It’s been a long while in coming, and it had a stuttering startup before it got to this point, but at long last Vela Games’ Evercore Heroes: Ascension has officially arrived to Steam early access for those looking to see how this blend of co-op roguelike and MOBA play out.
As we’ve reported previously, this milestone was not easy in coming, nor is it the game’s first launch: Vela’s initial swing with Evercore Heroes was a competitive PvE MOBA that was accessible only by paying for closed beta access, which ended up strangling player counts enough that layoffs and a shutdown to retool the game took place.
Unfortunately the initial release wasn’t without a bit of a trip-up. Readers will recall that early access was originally slated for June 19th, then got pushed back to June 24th, and then got further delayed for more server setup until it finally went live yesterday afternoon. Further complicating matters is the roundabout method for backers to get their game keys.
Those aforementioned challenges to get to this point were further discussed in an interview with Vela CEO Travis George, who talked about how internal vision and player perception can often not align, the drying up of funds during Evercore’s initial release, and his resolution to keep this new release simpler.
“Making games is super hard – I’ve never worked on an easy one. But the things that we’ve gone through the last couple years with a small team with barely any funding have just been one of the biggest challenges – and biggest growing and learning opportunities, I think – for all of us,” he remarks. “We’ve been through the literal wringer.”
