This is about growing our audience, having more players testing and excited about the game that Pantheon is becoming."

Other features coming when Early Access launches is the inclusion of its crafting professions, the climate acclimation system, and more. And the team is promising more content and updates as Pantheon's Early Access moves forward towards its full 1.0 launch. 

Exactly when Early Access launches in December remains to be announced, however, so interested players will need to keep tuned to the development updates on the production tracker to see where things stand heading into this Winter's release.