Luminary: two people, an open-world ARPG, and an honesty we wish we saw more often

There is a sentence on Luminary's Steam page worth more than any trailer: there are only two of us making this game, so please allow us some time to cook. The studio Refractive Entertainment warns that content will arrive more slowly than from a big team, and that it has a plan.

In a sector where Early Access too often serves to promise the moon, seeing a studio list precisely what day one will contain, and what it will not, makes a pleasant change.

What is there at launch

The game presents itself as a balanced ARPG-lite, playable solo or with friends, and the word lite is meant seriously: forgiving combat, straightforward mechanics, the stated goal being to bring newcomers into the genre.

Concretely, at launch you get a character creator with six races, hairstyles, beards and make-up, drop-in drop-out co-op designed for friends and family, and character progression that carries across your game and your friends' games alike. The map covers half of a two square kilometre open zone with several modes of traversal, the other half planned for later. There are enemies, camps and bases to destroy, towers to liberate, and mini-bosses.

Combat aims to be real-time and skill-based, with instant switching between styles: sword and shield, bow, magic glove to start, plus blocking and dodging. Traversal is presented as a pillar: climbing the tallest mountains, braving deep water, gliding to distant lands, with hidden treasure to uncover.

What is not there

And this is where the studio's honesty shows, because it says so itself. The final boss fight, the one that lets you beat the game, will arrive later, along with the back half of the map. So you are buying a playground, not a complete adventure.

The advertised replayability rests on replaying the experience at higher difficulty, which is a slightly thin answer, and on content expanding if Early Access succeeds. The studio puts it bluntly: scope could grow if sales and the community follow. That is frank, but it also means you are betting on a commercial success as much as on a game.

No user reviews exist as we write, the game launching today, hence the absence of a score. Good point: it is available in French.

For a two-person team the ambition is already considerable, and the accessible approach may find its audience among those intimidated by Diablo and its peers. You simply have to buy knowing you are funding a trajectory, not a finished game.