Rust Transitions Out Of Early Access Next Month

In development since 2013, Facepunch Studios' popular survival game Rust is finally ready to graduate from Early Access. 

Today Garry Newman announced the game will transition into a full retail release on February 8. This move comes with a $15 hike, raising the price from $19.99 to $34.99. The studio still plans to update the game regularly, but decided to scale back the frequency of changes to once a month. To continue analyzing new game concepts, Facepunch plans to open a test server when the game transitions out of early access.

In the announcement post, Newman stressed the team still has a lot of work ahead of it to realize their vision for the game. "Please try not to compare the game to some other finished game or some idealized version you have in your head," he said. "Compare the game now to how it was when we entered Early Access. That's the delta that we feel qualifies us to leave Early Access."

Our Take
We're excited to see Rust move out of early access, but the comment about not putting the game up against "finished" games strikes me as wanting to have your cake and eat it, too. If you want to take advantage of the cheaper price, now is the time to do it. Look for our review in the coming weeks.