Umbra becomes Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, coming to Early Access this month

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The action-RPG Umbra looked pretty decent when we laid eyes on it last year, and it made enough of an impression to almost double its $225,000 Kickstarter goal. But much has changed since then. The title, for one thing, which is now Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, and the name of the studio making it: formerly Solarfall Games, now Wolcen Studio. And on March 24, it will go live on Steam Early Access.

The Early Access release will contain the “basics” of the game, with large areas of the world open to explore, classless character advancement, and elemental magic effects. It will continue to evolve over the Early Access period (which of course is the whole point of Early Access), beginning with the addition of Apocalyptic Form, a “core combat mechanic” expected to arrive shortly after launch that enables players to “evolve their special abilities and appearance” to match their style of play. Personally, I'd expect more than a new haircut and a nice change of clothes from something called “Apocalyptic Form,” but maybe there's more to it than it sounds.

Wolcen released a new teaser to go along with the Lords of Mayhem name change, and it looks pretty sweet. There's nothing about it that's obviously revolutionary, but the eye candy is nice, and that's a good place to start. Until the Early Access version lands, you can find out more about what's coming at umbragame.com—the name may have changed, but URLs are forever—but do note that with the Steam launch looming, preorders through the site are no longer being taken. (The studio said the preorder button will be removed in the near future.)

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.