Zenith: The Last City is arguably the most successful MMORPG in VR right now, and developers Ramen VR announced its next major content patch will finally bring player versus player (PvP) combat to the game.
Called Skyward Summit, the update is said to focus on one-on-one and team duels, and will also include the long-teased Cyber Ninja class.
Projected for release in Q2 2023, Skyward Summit is also slated to introduce other new features such as player housing, resource harvesting, and crafting.
Late last month the studio released a preview video that shows off some of the upcoming features:
As the result of a fairly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019, Ramen VR released Zenith in late 2020 on all major VR headsets at the time, which included the original Quest, PSVR, and SteamVR headsets.
With the launch of its 1.3 Skyward Summit patch, the game will end support for both the original PSVR and Quest 1 headsets.
“We are committed to delivering the best possible experience to all of our players and we are confident that this decision will ultimately lead to a more stable, seamless, and enjoyable experience for all users moving forward,” the studio says in a blog post.
The second round of alpha tests are set to launch on April 18th, although PSVR 2 users won’t be able to access test channels, which the studio is only making available for Quest 2 and SteamVR users.
If you’re interested in testing out the Skyward Summit update, click here (Discord invite).
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Zenith is getting its first major update next week with the launch of ‘The Celestial Throne’, a v1.1 patch that’s slated to bring a massive slice of content to the MMO.
Update (June 16th, 2022): In addition to the new instanced dungeons rolling out today, Zenith studio Ramen VR additionally says players can expect headgear such as masks, helmets, and crowns. This comes in addition to a new item infusion mechanic to level up gear, amid more daily and weekly quests, 50 pieces of armor and godstones, 10 brand-new full-size quests, and what the studio says are “lots of new interactive puzzles and objects across the game world.”
The update will be live today on all supported headsets. The original article follows below:
Original Article (June 10th, 2022): On June 16th, the Celestial Throne Update is set to introduce what developers Ramen VR say will be “dozens of hours” of new content, including three new four-person dungeons and three eight-person raids.
The studio says we should expect:
Explore an awe inspiring giant castle and giant obstacle course you must scale to reach
Delve 6 meticulously crafted instanced dungeons including a ton of new interactive puzzles
8 new armor sets + helmets
20 new quests
Matchmaking, Daily Quests, New Armor Sets, New Enemy Types, and much more
Of course, there’s also a brand new story element too—The Celestial Throne itself. Here’s how Ramen VR describes it:
Emerging from the violent storm essence that kept it hidden for the last 60 years, a flying castle hovers down near the surface once more. Within the suspended castle and scattered around the world, adventurers will find six new instanced dungeons filled with interactive puzzles, traps, adversaries, and an abundance of treasure. Assemble parties of 4-8 players through instance matchmaking, then get ready to test every skill you have, both as individuals and as a team.
The studio shows off a few of the challenges that await in the new release trailer, including the previously revealed ‘Furnace’ dungeon, which is at the heart of the castle.
“The Furnace keeps the enormous fortress afloat with the power of superheated flames and lava. You and your party must feed fire-starters to the forges to generate updrafts from the heat vents. Well-timed updrafts will then carry you across scorching lava pits, and deeper within the Furnace to where a beast awaits,” Ramen VR says.
There looks to be some really interesting environmental hazards along the way too (skipping a laser rope?!).
Ramen VR, the creators behind crowd-funded VR MMORPG Zenith: The Last City, announced it’s closed a Series B round of $35 million, something the studio says will allow it to significantly expand in size as it aims to develop Zenith into a metaverse platform that goes far beyond its current scope.
The studio’s latest financing round was led by Anthos Capital and Dune Ventures. Additional investments come from Makers Fund and personal investments from Andreessen Horowitz partners Andrew Chen and James Gwertzman.
The studio’s Series B brings its outside investment to over $45 million; Ramen VR’s penultimate round of $10 million was led by Makers Fund in September 2021.
Ramen VR says the funding will be used to “double the size of the studio as it transforms Zenith into a gaming super-app containing multiple worlds and gameplay experiences across VR, desktop, and mobile.”
“The reception for Zenith has been amazing. We’re already profitable but now we want to take the game to the next level, building massive interconnected gaming worlds for all to explore,” said Andy Tsen, co-founder and CEO of Ramen VR. “Closing this important round of funding will help us grow our team so we can continue to build out our vision. We are fortunate to collaborate with these exceptional investment partners who believe in us as we continue to support Zenith throughout the game’s lifecycle.”
Ramen VR gained quick success on Kickstarter in a 2019 campaign that raised $280,000 to create the VR-native MMORPG for PC VR headsets, Meta Quest and PSVR. Since its January 2022 launch, Zenith: The Last City has been a resounding success: the game currently sits at the top-5 most popular games on the Quest platform.
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