Early Access Titles I Followed & The Results
Some abandoned, some ongoing, and some became successes
Table of Contents
Flamberge
Dual Gear
Long Gone Days
Path of Exile 2 was the first early-access game I’ve ever bought with real-life cash, and I do not regret my purchase. For the most part, anyway…
Of course, I have my issues with it, as do everybody else, unlike so many other companies. Grinding Gear Games listens to its community…Up until their Dawn of the Hunt update screw everybody over anyway.
I reached the final phase of the second act before ending there. I had my fill and shelved it until summer 2025. My time with POE 2 made me take a step back on a few things. Early access tends to be a hit or miss, never in between. Get me thinking of some early access titles, and figured I would walk down memory lane. Got three titles in mind at the top of my head. Out of those three, only one of them made it out of this phase to marginal success. The others, and still to this day, are abandonware left behind by their developers.
Let’s take a look at them, shall we?
Flamberge,
One of the first early access games I followed was when Steam used to have the Steam Greenlight program. It was a good idea at first, but it didn’t go very far; thus, Valve canned the project.
What caught my eye was its simultaneous turn mechanics into the Strategy RPG formula. Both parties make their moves at the same time to gain an advantage for their side.
I was on my turn-based binge at the time and wanted something new. Played a defunct demo somewhere in 2017 and enjoy its potential. Little did I know that Flamberge would never finish.
Almost a decade later, and here I am wondering what happened to this game? Been digging around and found traces of where the developer went. HYDEZEKE (msb) had been doing other things, but finishing Flamberge. The latest project this developer worked on was Wheel World, published by Annapurna Interactive.
Before that, smaller projects to build a portfolio with Flamberg smackdab in the middle of it.
Flamberge was written off as abandonware by those paid for its potential. HYDEZEKE, meanwhile, “ran” with the money to better pastures.. No official statement from HYDEZEKE to explain the situation at hand at the time of this writing. Very unprofessional while having Flamberge still available for sale to this day. Getting an unlucky customer who might stumble onto it, not knowing the backstory.
Unfortunately, a good proof of concept was abandoned to be used as a stepping stone. Quite a shame, but paved the way for Arco, which is Flamberge but fully-realized.
The still available demo that they put out made me a fan! I’m giving these guys my money instead.
Dual Gear,
was another game I followed alongside Flamberge. Another turn-based strategy game, but takes its inspiration from Front Mission, Xcom, and Valkyrie Chronicles.
As someone who grew up watching Mecha anime and the short-lived Megas XLR on Cartoon Network. Dual Gear was right up my alley, and I devoured the pre-alpha demo, which is still available, enough!
Dual Gear was been in development sometime in 2015, if the website is anything to go by.
July 12th, 2023, was the last update from Orbital Speed Studio, and it left a bad taste in my mouth looking at it again.
Ten years went by, and nothing from the developers, and many people left frustrated.
The comments above are what set me off the most. Here’s a public entity that had supporters, and they got ghosted. This is unacceptable and will not make any excuses for it. Small team or otherwise for everybody can get this work done. At least there’s Phantom Brigade or the upcoming Mecha Simultactics to scratch that itch.
Long Gone Days,
Unlike the last two on this list thus far. This I Dream finished their game and published it through Serenity Forge. Their game debut on October 10, 2023, after what seems like a long development since 2016. I was still in high school when I discovered this game! I've forgotten about it since and wrote it off like all the others until this showed up on my Steam feed two years ago.
I couldn’t believe that a game I used to follow:
Developers kept working on it.
Made updates even if used sparingly
Long Gone Days is still to this day the only game that managed to get released as intended in my life so far. All while maintaining expectations for the fans.
A three-man dev team from Chile (shout out to South America again)! Spent about seven years. The lead dev spent most of her time long before 2016 (2008!) before bringing in two more members to help finish.
Beating out the last two in this article, which isn’t saying much for the bar having been so low. Anything with any form of completion beats the competition.
Long Days Gone advertises itself as a modern-day JRPG, and I have to call this out for it’s not that per se. More of an adventure game with turn-based mechanics sprinkled in. Want to correct that for an otherwise well-made game with a minigame where you take on a sniper role.
Not long of a game either, as I completed it in under twelve hours, but glad it’s finally here. Long Days Gone fulfills what the developers wanted to do. A lot more than Flamberge and Dual Gear could ever hope for.
Closing Thoughts
Being pro-indie isn’t easy for like any of the big boys in the video game industry. Even the little guys can disappoint you, too; sometimes harder than the giant corpos. Smaller teams don’t have the luxury to take losses like their larger counterparts. A mistake can/would destroy them since they have fewer resources to throw around. Despite this, there are some in the wild who take it for granted. Granted, they don’t pass, but still a shame to see. I am thankful for those who proved otherwise. Something I keep in mind when wading through the “trash heap” of Steam and the like.
All part of the game, and searching for gems is always worth it!
Sources
Flameburg Dev’s X’sTwitter using Nitter
Steam Greenlight turns to Steam Direct