Visionary Realms Scraps Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen’s 247 Extraction Mode
Over the past few weeks, actively talking up its new 247 survival extraction mode and how it will benefit the MMORPG’s development. In a surprise turn of events, the studio has decided to scrap the controversial project and will be shifting their focus back exclusively on the actual MMORPG.
“Pantheon will drop its 247 Test Mode and return to the full PvE MMORPG,” Visionary Realms announced. “We are making the conversion immediately and it will be available in the coming days, available around the clock to pledges with the Pre-Alpha access perk. Alpha pledges will be invited to play 24-hour sessions starting in December and continuing into next year, schedule to be announced.”
The team first confirmed work on the extraction game mode roughly a month ago, selling it as both a testing environment for new features and content and a way to secure additional funding for the main game’s development.
The announcement drew extremely negative reactions from the game’s community, more so its backers, who are already pretty miffed about the prior art style revamp. The general concern was that it’s going to shift Visionary Realm’s focus away from the main game which has been in development for nearly a decade now but has yet to make it out of pre-alpha.
“We knew there would be some uneasiness when we introduced a survival extraction testing mode, but we hoped that it would be an enjoyable, replayable experience that would provide critical data for development, and potentially some additional funding to accelerate delivery of the full MMO game,” the studio continued. “However, our hopes didn’t line up with what you felt. The Pantheon community made it clear that the 247 test mode is not the reason they us, and we need to listen to that.”
“We understand that for many of you, we have damaged your trust. That’s on us. For those who will give us the opportunity to rebuild that trust, we thank you. For those who are not yet ready to believe in us or the project again, we understand, and hope we can earn back your in the future,” they concluded.
Meanwhile, Visionary Realms will be lifting the verbal NDA for the ongoing playtests on December 1st, which means that testers will be able to freely talk about their experiences but will still be restricted from revealing screenshots and gameplay footage.
To all adventurers.
After listening to your , we've decided to pivot away from our current survival extraction mode and bring back the Pre-Alpha version of the MMORPG full-time. In addition, we're currently planning on limited Alpha pledge sessions by the end of the…
— Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (@PantheonMMO) November 14, 2023
