On October 16, publisher Arc Games and Stockholm, Sweden-based developer Chief Rebel will release the cooperative online RPG, Fellowship, into Steam Early Access.
According to Arc Games and Chief Rebel, Fellowship is a “multiplayer online dungeon adventure” (the studio calls it a MODA) as a streamlined answer for gamers who love end-game raids and dungeon running in massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), but don’t have the time, patience, or interest in leveling up characters for hundreds of hours beforehand. The game was originally announced a year ago and mixed in elements from multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBAs) like League of Legends as well.
Chief Rebel expects roughly six months in early access, though the team says timing may shift based on feedback and how the launch goes. The studio was founded by veterans from World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, Helldivers 2, Battlefield, and The Division, so they certainly know a thing or two about live service games and MMOs.
Notably, Fellowship was the fifth most-played demo during the February 2025 edition of Steam Next Fest, and during Fellowship’s open beta period last month, players logged more than 28 million minutes (about 471,000 hours) and completed over 572,000 dungeon runs.
“We were absolutely thrilled to see all the passion and support Fellowship received during Steam Next Fest. After seeing all the new players coming in, all the dungeon runs they were going on, and even all the requests to extend the demo to be available longer (which we did!), we knew we had to get an Open Beta going,” Axel Lindberg, chief executive officer and game director at Chief Rebel, said in a prepared statement. “With Early Access launch around the corner on October 16, this Open Beta is a huge milestone for us, as it will help us get one final round of feedback before Fellowship enters Early Access. Ever since we’ve announced Fellowship back in August 2024, we’ve been building and playing the game alongside our incredible community of players in private playtest, and we’ll continue to do so – as we enter Early Access and beyond.”
High-profile World of Warcraft raiders and streamers from teams like Liquid, Method, and Echo jumped in during the previous beta, signaling early interest from the audience that lives on coordinated PvE.
An online RPG that respects your time
Fellowship’s hook is simple: skip the grind and start where many MMOs end. Parties of four jump straight into endlessly scaling dungeon runs built around the classic tank/healer/DPS trinity, with a choice of quick-play dungeons (10–15 minutes) or tougher challenge runs that layer modifiers and competitive leaderboards.
“The way we kind of explain it is that it’s taking our favorite bits of MMOs, action RPGs, and MOBAs,” Hamish Bode, community director at Chief Rebel, said during a hands-on game preview session and recorded interview. “I totally understand the kind of initial comparisons to wow and the MMO stuff…But a lot of the people who have been coming over from the MMO space have been making comparisons to the ARPG feel of the combat, and then also the MOBA feel as well.”
During my time with the game in the preview session, it really did feel like an amalgamation of all those sorts of game styles. Things started off in a communal base camp area where we could tweak our gear, select which dungeon we wanted to tackle, converse with a handful of NPCs, and generally get ready for the next run.
Once the instance of the dungeon started, it was like being teleported to end-game content for an MMO I hadn’t played yet. Being tossed into the deep end with a new character in a fast-paced dungeon wasn’t the typical player experience, but my muscle memory from thousands of hours of EverQuest, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Throne & Liberty started to kick in, and I came to grips with things quickly.
There are tons of upgrade paths to level up each of the individual heroes, lots of gear and loot to collect, and abilities to master. It’s a dense and complex game like any online RPG, but streamlining things to hone in on the best bits is a fascinating game design concept.
“Our path from going from ‘zero’ to ‘gear cap’ is a lot faster than it is in other games,” Bode said. “For example, at the end of every run, if you complete that dungeon, you’ll get personal loot, guaranteed. We don’t have to sit around at the end of a dungeon and wonder, ‘Who in our group is going to get loot?’ No, everyone gets something. So you’re always finding something that pushes you forward.”
Naturally, boss fights aim to be the star, with encounter mechanics that evolve as difficulty rises and loot that escalates with risk. During my preview session, I witnessed everything from small encounters with tiny enemies to puzzle-like encounters that involved bosses mixing and matching debuffs for various scenarios, and even traps that needed to be handled during the heat of battle.
How Fellowship can create its own niche
Fellowship arrives at a time where the general trend towards games-as-a-service and always-online heavy time investment experiences that demand the undivided attention of players is reversing.
Now, many gamers indicate a preference for more streamlined games that are less of a time sink, and when they do play the dominating online games, it’s rarely anything new. They’re opting to continue playing the games they’ve already established themselves in. Fellowship could be a fresh antidote to shake things up a bit.
The early access plan prioritizes stability, quality-of-life updates, and balance tuning first, with a public roadmap to follow once launch feedback is in hand. Cosmetic purchases will arrive post-launch and will not affect gameplay. Chief Rebel frames the MODA concept as a long-term live service: seasonal updates, new dungeon modifiers, and fresh rewards are intended to keep the loop from stagnating while preserving the “in-fast, out-fast” ethos.
From a market perspective, Fellowship hits several sweet spots for PC co-op. Session-based PvE remains highly streamable and replayable, and the team’s “no prerequisite grind” stance lowers barriers for groups that want raid-like coordination without an MMO’s overhead. By anchoring progression to boss mastery and escalating modifiers, Fellowship leans into the roguelite appetite for high-skill, repeatable runs while staying firmly PvE and team-first.
There isn’t a lot of data on this type of game since it’s a novel combination of genre concepts, but we can see promising signs and indicators via cross-sections of the overall industry. For example, the MMO games market was valued at over $61 billion in 2024 according to imarc Group, combined with the fact that co-op-focused games trend far better on Steam than their non-cooperative counterparts.
In 2023, only approximately 6% of all new releases included co-op support, but they accounted for 36% of all units sold, showing a clear market gap in terms of demand far outpacing supply. A game like Fellowship or other similar concepts could absolutely help satisfy those consumers.
Fellowship’s early access period on Steam will begin on October 16, 2025.