Scramble Knights Online Early Access and Roadmap

What Early Access means here

Funktronic Labs describes Early Access as a way to develop the game with constant community feedback. The studio says the game "will evolve fast," so frequent patches are expected after launch. The core loop is already in place: take a quest, explore Terracott with up to three friends, collect rewards and return to Town Square to improve your knight. What grows over Early Access is the amount of content and the depth of the systems around it.

It is also a paid Early Access. The game costs $12.99 at launch, and the developer says the price will rise as content is added. Our price page covers Game Pass and microtransactions. You buy once, and every Early Access update is included.

What is in the launch build

The 1-Star area is the heart of the launch build. It is fully accessible and holds about five hours of unique content: quests, dungeons, enemies such as electric slimes and rock-hurling crabs, and bosses. Town Square is the shared social hub where you upgrade gear, fish with friends and form a squad. The Homestead gives you a base to decorate as you progress.

Faction PvP is included at launch. It is optional: new players start with no faction and only opt into PvP by joining one. Players on different expeditions can clash over resources, a scaled-down echo of the original battle royale design. Free-for-all and duo queues are mentioned in launch coverage.

Systems added during the beta also ship, including leveling, day and night, poise and the PvP Arena in Town Square. The demo overhauled the tutorial and the Blacksmith, Upgrade Knight and Storage menus. Our beginner guide walks through all of these.

The Star tier plan

Content is organized into Star tiers. Each tier is a set of quests and areas, and each takes longer to complete than the one before. The 1-Star area at launch is the shortest. For version 1.0, the developer plans at least four Star tiers with roughly 40 hours of unique content in total.

That means most of the planned game is still to come. Simple math shows the scale: five hours today against about 40 at 1.0. Later tiers should bring new regions, tougher enemies, new bosses and better rewards. The developer has not published the contents or order of the later tiers, so treat any specific claim about the 2-Star area with caution until it is announced.

How long Early Access will last

The developer's stated minimum is one year. That puts 1.0 no earlier than late 2027 if the plan holds. Early Access timelines often stretch, and no date has been set. We will update this page when Funktronic Labs publishes a roadmap with dates.

The first big update is planned for winter, after launch bugs are fixed. A roadmap was promised around launch. When it appears, we will summarize each milestone here and link the official post.

Why the game launched this way

Scramble Knights Online began as Scramble Knights Royale, a 32-player Zelda-inspired battle royale developed for about three years. Playtests drew over 25,000 participants. Co-founder Eddie Lee later explained that a battle royale needs roughly 2,000 to 3,000 concurrent players for healthy matchmaking, which he called nearly impossible for an indie studio without AAA marketing. The team pivoted to a Monster Hunter-inspired "MMO-lite" in June 2026.

An open beta began on August 14 and ended with a full wipe. The demo followed on October 16, with progress that carries over. Nearly 40,000 players joined the playtest, according to the developer. Early Access is the next step in that iterative approach.

Will my progress be wiped?

The developer promised "No more wipes!" when the demo launched, and demo progress carries over to the full game. Nothing announced so far suggests a wipe during Early Access. Beta progress is the exception: the open beta was wiped, and beta players receive the legacy Beta Cape instead.

If a future update ever requires a reset, developers normally announce it well in advance. We will flag any such notice here. For now, progress you make from launch onward is expected to persist.

What may change during Early Access

Expect balance changes. Weapon numbers, enemy health and upgrade costs shifted repeatedly in the beta. Menu layouts have been overhauled more than once, so screenshots and videos age quickly. Any "best weapon" or build list written now covers only the 1-Star area.

Platforms may also change. As of October 2026, PS5 and Switch versions are not announced. Split-screen has been described inconsistently across sources. Our platform pages track those topics and will be updated when the developer confirms details.

Should you join now or wait?

Join now if you like playing early, shaping a game with feedback, and paying the lowest planned price. Five hours of 1-Star content with friends is a solid start, and Game Pass members can try it at no extra cost. Wait if you want a complete experience; each Star tier should make the game longer and deeper, though the price is expected to rise.

Either way, the official Discord and the Steam announcements are the best places to follow patches. We update our guides as new tiers and systems arrive.

Early Access at a glance