Could Free-To-Play & Rebranding Save Spacelords
Spacelords, formerly Raiders of the Broken Planet was a game with gameplay which I liked, with progression and pricing I hated. This polarizing title was tricky to review, and in the end I felt I needed to leave a note for the developers, because I felt the game could be saved:
To the developers: Your game is not dead, yet. There’s still time to save it. Get rid of the over priced purchases all together. Tie the character acquisition to the purchasing of campaigns, and for God sake make the glossary free, or unlocked as the player progresses through the game. Rainbow six siege is a great example if a game being released with broken systems which resulted in it being abandoned by players, then it was fixed followed by it finding a second wind. FIX YOUR GAME! Then the players will hopefully return.
~Raiders of the Broken Planet Review
That was in January, now we’re in August and it seems the developers have changed their strategy. They’ve decided to make the game Free-To-Play and to also change it’s name. A good marketing strategy if you ask me, given that the original name has some negative connotations attached to it.
So other than the name change and it now being free to play, what’s different?
I bought either Ultimate Edition Pack, Founder’s Pack or individual Campaigns. Is there something special for me?
You will get exclusive and unique content for each campaign you own, that won’t be available anywhere else.
What happens with Shae, Loath and Ayana Kwena and Valeria?
These characters used to be exclusive to DLC owners. They will now be integrated in the progression system. As with all other Raiders, they will require a certain level and gold quantity to unlock.
Players who own each campaign will have its corresponding character unlocked. Everyone who supported the game with either Ultimate Raiders or Founder’s Pack will be able to play with Valeria from the beginning.
What happens with the SOLO mode?
The SOLO will no longer be immediately available to new users, in fact, the old SOLO mode is now called TRAINING MODE and rewards players with Gold in the same way that it used to.
After the Spacelords release, new players will have to unlock each mission’s TRAINING MODE separately. Unlocking each mission’s TRAINING MODE requires a number of stars which are obtained by winning online matches.
Anyone who already owns a campaign, whether it is from the Ultimate Edition Pack, Founder’s Pack or individual Campaigns, has the TRAINING MODE completely available from the beginning.
How will we unlock missions now?
Anyone who already owns a campaign, whether it is from the Ultimate Edition Pack, Founder’s Pack or individual Campaigns, has all missions for the corresponding campaign unlocked from the get go.
Other players, however, will find a new way to discover the Raider’s adventure:
- New players will be randomly assigned a campaign to start with.
- Once they unlock and complete all the missions of that campaign, they’ll be able to choose any new campaign to continue.
- Some missions have now a level requirement.
Can I still buy a campaign?
- Yes! Campaigns will be available right until the SpaceLords’ launch day. Just like everyone who purchased a Campaign before, you’ll unlock the following things:
- Direct access to the 4 missions the DLC includes.
- The playable character specific for that Campaign (Shae, Loaht or Ayana Kwena).
- An exclusive skin for one of the starting Raiders (Harec, Alicia or Lycus) to be received when Spacelords launches.
- Immediate access to the SOLO mode.
DLCs will no longer be for sale come August 23rd.
I’ll rather wait for August 23rd 🙂
Cool! There’s plenty of stuff coming this summer to the Broken Planet!
- Shae, Loaht and Ayana Kwena will be unlockable with gold just like every other character when Spacelords releases.
- All missions, including those from the new Council Apocalypse campaign will only feature a level requirement.
- There’s a new Rewards system coming (more on this later!), but rest assured that you’ll keep all Cards, Weapons and Blueprints you unlock in this period. In fact, they might become more valuable!
- Mission of the Week will disappear when Spacelords releases but until then it will become Mission of the Day and all levels of all campaigns will rotate in order.
- Mission renting will disappear as well but until then it will be discounted at a 60%.
- Remember! Invitations are also disappearing with the Spacelords release, make sure to spend them all!
Will progression be reset?
Absolutely no! Players won’t lose Gold, Faction Points, Blueprints or anything they’ve unlocked in the game.
Spacelords will be available from August 23rd on PC, PlayStation 4 and XBOX ONE, and it will have cross play between console and PC.
