With 2023 behind us, it’s time once again for our annual Year in Review post. We’ll be reviewing all of the major accomplishments that Team Kanohi has made in 2023 so that you can stay up-to-date on any updates or announcements you may have missed.

By far our biggest accomplishment of the year was the release of our Demo Trailer back in August, where we shared an exciting new look at the upcoming FREE THE BAND demo for BIONICLE: Masks of Power. In addition to showing off some of the different environments and challenges you’ll face in the demo, this trailer featured the brand new song, As Above, So Below, which was produced as a collaboration between Essenger, one of our composers, and Cryoshell, the band behind many of Bionicle’s most iconic music tracks!

The demo trailer is currently our most successful trailer yet, currently sitting at over half a million views! We’d like to thank everybody who’s shared the trailer with others, or even those who have seen it and are excited to play the demo when it launches early next year. If you’re interested in more information about the Demo Trailer, you can check out our full blog post covering it here!

Another large accomplishment this year was the launch of our TikTok[www.tiktok.com] page, which has quickly become our largest social media platform, with some of our posts passing 1 million views within our first month! Thank you to everyone who’s helped to promote us on this new platform, and we hope that all of the new fans learning about Masks of Power are just as excited as we are for the game!

Recently, we’ve begun sharing some excerpts of music on our YouTube channel! We’re planning on releasing new music every month leading up to the release of the FREE THE BAND demo. So far, we’ve released two different music tracks: “Songs of the Lily Pads”, a track that you’ll hear in the seaside village of Ga-Koro, and “Rama-Swarm Rumble,” a combat track to accompany the hostile swarms of Nui-Rama in the jungles of Le-Wahi! We hope you’re looking forward to hearing more music from the game in the coming months.

That covers all of our major accomplishments in 2023, but what can you expect to see from us in 2024? Our biggest goal is, of course, the release of the FREE THE BAND demo. We’re still on track to release the demo in the early months of 2024, so please stay tuned to all of our social media channels for news and updates regarding the demo. You can also look forward to monthly music releases on our YouTube channel leading up to its release, so you’ll have something to listen to as we work on putting the finishing touches on the demo. 2024 is shaping to be a very eventful year for us, and we hope you’re just as excited for it as we are.

2023 has been a major year for us in terms of growth, with our demo trailer reaching a wider audience than ever before. We know that you’re all looking forward to the FREE THE BAND demo, and we can’t wait until it’s ready to share with you! We’d like to extend our thanks to everyone who’s supported us in the past year, and hope that you’ll continue to support Team Kanohi and BIONICLE: Masks of Power in the years to come.

Thank you for reading, and may the Great Spirit guide you.

The demo for BIONICLE: Masks of Power is something that has been in the works here at Team Kanohi for a very long time. Today, we’re excited to finally be able to share more information about that demo, including when you’ll be able to play it for yourself!

We’re happy to announce that the FREE THE BAND demo for BIONICLE: Masks of Power will be releasing in early 2024 on Steam! This demo will see players taking control of Lewa, Toa of Air, as he explores the jungles of Le-Wahi in order to save the members of a certain beloved band. The trailer gives a small taste of some of the different environments, enemies, and challenges you’ll find in the demo, and we hope you’re looking forward to fully experiencing it for yourself early next year!

While the demo will be primarily focused on Lewa and the Le-Wahi region of the game, the trailer also shows a small look at the other five Toa: Tahu, Gali, Kopaka, Pohatu, and Onua, who will all be playable in the full version of the game. We want to make sure that each Toa has a distinct feel that sets them apart from the others on their team. The agile, backflipping Lewa will have a very different playstyle than the more methodical and powerful Onua. A lot of work has been put into giving each Toa unique animations and playstyles, and we’re excited to share more of what makes each one unique in the future.

Speaking of playstyles, we’d also like to briefly highlight the many small improvements that have been made over the past year. We’ve taken a lot of the fan feedback we received from last year’s Gameplay Preview into account, and have been continuously improving the combat of Masks of Power. since its release. Combat feels a lot faster and more responsive, with more tangible feedback given to attacks when they land. We feel that the combat is a dramatic improvement over the state it was in one year ago, and can’t wait for you to get a chance to experience it for yourself!

Finally, and perhaps the most exciting of all, our trailer is able to feature a brand new song from Cryoshell, the band behind many of Bionicle’s most iconic songs! Their new song, As Above, So Below, was produced in collaboration with Essenger (who also happens to be a sound designer for Team Kanohi, and has helped arrange for this song to appear in our trailer the same day it releases!). This is incredibly exciting for all of us at Team Kanohi, and we’d like to thank Cryoshell and Essenger very much for allowing this to happen. You can listen to As Above, So Below here[link.fixtmusic.com]!

We’re incredibly excited about the future of Masks of Power, and hope that you’re just as excited to FREE THE BAND when our demo releases early next year! In the meantime, you can stay up to date with everything we’re working on by visiting out website at https://masksofpower.com/, or by following us on any of our social media channels.

Thank you for reading, and may the Great Spirit guide you.