UL 2025 Year in Review: Reopening, Momentum, and What Comes Next
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 11:44 am
As we roll into a new year, I wanted to take a moment to look back at 2025. Not just at what we accomplished, but at what it felt like to bring Unwritten Legends back to life.
The biggest milestone: we reopened
In March, we reopened the game, and it worked. The world turned again. People logged in. Stories started moving. Since then, we have welcomed 159 new and returning accounts back into the fold.
That number means more than activity. It means curiosity. It means people still caring about this world. It means that even after a long quiet stretch, UL still has that strange gravity that pulls people in.
Wins worth celebrating
This year was not about explosive growth or flashy promises. It was about momentum and foundation, and I am proud of what we have done.
A few specific moments from 2025 that deserve to be called out.
The wiki, and the community effort behind it
Standing up the wiki was a big step forward for UL, but the real story there is the player support. The amount of help converting and reorganizing the old website content and help files into the wiki has been massive. It is hard to overstate how much work that saved, and how much it improves the day to day experience for everyone.
Events and story momentum
The RP nights have been a quiet backbone of the year. Even when population is not huge, having a regular rhythm where people show up with intent, write, and build something together has kept the game feeling alive.
If you contributed to any of this, whether it was writing, running, organizing, documenting, or simply showing up and participating, thank you. It mattered.
Losses, delays, and the honest part
Not everything landed on schedule, and that is okay.
We had to delay the airship festival, and I know folks were excited for it. I was too. Part of doing this responsibly means admitting when something needs more runway, more polish, or simply a better moment to breathe. UL has waited this long. I would rather get things right than rush something that deserves to be memorable.
If 2025 taught me anything, it is that consistency beats intensity. A living game is built by steady hands, not fireworks.
Gratitude, plainly stated
To everyone who came back, tried it again, rolled a new character, posted on the forums, helped someone else, reported a bug, offered feedback, or simply hung around and kept the vibe kind, thank you.
To the staff and volunteers who kept showing up, especially for the work that no one sees, or that gets taken for granted, thank you. This kind of project only survives because people choose to care when it would be easier not to.
And to the players who keep writing story instead of waiting to be entertained, you are the part that cannot be coded.
Looking ahead
I am heading into 2026 with a lot of hope. Not the vague big promises kind, but the practical kind. More momentum. More consistency. More moments that feel like UL.
The goal is not to sprint. The goal is to keep building a world worth returning to, and based on the last year, I really believe we are doing that.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience and your creativity. And welcome, again, to the next chapter.
The biggest milestone: we reopened
In March, we reopened the game, and it worked. The world turned again. People logged in. Stories started moving. Since then, we have welcomed 159 new and returning accounts back into the fold.
That number means more than activity. It means curiosity. It means people still caring about this world. It means that even after a long quiet stretch, UL still has that strange gravity that pulls people in.
Wins worth celebrating
This year was not about explosive growth or flashy promises. It was about momentum and foundation, and I am proud of what we have done.
- We brought UL back in a way that is sustainable, even if it is still a smaller crowd day to day.
- We kept the lights on and kept improving things steadily, the kind of unglamorous work that makes a world feel reliable again.
- Most importantly, the community energy returned. Not just in people online, but in the tone. The forum posts, the Discord chatter, and the roleplay that reminded me why UL is worth rebuilding in the first place.
A few specific moments from 2025 that deserve to be called out.
The wiki, and the community effort behind it
Standing up the wiki was a big step forward for UL, but the real story there is the player support. The amount of help converting and reorganizing the old website content and help files into the wiki has been massive. It is hard to overstate how much work that saved, and how much it improves the day to day experience for everyone.
Events and story momentum
- Moonfall plot: We got to lean into the strange side of UL. Events did what events always do in this world, which is behave badly. The wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff gave us some genuinely memorable scenes and a lot of great roleplay to build on.
- Seton and Trantris: Watching the Seton arc unfold, and seeing Trantris restored to Seton (or Seton restored to Trantris, depending on who is telling the story) was one of those moments that felt like the world healing itself into motion again.
The RP nights have been a quiet backbone of the year. Even when population is not huge, having a regular rhythm where people show up with intent, write, and build something together has kept the game feeling alive.
If you contributed to any of this, whether it was writing, running, organizing, documenting, or simply showing up and participating, thank you. It mattered.
Losses, delays, and the honest part
Not everything landed on schedule, and that is okay.
We had to delay the airship festival, and I know folks were excited for it. I was too. Part of doing this responsibly means admitting when something needs more runway, more polish, or simply a better moment to breathe. UL has waited this long. I would rather get things right than rush something that deserves to be memorable.
If 2025 taught me anything, it is that consistency beats intensity. A living game is built by steady hands, not fireworks.
Gratitude, plainly stated
To everyone who came back, tried it again, rolled a new character, posted on the forums, helped someone else, reported a bug, offered feedback, or simply hung around and kept the vibe kind, thank you.
To the staff and volunteers who kept showing up, especially for the work that no one sees, or that gets taken for granted, thank you. This kind of project only survives because people choose to care when it would be easier not to.
And to the players who keep writing story instead of waiting to be entertained, you are the part that cannot be coded.
Looking ahead
I am heading into 2026 with a lot of hope. Not the vague big promises kind, but the practical kind. More momentum. More consistency. More moments that feel like UL.
The goal is not to sprint. The goal is to keep building a world worth returning to, and based on the last year, I really believe we are doing that.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience and your creativity. And welcome, again, to the next chapter.