Early Access FAQ

What does Early Access mean for Monsters & Memories?

Monsters & Memories entering Early Access will be the commercial launch of our Indie MMORPG. Players will be able to subscribe to the game, level to 60, and benefit from the full live service experience. This includes customer service support and ongoing updates to the game.

This will include a subset of the zones and races that we plan for the full 1.0 version of the game. More info on that below.

Why are you choosing to go into Early Access instead of just finishing the game?

We have a volunteer team working on Monsters & Memories. MMOs are large, expensive, and difficult to make. By supporting us through Early Access, the hope is that we can scale our art and design production capability, allowing us to accelerate development to where we can have a more fully fleshed out game world. Revenue from subscriptions and merchandise will allow us to pay some of our team members, while others have opted to remain volunteers.

Is Early Access a head start launch?

No, we will not be selling “head start” services, in which you pay an additional fee to play early.

Will there be a character wipe after the Early Access period ends?

No. As stated above, Early Access is not a head start, and all players will have the opportunity to start playing Monsters & Memories at the same time, for the same subscription fee. Players who want to start after the Early Access period will have the opportunity to begin on fresh servers. More info on that below.

What content will be available in Early Access?

Players will experience a fully fleshed out 1-60 leveling path which takes you through cityscapes, outdoor zones, dungeon zones, overland dungeons, and ocean zones.

The current zone count, including outdoor zones, dungeons, and mini-dungeons is 28 zones.

For Early Access launch, Szuur will contain the zones of Night Harbor, Tomb of the Last Wyrmsbane, Shaded Dunes, Sungreet Strand, Tel Ekir, Glass Flats, Fallen Pass, Fallen Watch, Shallow Shoals, Vale of Zintar, a mysterious island expedition, and several unlisted mini-dungeons and secret locations.

The zones that will be available as part of Calafrey include Evershade Weald, where Faelindral resides, Keepers Bight, and Scarwood.

Fields of the Lost was originally slated for launch, but we’ve decided to spend the time on a new dungeon, called The Blind Midden, near the Deep Elf city of Ail’vorith (see below).

Below the surface, the dark depths await. With our change of Early Access launch dates from June 1, 2026 to October 1, 2026, are including our planned Module 1 zones.

This Module, title “Descent into the Deep,” provides the first zones of the Deep: an underworld as vast as the surface world above. The various Deep regions connect, and together span all of Aêthoril.

The Module 1 zones include: The Underdocks, Caves of Irem, Great Cavern Sea, Rothold - the Ruins of Roothold Keep, The Blind Midden, and the Deep Elven city of Ail’vorith.

The races available at release of Early Access will be

  • Deep Elves

  • Deep Gnomes

  • Dwarves

  • Gnomes

  • Goblins

  • Halflings

  • Humans

  • Ogres

  • Wood Elves

All classes will be available.

What starting areas will be available in Early Access?

The majority of Early Access content will take place on the continent of Aêthoril, in the mysterious desert region of Szuur, the green lands of Calafrey to the north, and the Deep Region that runs beneath them both.

Players will be able to start in one of four locations:

  • Night Harbor

  • The Underdocks

  • Faelindral

  • Ail’vorith

Night Harbor, the Crown Jewel of the West, is a massive port city on the western coast of Aêthoril. Good and neutral race/faith/class combinations will have the option of starting here.

The Underdocks is a seedy underground port district found far below Night Harbor. It’s a conduit for trade and transport, connecting the surface world to Aêthoril’s Deep regions. Some neutral and evil race/faith/class combinations have the option of starting here.

From these two locations, adventurers will set out on their journey to explore the outer reaches of Szuur—both on the surface and in the Deep.

To the north of Szuur lies the enchanted lands of Calafrey, home of the Elves. Wood Elves and Halflings have the option of starting in Faelindral, the City in the Trees.

And deep below the eastern lands of Calafrey lies the city of Ail’vorith, the dark capital of the Deep Elves. Various evil race/faith/class combinations will be able to start here.

Some starting locations for different race/faith/class combos will be updated prior to Early Access Launch. Factions will begin to matter much more than before, so be sure to be careful when travelling.

How can I subscribe to Monsters & Memories? How much does it cost?

You can sign up for an account on our Account Management page. Once we launch Early Access, we’ll charge a $15 monthly fee for access to the game, per account.

Will there be regional pricing?

We are using Stripe so you can pay in local currency in many cases, but the cost is not modified for different regions. Whatever $15 converts to in your currency (ex. EUR → USD) is the cost of the monthly subscription.

Can I gift subscriptions to other players?

Yes, we will eventually support gift subscriptions, but will likely have them turned off at launch. Keep an eye out for updates on this topic.

When can I download the client?

You can download the client anytime between now and October 1st. There will be updates between now and then, so keep an eye out.

Will there be name reservations?

Name reservation is provided as part of our Account Confirmation and Server Interest Poll flow. We will send out an email on this topic to every registered account.

The first 4,000 names registered on each server will be reserved. You can reserve 1 name per account as part of this process.

When can we begin paying?

Our billing system will be activated on Monday, September 21st 2026. This will cover October’s subscription cost, and you will not be billed again until November 1st.

We’re opening it up early to ensure that we’ve had a chance to catch any remaining issues with payments prior to October 1st.

When can we make characters?

Once you’ve subscribed on September 21st, you can create up to 5 characters on each server.

When the game goes live on October 1st, you can create up to 25 characters on each server.

When are the servers going live on October 1st?

The servers will open at 09:00 Bahrain time. This is 02:00 Eastern and 23:00 Pacific.

We’re launching at this time because it allows Ali and Shawn to be awake for the day as people begin to filter in. It’s very likely going to be a busy couple of days, so we want to be as available as possible to assist the team.

What servers are you going live with?

  • US West PvE (no boxing)- Estaire - God of Time

  • US East PvE (no boxing)- Trem - God of Commerce

  • US PvP (no boxing) - Kravvin - God of Slaughter

  • US PvE (3 box) - Nunavoth - God of Gluttony

  • EU PvE (no boxing) - Vespyra - Goddess of Magic

We will monitor the servers once we’re live and make the determination as to whether more are needed, but we’re erring on the side of not having too many servers. That said, if we do add servers later and need to consolidate them -or- if the current list proves to be too many, we’ll provide a clear overview of how they’ll be consolidated.

Note:

  • For those that don’t know, the term ‘boxing/box’ is defined here.

  • RP server has been removed from the list for now

  • ‘PvE Boxing’ has been merged with ‘PvE 2 Box’ to form the '3 Box' option

When will the Merch Shop be opened?

We are aiming to have the merch shop opened on September 21st, 2026. This coincides with our opening of subscription payments. Buy a shirt, mug, or life-sized gnome snuggle pillow to celebrate!

What are the Build Lock and Beta Closing dates?

We’ve had a ton of stuff going on, so rather than lock on September 1st as originally announced, we’re locking a stable tech build on September 15th.

We’ve been maintaining a series of ‘safe’ builds for October 1st just in case. But, there are things we’re wanting to fix/add/optimize prior to Early Access.

Closed Beta will end on September 24th, 2026. That gives us a week to clean house and put on fresh undies.

Did you determine if tipping will be enabled during Early Access?

Yes, we will add a Tip Jar during Early Access. There are some things to keep in mind with this:

  • The tips go into the team’s ‘War Chest,' rather than to any one developer

  • They’ll be limited to $5-500, with the low end being to help protect us from chargebacks

  • They are anonymized provide you with no special benefits.

  • Tips will be tracked and published with the rest of our revenue numbers

  • Tipping is not a requirement, but people asked about it. We’re just happy to get your subscription or sell you some cool merch.

What are the System Requirements for the game?

Information regarding minimum system requirements is fairly limited since we're still optimizing the game, but we currently recommend that your system have at least:

  • Windows 10 version 21H1 (build 19043) or higher

  • 16 GB of RAM

  • A relatively modern CPU

  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB VRAM) or equivalent

Dedicated GPUs with lower specs and some integrated GPUs may suffice, but performance will be limited.

What should I expect as a player after Early Access begins?

Besides providing a Live Service experience in the form of customer support, operations, and live events, we’re planning both major and minor game updates (modules) that will flesh out Aêthoril to its full 1.0 state.

This includes new zones, abilities, items, bug fixes, systems, and of course, entirely new biomes to explore.

The first of these updates is currently slated to be “Descent into the Deep,” a deep elf themed module that we’ll begin production on prior to Early Access launch.

UPDATE: Descent into the Deep is now a part of EA launch. Stay tuned for information about Module 2.

Plans, names, themes, etc. may change between now and launch.

What if I don’t want to play until the game is further along? Won’t I be far behind?

We realize that a number of players would prefer a fully fleshed out game world before they start their adventures in Monsters & Memories. Coinciding with certain major content releases and/or other milestones, we will be releasing a fresh server or servers where all players can start off on equal footing.

These servers may one day merge with the original server or servers, but this will depend on a number of factors including server population, global population, and player feedback.

What all needs to be completed for Monsters & Memories to reach “full release” ready? How will you detail it?

We want all the racial cities to be online along with release ready regions to support them.

We’ll be creating a new roadmap, or updating our current one to detail the development process to reach 1.0.