Why Early Access?

“Zotenhold is a co-op game about people working together against an endless horde, and a game like that can only be tuned with real players. How hard a wave should hit, how many enemies a group of five or ten can hold, which classes need help and which bosses are too easy: we learn all of it from you. Early Access lets us build Zotenhold alongside its community, with regular updates shaped by what players actually experience, instead of guessing in private and releasing something that isn't what you wanted.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“The full release will build on everything in Early Access. We plan to add:

More enemies and enemy families, with new behaviours that demand teamwork, plus more elites and special waves.
A full set of boss encounters, each a multi-phase fight with its own mechanics (tank swaps, interrupts, stack-and-spread), more of them, and harder versions for strong groups.
Class depth: more abilities, more skill-tree choices and further balance for all 24 classes.
Loot and progression: item sets, set bonuses and legendary set pieces, with rewards that carry your build further.
Better animation, visual effects, sound and music across the game.
Larger battles: more enemies on screen, more routes into the castle and stronger performance for big groups.
Polish: controller and accessibility options, localisation, and stability for large lobbies.
Guilds Coming soon.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The game will be changed in many ways hopefully we can implement, Fishing, sailing, new enemies, harder difficulties, more players, more maps. More bug fixes - more players and more servers. It will depend on you guys to spread the word and help the community to grow!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Zotenhold is fully playable today, solo or in online co-op through Steam. Current features:

Endless wave survival defending the castle, with escalating difficulty, elite waves and boss waves.
24 playable classes, each with its own abilities and skill tree (a zoomable board you plan across).
Hundreds of items across 14 weapon types, with rarities and Need / Greed / Pass group loot rolls.
Raid-style co-op mechanics:
enemy cast bars you can interrupt
taunt and threat for tanks
enemies that hunt a single player
suicide bombers
daze and crowd pressure
timed revives
party frames, an active-effects panel and a ping wheel for callouts
Online co-op through Steam, designed for groups of up to 10 players.
Expect rough edges. Animation, effects and balance are actively being improved, and some content is still placeholder. We release updates regularly.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Yes. The price of Zotenhold will increase gradually as content is added, and will be higher at full release. Early Access players get the game at the lowest price it will ever be, plus every update up to and including the full release at no extra cost.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Through regular playtests, a public roadmap, patch notes for every update, and our Discord and Steam forums, where feedback directly shapes balance and new content. Many of the features in the game today, including the loot rolls, cast bars, party frames and boss mechanics, came straight from playtest feedback.”