Remember Temtem? Four years before ‘Pokémon with guns’ game Palworld exploded onto the scene, massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure Temtem came out alongside similar comparisons. Now, its developer has issued an open letter to players signaling the end of support and teased what’s next.

In the message, posted to the Temtem Steam page, developer Crema addressed what it said was an “uptick” in community concern about Temtem following the announcement of Temtem: Swarm, a “survivor-like bullet heaven” spin-off due out later this year.

Crema started its message by discussing the mismanaged expectations that came from Temtem being tagged as an MMO on Steam when the plan was for it to be an MMO-lite. Trying to make Temtem more like a traditional MMO to meet those expectations caused Temtem to “grow far beyond our original intentions, and even beyond our grasp,” the developer admitted. “We understand now that seeing the game being called an MMO everywhere led to expectations that we have failed to fulfill.”

Crema went on to explain why it’s not adding new islands and Tems, pointing to the limited development capability of a studio of its size. It’s the same explanation, in essence, for the lack of more multiplayer content. Crema then apologized for features that were promised but will not be released, including PvP Draft and the Temtem API. “For our shortcomings and failure to deliver these to you, we are truly sorry,” Crema said.

But the big announcement is that patch 1.7, due out early June, will remove all the game’s microtransactions after a community backlash. This means Temtem’s entire monetisation system will be stripped out. Then, with patch 1.8, Crema said it will “alleviate FOMO” (the fear of missing out) by letting players select any battle pass from the past and complete it. “While it’s still very early to talk about monetization for future projects, we have learned from this situation and the lesson is clear, and will keep these learnings in mind for the future,” Crema said,

Patch 1.8, then, is the last feature-filled patch of the usual size, Crema warned. “1.8 will not have a Tamer Pass, nor a Season, and there won’t be more Seasons going forward,” it confirmed. “This doesn’t mean there won’t be new patches in the future: we’ll continue polishing, fixing bugs, and balancing Temtem for as long as it needs it.

“Beyond the economy, all these changes have been made considering the community’s feedback and the game’s wellbeing, as our mission for 1.8 onwards is to make the game more fun, enjoyable, rewarding and self-sustained, even in the absence of big updates. Small updates will keep appearing in the form of bug-fixing and balance tweaks, as we don’t intend to close the game nor its server.”

Crema explained that it’s able to keep Temtem running because server costs are “slim”, which in turn means the developer can cover costs “for a really, really long time.” But don’t hold your breath for an offline mode. “With the game servers perpetually online, we’re not contemplating an offline mode,” Crema said. And what happens if player numbers dwindle to next to nothing? Fear not, Crema reassured: “Temtem won’t die if thousands of people don’t play it daily, and its focus on a classic adventure campaign ensures that anyone joining Temtem at any given time will enjoy the game, be able to explore every nook and cranny of the Archipelago, discover its story, and obtain each and every Temtem, even if alongside a small crew of players.”

And finally, to the future. It doesn’t sound like Temtem 2 is a possibility, at least in the short-term. “If we ever were to do this, we’d need to be able to produce a product and flow of content that all of you could enjoy and love to the maximum,” Crema said. “Such a product is still out of our grasp and reach: we’re simply not ready. We are, as a studio, too small to embark on the feat we’d like Temtem 2 to be; we don’t currently have the technical knowledge, the time nor the ability to bring those ideas to life.”

However, there is an unannounced new game set within the Temtem universe in the works, codenamed Project Downbelow. Crema said it’s working on this mystery game with a new engine. “Our intentions for Project Downbelow are to build new foundations and try out new things we would love to see in a hypothetical Temtem 2,” Crema said. “By exploring a new combat system, a stronger engine and more things we can’t unveil yet, we hope to learn the proper bases, and have enough preparation and experience to put us closer to the materialization of something as precious to us – and you – as Temtem 2 would be.”

We understand many players feel like Temtem has a lot more potential to unlock, and that it is not all it could be, but for us that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re actually very happy with the final product. As for Temtem: Swarm, co-developed with GGTech Studio, Crema insisted “in no case have we removed any resources nor team members from Temtem’s development to use on Temtem: Swarm, nor do we plan to.” Meanwhile, there’s a Temtem animated series in the works.

“We understand many players feel like Temtem has a lot more potential to unlock, and that it is not all it could be, but for us that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re actually very happy with the final product,” Crema concluded.

“We’re so excited to see how much Temtem has grown, and feel like the final product is a complete experience, and a very enjoyable one at that. When we set out on this journey we couldn’t even dream of reaching this point, of having created a game with so much content, that provides hundreds of hours of joy and fun, and we’re proud of everything we’ve achieved and created. While it’s not a perfect game, and we’ve learned so, so much from it, we cherish this not-so-little game of ours.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].