Shroud of the Avatar's early access to start December 12

The first stage of Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues' early access will launch on December 12, allowing players to create characters and claim their own slice of real estate after experiencing the game's first town. However, it's only going to be available for two days and although the access will require you to play online, you'll have to play single player, online. The game's full schedule after the jump.

Release 2 in January, from the 24th to the 26ths will implement crafting, shopping and the second town. It will also expand upon the character customisation system, although sadly your character from the first access will be wiped.

For release 3, on February 20-22 the online multiplayer is actually being implemented, alongside chat and emotes. Another town will open as well, although the house you grabbed in release 1 will be confiscated for a month while they work on persistence.

Release 4 on March 20th is set to be the big one, with combat, leveling, an overworld, loot, final persistence in player housing and the game's social systems. In addition, there's no planned switch off date for this release, it's looking to be the real thing.

Now, what Release 1 will actually turn out to be sounds like a bit of a mystery. Thousands of players with nothing to do but claim player housing in a single, small town on servers that havn't been tested yet?

I bet that's going to be a fun weekend.

Thanks, Polygon.