Farthest Frontier Launches Early Access on August 9th, 2022
The survival-city-building game Farthest Frontier has officially landed in early access today, marking a major moment for the studio Crate Entertainment as it ventures into a new genre. Released on August 9th, 2022, for Windows via Steam, this is the first time Crate has taken one of its titles into public development in this way.
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Setting the scene
Crate Entertainment, best known for its action-RPG work with titles like Grim Dawn, announced in early 2021 that it was working on a medieval-style city builder. That game turned out to be Farthest Frontier, a blend of settlement management, survival mechanics and town-building in a wild frontier setting. With today's early access launch, players can now get their hands on it.
At the time of the early access release, Crate stated they expected the game might stay in early access "probably 8-12 months" depending on how much system revision or content addition was required.
What Farthest Frontier brings to the table
Farthest Frontier gives you a rugged patch of wilderness and a band of settlers, and asks you to build, survive and thrive. Your tasks include:
- Building homes, gathering resources, producing food, and defending against environmental and human threats.
- Managing a detailed farming system including crop rotation, soil fertility and weather challenges.
- Dealing with diseases, harsh winters, bandits and wildlife as part of the survival-leaning city-builder twist.
One of the core appeals is this hybrid of city building and survival simulation: it's not just about placing buildings and expanding. It's about managing the consequences of your environment and population. That gives it a distinct identity in a genre filled with more building space titles.
Why the early access move matters
Putting Farthest Frontier into early access serves several strategic purposes:
- Community feedback: With real players building towns, the devs can see how systems behave in practice rather than just internal testing. In fact, the dev forum states they appreciate feedback from the wider audience.
- Iterative development: The early access period lets Crate gradually add features, balance systems and optimize performance, without needing to be perfect at launch.
- Visibility & market presence: By launching now, the game gains visibility in Steam's early access catalogue, collects wish-lists and builds a community ahead of full release.
- Genre proving ground: City-builders with survival/management hybrids are gaining popularity, and entering early access signals that Crate intends Farthest Frontier to compete in that space. In recent coverage the game is described as a contender in the medieval city-builder genre.
What players should expect during early access
If you're jumping in now, here are some practical considerations:
- The game is not complete yet. Expect patches, additions and possibly some rough edges.
- Your feedback could matter. The devs are monitoring player behaviour, systems and feedback channels.
- Price and content may change. Early access often means the game will rise in price or add paid content later.
- Save your expectation of "final polish". The 8-12 month estimate is a guideline, not a guarantee.
- If you're into creating a functioning frontier settlement, dealing with food chains, disease, winter and wilderness, this could be one of the more interesting city-builders right now.
Looking ahead: the path to version 1.0
While the early access launch is now, the devs have already teased what's coming. Based on dev postings, the final version will introduce more buildings, more tech progression, deeper systems and more polish. One of the latest dev updates says: "Leaving Early Access means we are confident in the foundation we have created for Farthest Frontier, and we can begin looking to the future, with post-release support and DLC content."
That suggests post-1.0, the game will not just stop, but carry on with new content and expansions, which is good news for players.
Final thoughts
For fans of city-building games who want something a little rougher around the edges, something survival-touched and frontier-flavoured, Farthest Frontier is worth a look right now. By entering early access on August 9th, 2022 it invites players into its development journey rather than just dropping a finished product.
If you build sprawling cities from the get-go, this might feel a bit constrained at first compared to polished full releases. But if you're excited about shaping how the game evolves, building a town on the edge of the known world and dealing with dangers along the way, this early access may be exactly your sort of adventure.
