Skyclimbers is a very interesting MMO in development that was extremely successful on Kickstarter. The developers have now announced a roadmap with the launch of the Alpha, Beta, and Early Access phases.
What can you expect with Skyclimbers? The sandbox MMO places you on a distant planet. You explore it as a Paladin, Mage, and Ranger, and you can even establish your own settlements, which you can expand to a kingdom.
While you encounter monsters in the wilderness and fight against them, player-driven kingdoms also go to war with each other.
The PvP operates similarly to a strategy game. Once you own a kingdom, you build barracks and train soldiers there. You then send them to war and can issue commands in battles. However, you also wander alone across the world and encounter hostile players whom you actively fight against. Because of the open-PvP, you always have to be on your guard.
A special feature is that you can tame wild creatures and then further develop them. This allows you to acquire mounts or helpers that assist you in battles.
Additionally, it is possible to set up your own servers like in Valheim where your own rules apply.
The trailer shows you what you can expect:
A very successful Kickstarter campaign
How did the Kickstarter campaign go? The team behind Skyclimbers aimed to raise $25,000 through Kickstarter. In the end, however, they raised a total of $340,721. Thus, the goal was exceeded by 1,362%.
Especially the mix of city-building strategy, survival, and action RPG with some aspects of Pokémon was very well received by the players. Building your own kingdom and waging war against other players similarly to a strategy game sounds exciting.
What comes next? After the crowdfunding campaign concluded so successfully, the developers published a roadmap for the upcoming period via a Trello board. This indicates when the Alpha starts, how the Beta proceeds, and when the Early Access phase is planned.
- The Pre-Alpha is set to enter its second phase later this month and will then extend throughout the entire second quarter
- At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the Alpha will begin, which will transition at the end of the year into the Early Access phase of the PC version on Steam
- The Beta will start in the second quarter of 2022, and the Early Access release of the console version will take place. Initially planned is a version for PlayStation and Xbox.
- In the 3rd quarter, the Early Access phase for Switch and mobile devices will follow.
- In the 4th quarter of 2022, a Linux and macOS version will be released.
- The full release of the game is not scheduled before 2023.
How to participate in the Pre-Alpha: If you want to be part of the next Pre-Alpha that is set to start this month, you can sign up on the official website. With a bit of luck, you will be selected.
Currently, Pre-Alpha testers are still under an NDA. They are not allowed to talk about their experiences from the testing phase and may not post any videos from it. This will change later. However, it is unclear whether this will happen by the Alpha or the Early Access start.
Other online games have also been funded via crowdfunding. We present to you the 7 largest crowdfunding MMOs.
