After lying dormant for more than two years, Tribes: Ascend is being resurrected by Hi-Rez Studios, as yesterday the enormous Out of the Blue patch went live.
According to Hi-Rez President Stewart Chisam, no one on the team “felt good” about their summary abandonment of support for the game. While focusing on their MOBA title Smite, the team had wanted to return to work on Tribes: Ascend for a long time.
Still, Hi-Rez is aware that the Out of the Blue patch may not bring Ascend the popularity it once enjoyed. While the current plan is to have a few people consistently working to update the game, Chisam sees it as more of a passion project than a fiscal opportunity.
To that end, all previously spent currency — XP earned and gold purchased — will be refunded for your further use, and get you a free copy of the Ultimate Weapons Pack. Gameplay has been drastically rebalanced, loadouts have been revamped, and character classes have become both simpler and more dynamic. The exhaustive patch notes detailing these changes can be found in this massive Google doc.
Whether the sudden and unprecedented show of support will manage to revive the nearly dormant title is still in question, but this is a pretty strong move in the right direction. I loved the game when it was still a popular multiplayer hangout, and I’ll be going back to check it out. If you want to join me, you can pick it up for free.
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