Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar, an RPG which took over 20 years to develop, will finally be released July 7 according to an update from the developer on Steam.

Here is the update on the release of Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar, which is also available here:

“Been working around the clock here to finish up every possible detail before Friday. The game is looking really good. It has been very enjoyable to review areas I have not looked at in a long time and discover they are even more fun than I remember.

There are still going to be parts of the game that are not quite polished but the game as it currently stands is truly a one-of-a-kind classic. I have successfully played through all four endings of the game using save points and cheat codes and I found my own product to be more satisfying than any of the Wizardry games and even better than the original Eye of the Beholder series. I can only hope others agree this time next week.

This week I have been scrambling to make sure that all spells have some sort of visual effect, these are complete now but it is likely new visuals will be added in the future for various displays and magic effects. I added one last new monster animation I have had shelved for a while and added boss encounters to several areas I had skipped in the past.

Ellsworth Hall is working on a full orchestral soundtrack of all the themes currently scored in MIDI in Grimoire. It is likely that will be offered on the store page as a standalone purchase after it goes live.”

The game was solely developed by Cleve Blakmore, who currently owns and operates Golden Era Games according to his Steam profile (this could explain why a game that looks like it’s stuck in another era is being released now). It was placed in the Steam Greenlight program in March of this year and passed and had it’s own Indiegogo campaign.

The Indiegogo campaign only made 4 percent of its goal, earning a little bit over $10,000 out of $250,000. You can no longer donate to the campaign, but the campaign page is still available for viewing. The Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar campaign, though, originally promised that the game would be released and shipped in May 2013, so some of the information from there can be considered outdated.

The game boasts over 600 hours of fighting over 240 monsters in over 244 different locations for hours upon hours of the classic RPG grinding experience (it also has the look and sounds of a 90s video game). There are 14 races, 15 professions, 50 skills, 144 spells, over 1,000 items, 30 different conditions along with many different beginnings and endings according to the game’s Steam page. This game, which took over 20 years to develop, has a lot to show for it, it seems.

Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar will be available on Steam for $39.95 once it is released on July 7.

Many of the comments on the Steam update seem to indicate that the teasing and release of this game has been a long running joke that has finally come to an end. I’m kind of surprised by the steep price point, since I wouldn’t think that an extremely old-school RPG would cost that much. I think that more people will buy the game since it took over 20 years to be released, since that adds to the hype the developer has created for Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar. Can a long delay be the perfect marketing strategy?

Featured image via Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar‘s official Steam page.