Alta, renowned for their work on A Township Tale (2021), has been teasing some exciting developments for their upcoming dungeon-crawler extraction game, REAVE. Although everything is still under wraps and very much a work-in-progress, the team revealed a sneak peek into some of the new game systems, a fresh dungeon environment, and menacing new adversaries.
In their latest development update (which you can check out below), the studio gave a tour of several new systems and areas. The star of the show is a colossal room known as ‘The Fallen Bastion,’ marking the largest zone in the game thus far.
Sean Ellis, the lead environment artist, describes the setup: “Imagine a place where you can navigate through expansive open areas, squeeze into narrow passages, and encounter both brilliantly lit spots as well as shadowy corners perfect for sneaking up on others or evading enemies.”
Dominating the center of this area is a magical pedestal that invites players to trigger boss battles. For now, a giant spider serves as the placeholder big baddie, useful for testing the game’s dynamics.
“Don’t worry, the spider isn’t a permanent fixture,” says the studio team, reassuring fans. “It’s just here to help us gauge how boss fights feel while we fine-tune something more unique.”
The creative minds at Alta are putting in a lot of effort to refine previously shown areas. According to the recent dev log, they are undergoing numerous updates, with some components potentially being completely overhauled before the final release.
In addition to environment upgrades, the studio unveiled a new enemy prototype that will eventually replace the current skeleton placeholder models. These foes come with varying combat challenges, influenced by their different weapons and armor.
REAVE, as an extraction game, integrates its own in-game currency called ‘Echoes’—a name that might change. Players can earn Echoes by defeating enemies and exploring. These Echoes are essential for unlocking loot rooms and are necessary for the dungeon extraction process, which takes players back to the social hub where they can trade their collected treasures.
Interested in becoming part of the game’s testing phase? You can join their Discord community (link provided) where they occasionally open up limited testing slots to members. While there’s no specific release date announced, the studio has confirmed they are aiming for compatibility with Quest 2 and newer models, as well as PC VR headsets.
