Lightyear Frontier leaves Early Access on 4 November

Lightyear Frontier will leave Early Access on 4 November, when FRAME BREAK's mech farming sim ships its 1.0 build.

What 1.0 adds

The big structural change is the end of day transitions, which the studio says removes the rhythm of forced downtime that shaped the Early Access build.

Version 1.0 also adds an epic story finale, two new regions to explore, Sandswept Highlands and Hollow Marsh, and a set of farming and automation improvements.

On the tool side there are new upgrades and mods, including the Seed Shooter Minigun and the Skyblazer flying Transform Mode, alongside an overhaul of mech customisation. Progression has been reworked to be smoother, with fewer Deliveries overall and the ability to queue several at once, plus namable map markers, new difficulty options and a long list of quality-of-life fixes.

Existing saves will carry over, so players already farming a planet do not have to start again.

The last Early Access sale and the new price

Lightyear Frontier is 40 per cent off until 3 October, which the studio says is the final sale at the current Early Access price. When 1.0 arrives the game moves to £23.49 in the UK, up from its Early Access price, with equivalent increases in other regions.

The game entered Early Access on 19 March 2024, developed by FRAME BREAK and published with Coffee Stain Publishing.

Our opinion

Leaving Early Access after more than two years is the easy part. The harder question is whether removing day transitions and tightening progression makes Lightyear Frontier a better game or simply a faster one, because the mech farming loop already had a meditative pace that some players valued. Doubling the map with two new regions is a safer bet, and it gives the 1.0 launch something to sell that a balance pass cannot. The price rise landing the same week as the final Early Access discount is the tell that FRAME BREAK thinks the content now justifies the ask.