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3D Realms’ Quake 1 engine FPS Wrath: Aeon of Ruin surprise launches in Early Access

3D Realms just surprise-launched its new game Wrath: Aeon of Ruin in Early Access.

Way back in March this year, 3D Realms revealed a promising new FPS called Wrath: Aeon of Ruin – a shooter developed by KillPixel and a set of “Quake scene veterans,” built on the game engine from id Software’s original Quake. It was then due for a release in Summer, but that came and went and we didn’t hear much from the project, other than a short showing off at Gamescom.

Today, in a surprise move, 3D Realms has shock-launched Wrath: Aeon of Ruin in Steam Early Access. This version consists of the hub world, two levels, five weapons, eight enemies, and four artifacts to unearth.

The team plan to release new levels at unspecified periodic intervals, leading up to the full release – where the game will also get a multiplayer component. The final game was originally stated to offer three hub worlds and 15 interconnected levels – so the launch version of the Early Access release offers around 15% of the final game, although of course Wrath may get expanded before the full release.

In total the Early Access version will get the first five levels, 11 of the 15+ enemy roster, half the weapons, and half the artifacts. All of the game’s story and plot elements – yes, it will have those – are being deliberately withheld, so as not to spoil anything.

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The game itself plays like a deliberate throwback to the Quake 1 era of shooters, similar to the fantastic Dusk – hopefully Wrath will nail the style just as well as that game did. 3D Realms already has the excellent Ion Fury under its belt this year, and that had a similar path to release that Wrath is now taking.

If all goes to plan, the full version of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin will release in Summer 2020. You can either buy it for 5% off between now and December 3, or in a bundle with Ion Fury for 10% off the pair. The price may go up between now and the game’s release, but 3D Realms promises to inform the community if and when that’ll happen.