We’ve been keeping tabs on Albion Online’s planned Abyssal Depths update for a while now as the launch date has formed up. On June 20th, the patch arrives in all regions, marking the first major release since Albion’s longtime game director Robin Henkys yielded his scepter and crown, if not the comfy chair itself. Among the update’s headlining features are The Depths themselves – essentially, a fresh PvP mode that really does sound like an extraction mode.

“The Depths are an all-new type of instanced PvP, located in Albion’s ancient underground aqueducts. Players are trapped inside a collapsing dungeon for a limited time, and must battle fierce mobs – and each other – to earn loot and buffs. Once the exits open, players can decide whether to make their escape or venture deeper for greater rewards. And if killed in combat, fallen fighters can be revived by their allies with their equipped gear intact, allowing them to return to the fray with a vengeance. The Depths provide players with an ideal gateway into Albion’s competitive PvP, offering meaningful, adrenaline-fueled combat without the danger of gear loss.”

Sandbox Interactive has also talked up the Antiquarian’s Den, basically a hub for various types of instanced content, as well as the newbie experience revamp. Earlier this week, SBI also reminded players that it’s retooling 2v2 and 5v5 Hellgates to be “more accessible, balanced, and rewarding.” And what about 10v10 Hellgates? Gone forever. “They simply haven’t gained the traction in our playerbase that’s needed to sustain a healthy ecosystem,” the devs write. “It takes too many players to be playing them at the same time for the feature to work.”