I think this is the first time I’ve heard of a game entering into “Early Access 2”. I don’t even know how you come up with that without it seeming like the game is actually farther out from release than everyone was expecting. It also makes it sound like either the first Early Access phase failed, or maybe they only made incremental changes during the first run and needed the second run to build a functional game. Either way, Hanko’s “Early Access 2” is what the developers of +Mpact Games are going with and it’s set to get underway starting June 14th.
Hanako: Honor & Blade originally came out back on October 9th, 2017 last year. Entering into the Early Access phase for the very first time on PC. The developers claimed that it would take anywhere between six months to a year to finish the full game. So I’m guess this is their planting the stake at the halfway mark?
Either way, the “Early Access 2” milestone will be accompanied by another new playable class, the Archer. A new video was released to give gamers a firsthand look at the new class in action.
The trailer highlights the Samurai Archer, Ite, and how he can utilize long range attacks to instantly kill foes. We get to briefly see his abilities being employed across the new map, Shiga Forest.
Matt Canei, the lead developer at +Mpact, explained why they added the archer and what sort of role they wanted him to fulfill in the game, mentioning in the press release…
“Since our first early access release, focused completely on melee – we wanted to bring the Samurai Archer to the game and add new features we’ve been waiting to develop for years. There have been melee games with Samurai, but I’m confident that focusing on Samurai and Ninja offers a fast-paced engaging game experience at a quality level typically seen in AAA games. We hope to keep improving and adding things outside of matches to keep working towards full 1.0 release.”
The game has also been approved to appear on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, so the developers will likely bring Hanako to both consoles once they get the various phases of Early Access wrapped up on Steam.
The hook for the game is that it features multiple combat stances and character/class customization. It attempts to focus on directional strikes, and movement-based combat, not unlike Bushido Blade. However, unlike the classic PlayStation series, Hanako offers battlegrounds for up to 24 players, creating a rather dynamic PvP battlefield.
You can pick up a digital copy of the game right now from the Steam store for $6.99.
