Update 52: Mar - May 2026

Written By Shawn Lord

Hello!

We’ve got a ton going on at the moment, but we wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the last 3 months.

We’ll quickly cover the most recent playtest, some stats from closed and open testing beginning in March, an update on our total spend through May, and then regale you with a bunch of pretty pictures and gifs.

The design & tech section will point you back to the Patch Notes section of our Community Hub, because there’s too much to list in an update like this these days.

And before we get started, we kindly ask everyone to go vote for their preferred server for EA.

This was recently reset with different options added. It’ll be a big favor to us if you (and your friends, family, and guilds) engage with this survey. It could help us get a feel for the number and types of servers we need to prep for Early Access.

Click here: https://account.monstersandmemories.com/server_selection_poll

 

May 29th - June 7th Open Playtest

Thanks a ton to everyone that took time away from playing the latest Path of Exile season, checking out the EQ Legends Beta, hitting Frostweaver, or otherwise enjoying the weather, time off, etc. It still ended up being a nice chunk of folks.

We weren’t sure what to expect - especially with some degree of people just wanting October to happen so they can get started for real.

We were pleasantly surprised.

The metrics for this test track very similarly to previous playtests.

Closed testers requested that we reopen their servers for the duration of the test, so we brought them back online - lest they be tempted to go enjoy sunlight as well.

Overall, we got some good data from the test and were able to monitor things with more servers online.

 

Playtest Customer Service Stats

 

March - June Closed & Public Playtest Overview

Note this is a little choppy looking due to the resolution of the data due to the number of days

The breakdown shown above is using Open & Closed Testing totals.

The breakdown shown above is using just the Closed Testing totals.

 

Expenses for 2026

We’ve spent just over $160,000 on the project to date.

Here’s a quick breakdown of our monthly expenses. Naturally, it’s not as detailed as our internal view, so if you have any questions always feel free to hit us up.

We’ll be working on more detailed dashboards for the community once Early Access kicks off.

And now on to the pretty stuff…

 

Character Art & Concepts

  • Fixed numerous item appearances

  • Finalized Deep Gnome eye tech

  • Worked on Deep Gnomes

  • Concepted Deep Elf and Deep Gnome hair

  • Added helmet hair tech (some helms now show hair instead of being completely bald)

  • Completed weathered plate armor set

  • Completed generic chain armor set

  • Completed Wood Elf plate armor set

  • Continued Deep Elf plate work

  • Added Sand Dervish model

  • Completed “Arabian” weapon set

  • Concepted:

    • Wood Elf weapons, Ropers, Slimes.

 

Animations

  • Ogre

    • Emotes

    • Front Kick

    • Round Kick (Monk)

  • Mycothane

    • Punch

  • Deep Gnome

    • Attacks

    • Emotes

    • Riding

    • Swim Death

  • Faeries (Gnome used for size reference)

    • Attack

    • Casting

    • Death

    • Idle

    • Movement

  • Various harvesting animations

  • Humans

    • Emotes

    • F Idles

    • F Sit

    • F Walk

  • Deep Elves

    • Death

    • Idle

  • Dryads

    • Various

Environment Art

  • Continued Ail'vorith (Deep Elf city zone) progress

  • Continued Fallen Watch work

  • Began work in the Great Cavern Sea

  • Updated POIs and geometry in the Underdocks

  • Continued propping and lighting updates in Night Harbor

  • Created additional signage for Night Harbor

  • Added prop versions of “Arabian” weapon set

  • Added prop variations for crates, baskets, pots, furniture, and more

  • Updated some textures in Evershade Weald

  • Concepted the Orc Fortress in Blacktide Bay

  • Updated textures and lighting in Shallow Shoals, Underdocks, and expedition zones

 

Audio & Music

  • Added tension music regions in Wyrmsbane

  • Added temple music to temples in Night Harbor

  • Extended the “Title Music” track in the login scene

  • Added Wizard glyph sound effects

  • Added Ability: Shield Bash sound effects

  • Added Ability: Stealth (and Stealth-based abilities) sound effects

  • Added Ability: Bind Wound sound effects

  • Added Ability: Crafting Survival sound effects

  • Added a new Campfire recording for the login scene (now in Stereo for more ASMR!)

  • Added ghost sounds for Human F and Goblin M

  • Added sounds for building campfires and placing them

  • Added sounds for adding wood to campfires

  • Added sounds for opening/interacting with campfires

  • Added note opening sound effects

  • Added /tell notification sounds

  • Added Wolf footstep sounds

  • Added river sounds in Keepers Bight

  • Added water sounds in Evershade Weald

  • Added missing Trainer, Merchant, and Banker music states in Shallow Shoals

  • Fixed NPCs who weren’t using the correct weapon sounds

  • Fixed several other audio bugs

  • Upgraded Audiokinetic Wwise to version 2025.1

  • Added crafting & opening/interacting sound effects for the following crafting stations:

    • Anvil

    • Carpentry

    • Cauldron

    • Enchanting

    • Forge

    • Grilltop

    • Grinding wheel

    • Jewelcrafting

    • Leatherworking

    • Loom

    • Sawmill

    • Stove

    • Tanning

  • Added idle ambience sound effects for the following crafting stations:

    • Cauldron

    • Forge

    • Grilltop

    • Stove

  • Added crafting sound effects appropriate to each profession for the following combine containers:

    • Alchemist Bag (including the Trainee version)

    • Backstrap Loom

    • Camp Kitchen

    • Ceramic Mixing Bowl

    • Dark Alchemist's Bag

    • Disenchanting Cube (including the Trainee version)

    • Fletching Kit (including the Trainee version)

    • Jewelcrafting Kit (including the Trainee version)

    • Leatherworking Kit (including the Trainee version)

    • Mixing Bowl

    • Mortar and Pestle (including the Trainee version)

    • Poison Making Kit (including the Trainee version)

    • Pottery Bowl (including the Trainee version)

    • Tailoring Kit (including the Trainee version)

    • Tinkering Toolkit (including the Trainee version)

    • Tome of Enchantment (including the Trainee version)

    • Trainee Research Tome

 

Design & Tech

Given the volume of patch notes during this period (~18 updates), please click this link to view the Patch Notes section of the Community Hub: https://account.monstersandmemories.com/community/patch_notes

Our Closed Beta and multiple Open Beta tests have yielded a massive amount of feedback and bugs, so the patch notes linked above are extensive.

During this time we’ve also kicked off our class revamps. Each class has had its intent posted to its Class page.

So far we’ve updated 4 classes, which consists of both a Deep Dive and an initial implementation pass. This includes:

Additional class revamps are underway and we’re hoping to have all of them in place for the launch of Early Access.

 

In Closing

This year has blasted by so far, but we’re making great progress toward October’s Early Access launch.

We’re hoping to get people into the Deep soon, and look forward to seeing Deep Elves and Deep Gnomes skulking about the world.

For the people that keep asking how they can help out: no, we’re still not taking any cash. But you can do the following:

That’s it for now. See you next time!

Shawn Lord
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Archer & Druid - Deep Dives