It's real. The gates are open and Solaris Early Access is live right now.

This has been a long time coming, and we want to make sure everyone knows exactly what's going on, how to get in, and what to expect from the Early Access period going forward. There's a lot to cover, so let's get into it.

How To Get In

There are three ways to gain access to Solaris right now.

Purchase Early Access on the Store (£5). This is the simplest and most immediate option. Head to the Store, complete your purchase, and you'll be whitelisted right away. No waiting, no tickets, just straight in.

Sign-up raffle. If you haven't already, you can still sign up. We ran a raffle before launch and selected our first wave of winners, but sign-ups are staying open throughout the entire Early Access period. We will be selecting more winners in additional waves as Early Access continues. Your odds are lower now than they were before launch since the initial rush has passed, but there is still a genuine chance to get in for free. If you're okay with waiting and taking the chance, it's worth throwing your name in.

Discord Boost. Boosting the Solaris Discord also grants Early Access.

If none of those work for you and you want to play Solaris right now without waiting, the store is your fastest route in. Alternatively, if you'd prefer to wait for the full experience, Season 1 launches in August and will be open to everyone with no barrier to entry. That's the complete vision of Solaris as we've always intended it, and it's not far off.

Getting Whitelisted (Non-Purchase Access)

If you're getting in through a means other than purchasing on the website, or if you previously had access through an older system, you'll need to go through our Discord bot Andromeda to get set up. This applies to:

  • Raffle winners (including anyone who received an email with a code from the original sign-up raffle)
  • Discord Boosters
  • Anyone who had Early Access through any previous system before this launch

To get whitelisted, open a ticket with Andromeda in our Discord by sending it a DM. Every ticket needs to include your Astrofox account (create one at playsolaris.net/register if you don't have one yet) and your Minecraft Java Edition username. If you're a raffle winner, include the code that was sent to you. If you previously purchased access through an older system, include your proof of purchase.

Andromeda opens a ticket with our staff team directly, so you'll be able to communicate back and forth through it. It's a more secure and organised way of handling access compared to how things were done before, and it means staff can process everything properly without anything slipping through.

If you're not sure whether this applies to you: if you bought Early Access on the current store today, you don't need to do anything. If you got access any other way, go through Andromeda.

What You Get

The benefits you receive depend on how you got in.

If you purchased Early Access:

  • Early Access Discord role, permanently
  • Immediate whitelist on purchase
  • A special pin you can display on your profile
  • The Early Access Solar Pass, which includes some special items (we'll be posting more details on this soon)
  • One free month of Solar+ when Season 1 launches, which is a £7.99 value

If you got in through the raffle or Discord Boost:

  • Temporary access to Early Access Discord channels
  • Whitelist shortly after your ticket is processed through Andromeda
  • A special pin you can display on your profile

A Note on Progress and Purchases

Early Access is a test and development period, so progress will be reset when Season 1 launches. This is standard for Early Access periods and we want to be upfront about it. There are a few important exceptions:

Anything earned through the Solar Pass will not be reset. Stars you purchase on the site carry over in full when Season 1 launches, minus anything you spend on the Solar Pass itself. So if you buy Stars now, they'll be waiting for you at Season 1.

Solar Pass cosmetics are not exclusive and will return through the Legacy Pool at some point in the future. The only item that is fully exclusive to Early Access Solar Pass holders is the Founder's Unobtainable set.

What's Playable Right Now

Early Access launches with Cataclysm, our battle royale. Queues start at 8 players and go up to 32. It's Duos only at launch, with Solos and Squads planned for after Early Access. Loot comes from crates scattered around the map, your inventory is limited to your hotbar, and combat is built around paintball guns plus custom melee weapons including a hammer that lets you jump up and smash down on players below you. Matches run about 5 to 10 minutes. All of it runs vanilla server-side, so all you need is the Solaris resource pack.

Dodgeball, however, had to be taken down on launch day. We ran into issues with the matchmaking system that we weren't able to resolve in time, and rather than leave a broken experience up, we pulled it to fix it properly. We're working on getting it back up and it should be available again in the next few days. We'll be posting a dedicated news update when it's back, with more detail on what happened and what's changed. We're sorry about that, especially for anyone who was specifically looking forward to Dodgeball at launch.

You can read more about both games on the Games page.

What's Coming in Season 1

Season 1 is targeting August. It brings Corrupted Caverns, a dungeon-based game we've been building toward for a while, along with additional new games and the full Solaris experience. We'll have more to share about Season 1 as we get closer.

Keep an eye on this blog and the Discord for updates throughout Early Access. There's a lot still to come.