Tag Archives: fantasy

Awaiting a New Generation of MMOs

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I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve once again become more plugged into things now that I’m working for Massively OP or if things are genuinely turning around, but for the first time in quite a while I find there’s not one but several upcoming new MMOs that I’m genuinely interested to check out once they launch. I’m always very leery of pre-launch hype, so none of these are “must plays” for me (yet), but they are games that I want to check out sooner rather than later, and not just out of intellectual curiosity.

A promotional screenshot from Amazon's upcoming MMO New World.New World

Of course this game is the talk of the proverbial town right now. Its reported PvP focus turned me off out of the gate, but some of what’s been trickling out since they announced the release date has me changing my mind a bit.

It now seems that PvP will be optional (though still a big part of the game), and that has me ready to give it a closer look. The setting does look intriguingly unique, and the environments look beautiful. New World also seems to be hitting a lot of other notes that appeal to me, like skill-based combat and classless progression.

There’s still a lot we don’t know, like how truly optional the “optional” PvP is. It might be a situation where you need to opt in for any meaningful progression. I’m also wondering how much story will be in the game. It’s a sandbox, so probably not much. Will I be able to maintain my interest without a constant plot leading me forward? Usually the answer is no, but for the right game maybe that could change.

Torchlight: Frontiers

I’m not the biggest Torchlight fan in the world — I’ve only recently been playing through the older games in preparation for Frontiers — but I like ARPGs, and a big new MMOARPG is definitely going to grab my attention, especially now that I’m heading up the Not So Massively column.

I’m also impressed by how clever and different the classes seem to be, though I do hope that it won’t just be the three we know about now.

A promotional shot for upcoming action MMO Torchlight: Frontiers.Lost Ark

To be honest, I don’t know much about this, but again, new ARPGs have my attention, and the buzz seems pretty strong. Pretty screenshots, too.

Corepunk

This has just been announced, and I have a lot of questions about it, but the magitech art style is intriguing, and it seems to have a pretty impressive feature list. A little worried they may be spreading themselves too thin, but we’ll see.

Book of Travels

I have a very low opinion of MMO crowdfunding, but if this actually launches in our lifetime, it looks like it could be a game to watch. I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy it or not — the emphasis on peaceful exploration could be a delightful change of pace or deeply tedious, depending on execution — but I strongly admire that they’re trying to do something genuinely different. The genre needs more games willing to take chances like that.

Ascent: Infinite Realm

This sounds like the most traditional MMO on the list, which isn’t necessarily a compliment coming from me, and being made by the same people as TERA isn’t exactly a sterling pedigree, either. On the other hand, the steampunk stylings look damn cool, and the emphasis on aerial gameplay could be really fun.

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO

The Fellowship of the RingThis is the one we know the least about — we know that it exists, and pretty much nothing else — but it’s the one I most want to hear more about. As a longtime Tolkien fanatic, the lack of a truly good Middle-Earth MMO has always stung. I know Lord of the Rings Online has many fans, but at the end of the day it’s just a low budget WoW clone. The setting deserves far better.

Whether Amazon can do better remains to be seen, but they certainly have the resources to pull it off. Just depends on if they make the right design choices.

Review: Moons of Madness

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I may not be thrilled with Funcom’s handling of The Secret World and its less than stellar reboot, but I love this setting, and I want to keep it alive, so I’m more than happy to support any games using its IP. Let’s be real anyway: A franchise of single-player games is probably what TSW should have been all along.

Mars as depicted in The Secret World spin-off game Moons of MadnessEnter Moons of Madness, the second single-player spin-off of The Secret World. It is significantly bigger and more ambitious than its predecessor, The Park, but not quite as brilliantly executed.

Taking place in the not too distant future, Moons of Madness places you in the shoes of a mid-level Orochi employee on a research base on Mars. Just by saying “Orochi,” I’ve probably given you a pretty good idea of what ends up happening. Suffice it to say things don’t go well.

The strange thing is that Moons of Madness is much more overt in connecting to the story of TSW than The Park was — familiar concepts like the Filth and anima are front and centre — but it still feels less like a TSW game.

What I like about the TSW setting is that it’s not what I would consider to be “traditional” horror. It’s not a barrage of jump scares and gross-outs; it has those things, but it doesn’t use them as a crutch. It’s more subtle.

Moons of Madness is not subtle. There are jump scares waiting around every corner. If you’re a hardcore horror fan, you might enjoy it, but I found it exhausting, and it feels crude compared to what has come before in the TSW setting.

Maddened scrawlings in The Secret World spin-off game Moons of Madness.It does get better near the end. The final couple hours become more surreal and narrative-focused, as you would expect from a good Secret World story. I enjoyed the game a lot more by then.

I didn’t love the very ending, though. It feels like it trivializes the threat of the Dreamers a bit.

When it comes to gameplay, Moons of Madness is competent, if not groundbreaking. When you take away the trappings of horror, this is essentially a puzzle game. A bit like an extended investigation mission from TSW, though not quite so devilishly arcane and difficult. Some puzzles are obvious, like brewing a specific chemical concoction, while others are more environmental puzzles around evading various threats.

I’m not a huge puzzle guy, but I think they mostly did a good job on these. A few are a bit frustrating (usually due to unclear instructions or other quality of life hiccups), but mostly they manage to hit the sweet spot of being just challenging enough to be interesting, at least for me.

They do a good job of keeping it fresh, too. New mechanics are continually introduced throughout the game, so it never starts to feel stale.

A creature of the Filth in The Secret World spin-off game Moons of Madness.On the whole, it’s a solid game, but it doesn’t feel quite as special as previous Secret World games.

Overall rating: 7/10