Why Early Access?

“As designers, we do not like games that stretch the same idea over and over for an infinite amount of time, and as we started its development, An Ankou quickly felt like very malleable material. We have tons of ideas to lead the genre into new territories, things that we want to try or things we guess might be cool to have in this kind of game. But we need players’ feedback to prioritize what’s more promising or correct the course quickly instead of wasting time on stuff boring the majority of our community.

Also, we always wanted to make a “live” game with evolving content based on players expectations. Mind you, not a “live game” as in “Game as a Service” with microtransactions or f2p mechanics, but as a frequently updated game with loads of new little events and features, new ways of engaging with the game or new objectives for already experienced players.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“It’s hard to say precisely but probably between 6 to 12 months as we ramp up the content and adapt to feedback from the community. What you will see at the beginning of the Early Access has been built from scratch in 8 months and we feel confident that content can be added quite quickly on this base with updates between every 2 weeks and a month.”

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

“As explained above, we have multiple ideas to lead An Ankou in different directions so it’s a bit hard to define clear limits between early access and the final version of the game. It will stay an action rogue-like but with more content as time grows and hopefully more game modes to bring diversity to the experience… Expect very regular updates and a clear road map of what we’re doing at the moment and for the near future.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game features at launch 2 maps :
one hand-made and one procedurally generated
Two playables classes
30+ craftable items
Difficulty modifiers to test your skill and unlock the 30+ achievements”

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

“Yes, we intend to price the game very competitively at the beginning of early access and to increase it at the release. Early buyers will of course not be impacted by this raise and we will warn before any price raise.”

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

“We will be monitoring all feedback made through the game on Steam and on our Discord server to correct the course of our development in the direction that seems the most popular among early players. We really hope that this Early Access can become something you can enjoy over time as the game experience diversifies regularly.”