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Original RuneScape creator Andrew Gower will make his return to MMOs with Brighter Shores, a new game now confirmed to be launching in Steam early access on November 6 following a closed beta that starts October 22. The base game will be free, with a premium pass available for purchase.
Brighter Shores has more than a bit of RuneScape in it – rather, both games have a lot of Gower in them – right down to the isometric perspective, life skills like fishing and woodcutting, and a generally freewheeling adventure vibe. You start as a humble guard in the town of Hopeport in the fantasy world of Adothria, and soon break into the wider world. For his new game, Gower leaned into a tabletop RPG aesthetic with point-and-click interactions, and moved away from tick-based mechanics, giving Brighter Shores a smoother look. It also features more MMO-like combat classes than the likes of Old School RuneScape: Cryoknight, Guardian, and Hammermage.
When Gower first revealed the game earlier this year, it was billed as an anti-grind MMO that stands opposed to "the onslaught of microtransactions in modern MMOs." A press release revealing the release date again specifies "No microtransactions!" as a main selling point, which feels mighty timely given the ongoing microtransaction discourse at modern RuneScape (3) shepherd Jagex.
"Andrew Gower has specifically designed the game to be fun no matter how much free time players can spend on it, and without microtransactions," the release reads. "Brighter Shores allows players to explore, level up and solve quests at a pace that suits them. While there’s many hours of free content available, Fen Research will also be offering a paid premium pass for those who wish to discover even more of the game."
"We're releasing Brighter Shores with plenty of features for players to sink their teeth into, but this is just the beginning," Gower adds. "We've planned an extensive roadmap of updates to keep our game fresh and exciting for years to come."
I spoke to Gower extensively about the goals and vision for Brighter Shores – you can read our big March interview here. It started out as a way to prove Fen Research's custom game engine, and over roughly seven years of more direct production became its own game.
The entire game was self-funded, and it's being self-published by the small team at Fen Research, meaning "no external investors, there's no publishers, there's no one breathing down my neck saying we've got to meet these guidelines." Gower has also pitched it as a long, relaxing journey which actively encourages some AFK play, "not a traditional MMO where you play, get to the endgame, and that's where the game actually starts."
Brighter Shores' premium pass is notably a one-time thing. Gower previously told us that "auto-recurring subscriptions are a very hard sell these days," so the team "decided to just make a non-recurring payment, you can just buy a pass, get premium one time. It's not a commitment that you're gonna have to pay that forever.
"It gives you access to absolutely everything we've released up to that date," he continues. "But obviously, we expect that when we release new episodes, that will drive people to take out a premium pass to enjoy that new episode. And then we'll bring out another episode, and then they'll buy another premium pass to enjoy that season."
On Steam, Fen Research says it expects Brighter Shores to be in early access for approximately six months, "maybe." Before leaving early access, the dev will add PvP, special attacks, and "Episode 5 - Stonemaw Hill." The dev promises "hundreds of hours of gameplay" in the launch build, with no account or server wipe coming.
