It’s not everyday an MMO like Equinox: Homecoming comes along, so obviously there was a lot of interest and excitement for its early access release both among gamers and among us within the MOP digital office. With two days’ worth of release under players’ collective belt, a picture about the game’s current state is beginning to form, and it’s one of something with potential, even if it’s feeling arguably under-developed.
Steam reviews right now currently sit at a “mostly positive” aggregate, but the negative reviews that have been shared say almost the same thing: Equinox was not ready for release. Players point out poor optimization, laggy servers, several bugs, and missing cutscenes for the current leg of the main story, while others are liking its visuals and do see its overall potential. And while the MMO doesn’t appear to have its own subreddit, related subs like r/cozygames and r/GamesWithHorses have talked about the title; some call it soulless and point out a lack of content, others express disappointment at the meager horse game aspects and call the horses mere vehicles.
As for the title’s initial impact, while the game did hit the top five of sellers on Steam during the first day of its early access, it has since tumbled back down the charts on the platform, while player numbers are currently at about half of its 540-person peak.
The settling dust around the title has prompted Blue Scarab to discuss current content and future plans, as the studio points out activities like scenic rides, 10 races, “a cinematic taste” of its story that currently takes about two hours to finish, and collectibles that can be gathered but not used yet. On the subject of its narrative, Blue Scarab admits that making this content is “resource heavy and time consuming to produce” but also promises that the devs are polishing the second chapter of the story’s first act.
As for what’s to come in terms of updates, players can expect patches to come in two varieties: smaller fixes and larger content drops. Bug fixing and quality-of-life patches should be fairly frequent, especially in the game’s immediate future, while larger content updates that bring new quests, races, scenic ride locations, and “a few other surprising systems” are planned to come “every few months.” The studio further points out that the length of early access is fluid and wholly dependent on dev progress.
