Square Enix has announced that it is to extend Babylon's Fall season 2 by three months. The extra time will be used to take another look at the game's roadmap, which presumably means the devs are looking to fix some of Babylon's Fall's biggest problems.
Why is Babylon's Fall season 2 being extended?
It's no secret that Babylon's Fall was critically reviled when it launched last month, not least by us. It looks like Square Enix is aware of the negative critical and public reception to its game, and so it's decided to extend Babylon's Fall season 2 by three months in order to address some of the player base's core complaints. In a post on the official Babylon's Fall website, Square Enix says that in light of player feedback, it has decided to "re-evaluate the game's future operating roadmap", which presumably means priorities are being shifted around in order for devs to address some major points of criticism.
The way in which Square Enix lays out its plans for Babylon's Fall season 2 updates is a little confusing. The studio says it's on track to launch the second season on May 31st as planned, and that season 2 will contain "numerous updates based on player feedback". During the extension period, Square Enix says there will not be "any further updates or...new content", then goes on to say that Babylon's Fall will "not see any content updates over the 3-month extension". It's not clear whether the three-month period will see no updates whatsoever or whether critical balance updates and bug fixes will still be released. We've reached out to Square Enix for further clarification on this.
What is Babylon's Fall?
Originally announced all the way back in 2018, Babylon's Fall is a live-service action RPG developed by Platinum Games. You play as a Sentinel in the game, and it's your job to scale the Ziggurat tower, dispatching its many enemies and gathering loot along the way. After a period of relative silence, Babylon's Fall entered closed beta testing in 2021, during which some players noticed the game was reusing assets from Final Fantasy XIV. It wasn't a good look for a game that had already been criticized for its visual fidelity based on trailers, and true enough, when Babylon's Fall launched earlier this year, it was critically panned, although that was due to far more than its visuals. The game's player count plummeted after launch, too; last week, it had just one concurrent player on Steam, later outed as games journalist Dashiell Wood. He'll no doubt be pleased to know that he can still play the game during that three-month extension period, so he won't have to go back to his other Square Enix love: critical darling Balan Wonderworld, so beloved that creator Yuji Naka took Square Enix to court over its development.
If, for some reason, you find yourself morbidly curious, you can pick up Babylon's Fall right now on PlayStation consoles and PC. Given the game's dismal critical reputation, we can't say we'd recommend doing so, but hey, at least you can keep ol' Dash company if you decide to play it. We'll bring you more on future Babylon's Fall plans, including any potential miraculous revival of its fortunes on the part of Platinum Games, as soon as we get it, but it's probably safe to say that you shouldn't hold your breath for that to happen.
