Indie game developer Oxalis Games has unveiled a big March game update for their life sim farming RPG Moonfrost, giving the blockchain gaming community more details on what to expect for the upcoming Early Access launch.

What Does Moonfrost’s Big March Update Reveal?

The big March update summarizes key moments of recent livestreams and AMAs, noting that the Early Access version of Moonfrost is now expected to arrive in mid to late May. It also covers a couple of new gameplay features, and mentions a partnership with Open Loot that was previously announced in Episode 3 of “The Road to Early Access” livestream and AMA series, with Open Loot set to power the game’s web3 economy for NFT trading.

While an exact release date is yet to be announced, it looks like the team is confident of launching the game to a wider gaming audience in the second half of May 2025, introducing more features for players to enjoy than has been the case in previous Alpha Releases.

Among the highlights noted, the update post talks about the most community-requested feature: fishing. Following a community playtest last month, the team has garnered significantly positive feedback on the latest iteration of this feature, with most enjoying the fishing feature and finding it particularly engaging, with most playtesters preferring to have daily tasks related to fishing instead of other mechanics. When it comes to adding multiplayer or social elements to the feature, testers suggested leaderboards, tournaments, and co-op fishing as elements they look forward to seeing the most.

The blog post then talks about the Mountain Map, a huge new area planned to be added to the upcoming version of this relaxing game. Not only will this be a beautiful new map for players to explore, but the location will also bring with it a couple of features, including exploration rewards, zoned progression, resource gathering, and a couple of fishing locations that each come with differing types of fish. There are plans to potentially turn the map into a multiplayer or shared world experience in a future version of the new area.

The developers have also been hard at work on a variety of new gameplay features that will make this an even better blockchain gaming experience than it already is in its closed alpha state. Specifically, they’ve been working on cooking, livestock animals, storage chests, a task log with multiple NPC tracks, and significant improvements in server optimization.

When it comes to updates related to game progression and economy, the studio has added in rarity traits. Specifically, there will be 9 rarity tiers that each are said to come with unique benefits for players to enjoy. A game whitepaper is planned to be released in the coming weeks for anyone looking to learn about the game’s economy in order to effectively earn rewards and maximize progression.

What Does the Open Loot Partnership Bring to Moonfrost Early Access?

Oxalis Games’ partnership with Open Loot is a big one, as it will make it easier for any gamer to jump into Moonfrost Early Access without needing to know anything about web3, NFTs, and blockchain technologies.

Thanks to this partnership, players will not need to create their own crypto wallet, but will instead have their own secure wallet automatically generated without needing to worry about seed phrases or anything, enabling players to focus fully on the game instead while still retaining item ownership. There won’t be any out-of-place transaction pop-ups either, as Open Loot removes the need for paying gas fees, allowing players easily and seamlessly trade items. Players won’t need to understand how NFTs work either, as they will simply be presented as regular game items that you own while having the ability to sell and trade them. Players won’t need to use any cryptocurrency to buy assets either, but can instead opt to use PayPal, credit card, or other regular payment methods that you’d commonly see on standard web2 stores.

Essentially, everything involving blockchain technology will be hidden in the background, allowing players to enjoy Moonfrost as a traditional game, but with the added benefit of having true item ownership and the ability to earn and trade items while relaxingly building and playing for fun.

Check out the official blog post to learn more about everything that went on during last month.

Earlier this year, Moonfrost announced Spring 2025 as the timeframe for the Early Access launch, canceling Alpha Release 6 (AR6) in the process to better focus on the bigger release. It's planned to launch on PC for Windows and Mac via the Epic Games Store, with a mobile version planned to be developed at some point later on.