Visionary Realms is looking back at the huge year that 2024 was for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. Not only did the game enter its next phase of development, Early Access, last month, but there were some huge changes over the course of the year that led us to this point.
Development continues and the Early Access is currently getting a very positive review score on Steam as the team continues to work on everything and what's next. The team has been open about posting what they're working on for the next updates and what's coming down the line, so that transparency is also helpful.
Among the big changes that happened this year was the release of Seasons back in February, offering something new for those who pledged at the VIP level, giving them 24-hour server access throughout the season. Other pledge tiers were able to enjoy more limited access.
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Interview: Talking Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's Early Access Launch With Creative Director Chris Perkins
Season 2 added the Mad Run overland dungeon in March, and it helped the team to clarify what they needed to focus on. Season 3 added the Summoner and Ranger classes in May. Overall, the format was helpful in moving things forward and getting a variety of people to try out different features and mechanics, to enter newly added areas and instances, ultimately just giving the developers a lot more to chew on as they continued to improve Pantheon.
In July, the team announced that they were aiming to release an Early Access build in December. This itself would lead to some changes, including the end of the previous pledge tier system (along with many perks being retired with it).
“We had some substantial promises to keep for our content and updates, and we knew we had to deliver,” the recap devblog says.
In August and September, buddy keys were released, and September's content updates were big, adding three new races, new human models, and The Necromancer class. In October and November, Seasons ended so that the team could move full force into the Early Access release, which they now felt certain about, enough to announce a launch date.
On December 13th, almost 11 years after their first development meeting, Early Access launched. Now, the team continues development and is looking forward to announcing much more this year.