Why Early Access?

“The Project Existence Testing Environment (PETE) is an experimental, massively-multiplayer sandbox testing ground for an upcoming title being developed by Arctic Theory. PETE is not a game in the traditional sense. Rather, it allows us to explore ideas and potential new features while allowing players to try things out and follow the development process. We felt Early Access was an ideal option for doing this.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We plan on using PETE for increasingly more robust features and tasks as we get close to bringing the actual game (codenamed: Annex) online for open beta around Q3 of 2023. This, of course, is subject to change, but that's our preferred timeline.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“This will partially depend on the players. So far, we are planning to add the following features:

• more core gameplay, UI/UX, Quality of Life and game systems
  
• larger areas of the testing world to explore
  
• deeper crafting and automation systems
  
• dynamic landscape and weather
  
• a collaborative mission system
  
• and much more

We don't want to get too specific just yet, but will frequently providing updates via our dev blog here on Steam.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is still in the relatively early stages of development, but rapidly nearing open beta. We are working on increasingly advanced manufacturing and automation features, quest mechanics and building. While we have been focusing heavily on the proof of concept and technology aspects of the game, we are now implementing gameplay and quality-of-life features (see: fun stuff to do). We've also implemented weather systems, resource harvesting and the first iteration of settlements.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Being that the Project Existence Testing Environment is free-to-play, the simple answer is probably. We aren't quite at the part where we know what that will be, however.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We believe in open, transparent development and helpful feedback. We use Discord to make it easy to engage and have conversations with our community. We also have other platforms we can be contact on, including our official Website, Discord, Twitter, Facebook & Youtube”