Wolcen 2: Nice-based studio targets PC early access in 2027

WOLCEN Studio announced Wolcen 2 on August 26, six and a half years after a first installment that became a textbook case of a botched launch. The studio is French, based in Nice, and Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem was born from a Kickstarter completed in June 2015 under the name Umbra: 11,141 backers, $406,979.

On February 13, 2020, version 1.0 climbed to 62,000 concurrent players, up from 1,934 the previous month — figures from the studio. Servers overloaded, characters lost, chests emptied: online mode only came back on February 20. Multiplayer was permanently shut down on September 17, 2024.

Wolcen 2 starts from scratch on Unreal Engine 5, trading dedicated servers for peer-to-peer. Still no fixed classes: weapons unlock skills, alongside a passive tree and the Shadow Form transformation. Co-op for up to four players, two endgame modes: Conquest and the Tower of Wonders. PC early access in 2027, with a full release afterward on PC and current-generation consoles.

The studio isn't waiting for trust to be given: its press release openly acknowledges that the announcement "will be met with skepticism," and states that the team is no longer the one from 2020. On the Steam hub, threads swing between anticipation and reminders of the studio's track record. A closed testing phase runs until August 31, 9:59 p.m. UTC (11:59 p.m. CEST). One signal remains: on the Steam page, five languages are ticked for subtitles only — English is the sole language with a localised interface and voice track.