Indie Japanese developer Lafrontier/noa has announced Elin, their prequel to popular niche sandbox RPG Elona, has launched via early access.

Elin is now available for Windows PC (via Steam) and is in early access. Fans can expect the game to get updated with major new features and changes on the “Nightly” branch, like in their beta test. Regular updates will be released to all players when they’re ready.

“We’re thrilled to bring you an adventure that feels both new and familiar, and we look forward to continually updating and refining the game as we work toward its full release,” the developer said. “We hope you’ll stay along for the journey with us and warmly watch over its progress.”

Here’s a rundown on the new prequel, plus an older trailer:

This is a prequel to the free game “Elona,” which was released 10 years ago and spawned numerous stories and adventurers who never returned.

While retaining the traditional roguelike gameplay, the new game adds crafting and survival elements, base building and management, and enhanced graphics in a quarter-view format.

Features:

• Sandbox RPG with survival, crafting, home and town building and management.
• Randomly generated dungeons and content, as well as well-developed fixed maps that are faithful to the world setting.
• Classic turn-based roguelike gameplay.
• An epic tale of humans and Eleas.