If you were planning on conquering an alien world with a faction of weirdos in August, I’ve got some bad news: Endless Legend 2 has been delayed. Instead of appearing on August 7, Amplitude’s early access 4X is now expected to launch on September 22.
Amplitude says the delay will give the team more time to work on player onboarding, localisation, adding more polish and improving “player momentum in the early portions of the game.” Balance, map generation and “other quality-of-life changes” will also be worked on during the delay.
“The feedback we’ve received through the Insiders Program has been incredibly valuable,” says Amplitude CEO Romain de Waubert de Genlis, “and we want to make the most of it. Taking this extra time means we can keep refining the game and make sure we’re delivering the best possible experience to players on September 22.”
It’s not all bad news, though. In early August, around the time it was meant to launch, an Endless Legend 2 demo will be released. There’s no word on what the demo will contain, or whether we’ll be able to take all five of the early access factions for a spin, but this little taster will certainly make the wait more bearable.
It’s been a decade since the first Endless Legend, so I’m happy to twiddle my thumbs a wee bit longer. It’s a tough act to follow, being one of the most inventive 4Xs around, so if Endless Legend 2 needs more time to cook to match that, that’s fine with me.
And it definitely sounds like it’s getting there. “The sea-level concept of Endless Legend 2’s new world already feels like a massive improvement over the drab winter one of its predecessor,” Rob Zak said in his Endless Legend 2 preview earlier in the year, “while a focus on narrative victories and the seedling of a relationship system show signs that Amplitude is trying to do away with convention and find more ways to fit storytelling into the 4X framework.”