Why Early Access?
TL;DR: We want to make the game the best it can be - by building it together with the community.
We believe traditional roguelikes are a perfect fit for Early Access, especially when developers actively engage with players. Our development thrives on frequent updates, with even more frequent BETA builds available to the community via the ChaosForge Discord.
Player feedback shapes our roadmap, features, and balance decisions. You can already see this approach in action by looking at the update history of Jupiter Hell! Like fine wine, roguelikes tend to age well - and we want to give this one time to ferment into something truly great.
How long will the game be in Early Access?
Current development plans are laid out in such a way, that the road to 1.0 launch should not take more than a year's time. After 1.0 you can also expect further updates and patches, however before we get there, you can take a look at the current roadmap here
How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
Roguelike development tends to expand horizontally - rather than changing the core, we add more depth and variety. Expect more items, enemies, level generators, branches, traits, challenges, and new playable classes. At the same time, we'll continue refining and polishing the overall experience.
What is the current state of the Early Access version?
The game is fully playable from start to finish, with all major systems in place. We're now focused on expanding its breadth - more items, enemies, systems, level generators, branches, special levels, challenges, and better modding support. We're also steadily improving polish, visual variety, and the overall feel.
4 episodes, 6 branches, 9 special levels, and 2 boss fights
Dozens of level generators, random events, and generation sets
3 classes, 15 master traits (sub-classes), and 24 regular traits
25 unique enemies and 100+ items, including exotics and uniques
30 assembly recipes for weapon and armor crafting
5 difficulty levels, 16 challenges, and dual-challenge support
Hundreds of badges to earn
Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
Yes, we plan to slightly raise the price as we approach version 1.0 and the game reaches our target level of content and polish. Any price changes will be clearly communicated in advance, so players have plenty of time to jump in at the current price. The Early Access price will be $14.99.
Will the demo stay?
Even better! The demo will be updated on EA launch day to match the quality of launch version, and kept updated during the EA period!
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
Whether it's here on the Steam forums, on the ChaosForge/Jupiter Hell Discord, X or BlueSky - we read all feedback! Players who've been part of our community over the past two decades know: we take feedback seriously, and many suggestions have directly shaped our games.