With the winter celebrations almost here, we start looking towards the new year in our search for the next MMO that will keep us entertained for hundreds of hours. To help you in this quest we already prepared a list of 10 titles you shouldn't miss and 5 honorable mentions to keep an eye for.
Note: As always these games may take a lot longer until release so expect some of them to go live in 2018.
Peria Chronicles ![]()
We talked so many times about Nexon and their upcoming anime style, fantasy MMO Peria Chronicles, and I feel that a lot of features have been changed and a lot more will be redone in the future, so for this title we will focus on the latest info that we got from GStar 2016.
When you are trying to compare Peria Chronicles to others MMOs, the only one that has similar concepts is Minecraft, but this will be a far more complex version, based on players and communities.
Players will be able to create almost everything, from small villages where a few friends gather around to vast new lands if enough materials can be brought by a large number of players. In order to connect various areas, portals must be built, so the world will evolve based on community decisions.
There will be two types of portals: one that is already available in each area that can't be moved or destroyed, and the second type of portals that are built by players and can be destroyed by others. The second type can be abandoned and even disappear if no one is using it to travel for a long time.
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There are other interesting features that will help players develop and manage their village such as the ability to create your own quests or enlist an NPC to handle these tasks that you previously created. So many questions arise from this as how far we will be able to go with scripted quests, but for the moment the only available type of mission was "deliver a specific amount of goods to a certain village".
The developer sandbox doesn't stop here and you will be able to create your own dungeon, script different parts of it like doors, traps, etc, while other players can run it for a certain reward. Some features tend to sound too utopian, but a viable economic system can be built by players if they have enough freedom. For example, (this is just an imaginary test) you can create a dungeon and set 100 gold from your own pocket as a reward for those who complete it. After that, the game will reward the creator with 100 stone, wood or iron for each player that completed the dungeon, resources that will help you construct or repair different buildings inside your village.
The combat is a mixed of TCG and Pokemon with a few bits of standard MMOs, but even if the demo showcased a real-time combat system, I feel like Nexon is still undecided if they should go for turn based or real time combat.
Below you can see some of Peria Chrnocile's features (character creation, combat, building, terraforming) that were available at the GStar 2016 demo:
Dark and Light![]()
A lot of hype was built around this new MMO, but beside the original cinematic trailer, we didn't get to see the core features in action. The game was supposed to start an early access phase on Steam this month, but at the time I am writing this, there were no updates about it.
Dark and Light can be described as an attempt to mix survival, sandbox, fantasy RPG elements into a modern MMO based on the Unreal Engine 4. The only thing that stomped the hype was the maximum numbers of players that can be on the same server.
In a few interviews, Snail Games said that the server population will be far less than the traditional MMO and suggested that we look at Dark Light as an open world multiplayer fantasy game with survival MMO aspects, rather than an MMO with survival aspects. It's clear that they can't give us a number until they see how the early access phase handles the number of players flooding the servers.
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At the beginning of the game, you will choose one of the main races (humans, dwarves or elves) and start your journey inside a shantytown. As you progress or better say survive, you will be able to afford a better settlement and work towards upgrading it, forming a village or a city. The most well-known and beloved players will be eligible to become the Lord of the City and guide its citizen in different matters such as territory expanding, trading and war.
In order to survive in different biomes, you will need to take care of your hunger and thirst and be properly equipped for different temperatures. How hardcore these survival aspects will be, remains to be seen in the upcoming early access.
Besides these features, Snail Games also confirmed underwater exploration and PVE content (don't think about naval content), and air combat with offensive flying mounts such as griffins and dragons.
Lost Ark![]()
You don't get any decent hack and slash MMOs for a few years, but when you do, you get two of them. Compared to the previously mentioned Lineage Eternal, Lost Ark will be a more traditional game evolving around party play, special dungeons and raids that require a lot of cooperation in order to succeed.
After the original details were shared, we were worried about the end game content, but the latest KR CBT that was held in August (you will find a 12 hour video at the end) featured a lot of things to keep us entertained for the entire period. These activities included Field and World Bosses, Guardian Raiding, Hidden Scroll Dungeons, Cinematic Dungeons, The Tower of Infinity, Cube Dungeons and PvP Arenas.
Field and World Bosses are quite similar, but the last one have a huge respawn time and gives better loot. The Field Boss dropped Epic Items, while the World Boss dropped a token that could be exchanged for a legendary item.
Guardian Raiding takes place in a special dungeon where your party needs to search and kill the dungeon boss (each time the boss spawns in a different location) in a limited amount of time. The entire party shares a limited number of lives (called orbs) and when those orbs are depleted, the dungeon is over, even if there are players still alive. Another important thing is that you can't use the HP pots you get from the shop, so in order to recover your health you will either need a bard or carefully play and survive until the boss runs away in order to take a break and recover around a camp fire. Guardian Raids can drop legendary accessories, crafting tokens or epic items.
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The Tower of Infinity is a floor based dungeon where players get various objectives inside each floor. The higher you ascend, the better rewards you will be able to get. In order to enter inside the tower you will need special tickets that can be bought for a quite expensive price, from a certain NPC.
Cube Dungeons are designed for 4 player parties. At the beginning of the dungeon your party will get a loot box that can be upgraded. After finishing a room or defeating a boss, your loot box gains XP, and it can be upgraded 5 times. The trick here is that every room will give your party a buff or debuff, and if you end up dying inside, your loot box will disapear.
During all of the above mentioned dungeons and bosses, from time to time, you will recieve a hidden dungeon scroll that ranges from normal rank to legendary that will get you another chance of gearing up, by opening a new dungeon with very good rewards.
There are more things to talk about, but for the moment I will leave you watch the 12 hour gameplay from the last CBT.
Lineage Eternal![]()
I hoped that we will get the chance to play this game by now, but it seems like NCSoft still has a lot more features to develop and tweak until the official release. Lineage Eternal was first announced in November 2011 and since then a lot of things have changed.
The core ideas remain the same, but there are a few features that were completely redesign such as the new Eternal system that lets players control a team of 4 heroes and switch between them at any given time.
In the beginning you will be able to choose 2 starting eternals, with more being unlocked as you progress. Your eternal team will be made of 4 heroes that share the same XP, but you will need to grind your gear for each specific eternal that you included in your team.
The basics of the PVE system remains similar with Diablo 3, but NCSoft brought all of it to a massive scale. In the last beta crafting items were quite powerful so there was a lot of grinding of dungeons and world bosses for specific rare materials.
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There is also a quest system that brings a way for players to catch up in leveling by completing the so-called "urgent quests" that gives a large amount of XP. To create an immersing experience, a lot of quests are finished on the go, so you won't need to travel back and forth for every 20 enemies that were killed. If you are tired of questing or grinding you can join a world event, dynamic quests similar to Guild Wars 2.
Besides taking the hack and slash genre to a new level, a lot of work was put in the PVP/PK system. Lineage Eteranl features an open world PVP system similar to Lineage 2. For those of you who never played Lineage 2, the system looks like this:
Once you are on the field, the system is everyone for himself, unless you are in the same guild. You found the perfect grinding spot, with a good respawn rate, and you plan to stay there for a few hours. At any given time, another player can come and kill (PK) you. After a few PKs, that player will get karma and if killed he may lose an item from his inventory (you can drop from any eternal inventory). You can fight back when he starts attacking you, turning the battle into a consensual PVP or wait for him to get karma and then try to kill him for that chance to get some new items. Karma is reduced by killing mobs or raids, while killing other players will raise your karma level.
Below you will find a few videos recorded by Steparu so you can see how the game changed over the past few years, and I hope that the next CBT will feature some of the upcoming siege and territory wars.
Bless Online![]()
Bless Online is one of that MMOs that gets a lot of mixed reviews, depending on what type of player talks about it. The game is already available in Koreea, while the Russians are currently having an Open Beta phase. For the Western version, Aeria is supposed to publish it, but they went radio silence since last month, and their official site is currently down, so we don't know what to expect at this time.
For me Bless Online is the traditional, old school if you want, MMO that doesn't really bring something new to the table, but that doesn't mean it should have. Taking the old proved features and polishing them, plus focusing on community and PvP is enough to bring a well-designed MMORPG that will hook me up for months or even years.
Last 10 years we got a lot of new features inside our standard MMO so I don't know what people expect as innovations. We already have all type of PvPs (from small arenas to territory wars and castle sieges), every type of dungeon, sandbox and survival elements, aerial and naval combat, underwater exploration, random dynamic events, etc. A game with all these features should be enough, right?
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Bless Online features 4 unique races and 8 classes without any gender lock, and the character creation is one of the best system I've ever seen. After creating your character, you will get to choose between the two warring factions as around level 30 you will be involved into open world PvP, PK and politics, based on the faction you choosed.
Each race starts into a different zone and has its own backstory, cut-scenes, quest lines and biomes. Due to the vast open world, various regions seem dead, unless there are enough people in that certain area, and I'm afraid that the lower level areas will turn into a dry land unless Neowiz decide to give players a reason to return to these areas.
Although the quests and crafting system are quite generic (kill ten mob, gather a few plants, bring or get that item to an NPC), Bless Online shines at large scale PvPs where guilds and factions fight over control of the lands or world bosses.
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Bless Dungeons required a lot of teamwork and carefully planning, and they use the holy trinity system so again, I guess the old school players will love this aspect also.
I won't talk about the combat because again it's a personal opinion, some people like the action fast combat, other preffer the old tab targeting one. Also there was an announcement that the combat system will be reworked for the Western version, although I highly doubt it.
Anyway, this is definetly a game to look forward in 2017, and remember that everything you read now (besides Steparu and a few others) has two very important aspects lacking: first of all most of the reviews are made by people who don't understand KR and they are playing it without any friends, so it becomes very boring to grind towards the endgame.
Sea of Thieves![]()
Sea of Thieves is a shared world adventure game that was first introduced to the public at E3 2016. The game sets you as a becoming pirate in a persistent online world filled with oceans and islands, each with their different riches and adventures. The game will be available for Xbox One and PC, both versions sharing the same servers.
We don't know how big the map will be, but the lead designer Chapman said that it will take around 6 to 8 hours to sail around the seamless open world. Each region will have a different feel ranging from the classic Caribbean islands to lush wilderness with ancient civilizations.
There won't be a main story, but players will uncover several legends such as The Legend of the Cursed Mermaid Treasure, where different goals can be completed. Some of them will take a session while others will exist across several sessions.
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You can start your adventure on your own small ship, but the real fun to be had is with a full crew inside a larger player owned vessel.
Sea of Thieves is all about having the life of a pirate, freely exploring new islands and hunt for treasures. There will be quests that you can follow, and treasure maps that will mark different treasures, but they will not stop you exploring and venturing into the unknown.
As we are talking about a pirate themed game, we will also have PvP, but Rare Studios said that the encounters with other ships will be quite rare, making each battle into a memorable moment.
More details can be found in the video below:
Crowfall![]()
Crowfall is a different, unique MMO that tries to combine elements from strategy games with standard MMORPGs, without having the usual level up and end game system. Developers described the game as a Throne War Simulator.
Crowfall shapes to be a sandbox MMO with player driven economy, big focus on resources and crafting system, sieges and world destruction.
Each Server will have an ongoing campaign with different map, rules and winning scenarios. Players will join a faction, guild or noble house in order to fight for owning the land until the winter approaches, when the world slowly dies and a new campaign will begin.
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Although the game focuses on PvP and land control, players that seek other gameplay experience can still contribute by resource gathering, crafting and killing monsters. You will also find several survival features such as hunger, so if you want to serve your guild on the battlefield all day, you will need others to provide the necessary resources.
Playing the campaigns will not go unrewarded, and the campaign rewards will be used later to create and shape your own eternal Kingdom by placing mountains, forests, rivers, cities and castles. You will also be able to split your kingdom into provinces and give land to other guild mates. If you are lucky, during the campaigns you will scavenge rare artifacts and relics that can be installed in your temples to grant blessings to your vassals.
If you are looking for a fast-paced action MMO keep an eye on Crowfall and you will not be disappointed.
Astellia![]()
Back in November Nexon Korea and Barunson's Studio 8 announced a new game that brings up TCG elements with fantasy MMORPG gameplay aspects, Astellia Online.
The game is built on Unreal Engine 3 and features five playable classes each with their four subclasses that will be available at level 60: Warrior (Crusader, Dark Knight, Berserker and Gladiator), Archer (Hunter, Hawkeye, Ranger and Sniper), Rogue (Assasin, Shadow, Revenger and Venom Master), Scholar (Vesta, Shamand, Prophet and Sage) and Mage (Wizard, Sorcered, Warlock and Druid).
As you can see in the videos below, players will be able to collect various cards in order to summon different companions that will help them in battle. The graphics are quite good, reminding me of Blade & Soul and Aion.
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With two progression lines, your main character and the summoned companions, and with over one hundred cards to collect, your team composition will dictate the playstile and combat strategy for each encounter.
Maplestory 2![]()
Maplestory 2 is the upcoming 3D sequel of the Nexon's well-known 2D MMO, Maplestory. The action takes places before the original, and the new looks are similar to a Minecraft game, as developers went for a cube style approach.
With the new art style, Maplestory 2 developers had more space to implement a lot of new features, hidden areas and special events. The world features different environments with a few destructible elements.
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The combat is fast paced, based on chaining skills together. For those of you interested in other things than combat, the game features a ton of mini games, an open world housing system where players can design their own house block by block and decorate it with special items (some bought from different NPCs and others obtained from different adventures). These items don't serve only as decorations, as some of them give various bonuses, adds extra inventory space or give the ability to swap between armors on the go.
The game also features different PvP systems like an open world map, small arenas, the Bloody Tear Mine - a free for all PvP map, and Peaks of Valor, a map designed for guild vs guild PvP.
Age of Wushu 2![]()
Snail Games China decided to make a new wuxia themed MMORPG, but this time they went for a sandbox approach. Age of Wushu 2 will be built on Unreal Engine 4 and will inherit the wuxia vibe from its predecessor, but there won't be a set timeline or a fixed quest system.
Both players and NPCs will be affected by location, environment, weather and other survival features. Developers promised a new era for the AI, with NPCS that will form alliances, fight against each other, perform kidnappings and even build fortresses and threat actual players.
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There are many questions left unanswered, but slowly Snail Games is releasing additional info for various resources and sandbox features. For example, they talked about the plants that will be available in Age of Wushu 2 and about the way they are going to be used as crafting resource (for weapons, hose carts weapons, furniture or shelter), medicine or food. They also recently revealed some of the tools that will be available for gathering resources, hunting or surviving during the dark nights that will be available in the dynamic day and night and weather system.
To keep an eye for upcoming news related to this new sandbox MMORPG, keep an eye on our
Age of Wushu 2 game HUB.
Honorable Mentions (most of these games are in an early phase of development):Chronicles of Elyria
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Chronicle of Elyria is a very ambitious, dynamic and immersive MMORPG, where your character ages and dies in a fully destructible world with non-repeatable quests.
The game will feature a closed economy, finite resources and a full destructible environment making the world unique for each player. The main selling points for Chronicles of Elyria are the aging system, player skills that matters, offline player character (an AI system that will allow your character to exist even after you log-out) and game enforced player contracts.
Project W
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Project W is an ambitious secret project of Bluehole Studion, developers of Terra. At this moment we don't know anything about it, besides some marketing quotes as the "W" from the title stands for World, representing developer's ambition to create a world instead of a game. Other quotes include very impressive graphics, advanced MMO technologies and surpass all existing MMOs.
Normally we wouldn't be too excited about an unknown upcoming MMORPG, but what intrigues me the most is that they already secured the publishers for various regions such as Kakao Games for Europe and NA, GameOn for Japan, etc.
To strike these deals in the early development phase is something rare and hints towards something special.
Crossfire 2
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Crossfire 2 will be an evolved game compared with the original title, but it will continue the core IP DNA. This new project will be co-developed by Smilegate and Remedy Entertainment (a well-known European studio known for games like Alan Wake and Quantum Bream).
Remedy Entertainment will be responsible for the personal combat and will provide users with the best gaming experience.
No gameplay details were revealed, but Smilegate hopes that with the new technology, the added gameplay modes and the new storytelling, Crossfire 2 will become a popular online shooter not just for Asia, but for the entire gaming world.
Closers![]()
Closers is a free to play anime 3D side scrolling action MMORPG that brings various arcade elements. There are currently two game modes available: an RPG mode with side-scrolling maps and a MOBA mode where players can change their camera angle freely, and 7 playable classes.
Maguss
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Maguss is an upcoming AR mobile MMORPG, similar with Pokemon GO. It's not a clone by any means as the indiego campaign that wasn't fully founded was released back in 2015.
Maguss will allow players to start their adventure as a wizard by casting spells on their smartphone, walk to raid dungeons and collect various rewards, study to learn new spells, brew magical potions and duel other players for fame and glory.
