Monastic brewing sim Ale Abbey hops out of early access with eight new beers to quaff and a 35% launch discount

A victorious ale-brewing monk stands on a podium wielding a trophy in front of his monastery, while a panel of three judges sits to the right

(Image credit: Hammer & Ravens)

I'm not normally much of a drinker, but I'll be pouring a pint or several (hundred) this weekend, because monastic management sim Ale Abbey has staggered out of early access. The launch version spews a chunky 1.0 update all over the abbey's virtual cloisters, while wannabe brewmasters yet to sample its stout offering can dive in at a sizeable launch discount.

For those unfamiliar with the art of medieval beermaking, Ale Abbey tasks players with founding a monastery in a boozy slice of Middle-Ages Europe, transforming it into the finest monkish brewery in Christendom. Your Fermentine order is founded on familiar management-sim mechanics, like building new rooms for your monastery, recruiting new brothers and sisters, and maintaining their general health and happiness.

But Ale Abbey adds its own citrusy twist to this formula in the form of an elaborate brewing system. Instead of making pre-set beers, you create your own beverage through choosing a style of ale, picking what equipment you'll use to brew it, and adjusting variables like the quality and quantity of your grain, the temperature of your mash, and how long you choose to age it once barrelled.

Ale Abbey | 1.0 Available Now! - YouTube

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The 1.0 update adds eight new ale styles for your order to experiment with, and four new markets to sell your bold new brews in, including the illustrious-sounding Grand Capital. The update also structures its brewing competitions in a full-blown league table, letting you go pate-to-pate with other monasteries to reach the top of the ale-making charts.

Elsewhere, the update adds new furniture for your monks and nuns to lounge around on, an expanded research tree with new items and technologies to discover, new world events to spice up your journey, and a new room type—the Contemplarium—where your monks can take a thoughtful load off (or ride out their hangovers).

To celebrate Ale Abbey's release, developer Hammer & Ravens is selling the brewing sim at a 35% launch discount. This brings the price down to $9.75 (£8.31), which is about the price of a pint in central London. The discount runs until September 29.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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