On The Radar For 2017

Here’s my annual summary of MMORPGs that are on my radar for the new year 2017. Here is last year’s post. I am only considering “classic” style MMORPGs in this list, not things like MOBAs or brawlers or Diablo-clones or whatever else people call MMOs these days. If it’s not on this list I either forgot about it, don’t know about it, don’t count it as an MMORPG, or haven’t heard enough good things to bother investigating. Unless otherwise noted, I have not backed or bought any of these games yet.

Note: Syp’s MassivelyOP post on what to look forward to in 2017 was a big help in bringing upcoming titles to my attention, since I hadn’t been paying much attention in 2016.

Games I’m Looking Forward To

These are games that I’m genuinely looking forward to playing, as of now.

Shroud of the Avatar. I’ve bumped this game up into the “Looking Forward to” category because I keep hearing good things about it. I’m a little concerned about the staggering prices of things in the store, though. If there is ever a sale that brings it down to $10 or less, I’ll buy it early, otherwise I’ll wait until launch.

Project Gorgon. Elevated to the “Looking Forward To” category as well. Due to the small development team size, I expect this to be a small game with about a week’s worth of content, but the little I’ve seen has been fun. This is one of the few games on this page I’ve actually played, as you can download the client and try it out as a guest.

New World. We have yet to hear a single thing about what this game is, so we can still imagine it will be a great game and fun to play. We won’t see it in 2017 though.

Revival. I thought this one had been cancelled, but the web site is still there. No blog updates for nine months though. I’ll just leave it here in case it ahem revives itself. Even if it does, it won’t release in 2017.

Games I’ll Probably Buy

These are games that I will probably buy, but only to be part of the “in” crowd, because I doubt I will play them very long.

Crowfall. It’s not my kind of game, plus I’m frankly sick of hearing about it as if it’s a “current” game. It doesn’t feel like a game that’s coming soon anymore, it feels like a game that’s already launched and now is old. I’ve only seen about one gameplay video that actually impressed me. Others have made me cringe. Still, I will probably buy it at launch if for no other reason than to start accumulating skill points or whatever. I can’t be bothered to parse the Internet for their release schedule, but I doubt if this will be ready in 2017.

Camelot Unchained. Ditto above, to a lesser extent. With this game, I just don’t think it looks very good. They seem a lot more concerned about the tech than the artwork. As a programmer, I can respect that, but as a gamer, I want my character animations to look cool and modern. But everybody will be talking about it, so I’ll have to at least take a look at it. I doubt this will be ready in 2017.

Games I’m Undecided About

Pantheon: Something of Something. I’ve elevated this from “not interested” to “undecided.” Here’s CohhCarnage giving the developers a massive PR boost in December. I’m concerned about the group focus, but as long as there’s something rewarding for a solo player to do I can live with it.

Shards Online. I haven’t heard much of anything about this game in 2016. Is it still alive? I don’t even remember why I put it here in the first place. Here’s a “Community Roundtable” from December which shows some gameplay (and a lot of audio hiss). It looks suspiciously isometric.

Revelation Online, Bless Online, and Chronicles of Elyria. I keep hearing positive things (or at least “things”) about them, but I don’t know enough to make any decisions.

Peria Chronicles. Neat idea, but probably too anime for me. But if I can try it for free, I probably will.

Moonlight Blade. Probably too Crouching Tiger for me. But if I can try it for free, I probably will. Here’s a first impressions video from a Brit (I think the same guy that panned Otherworld in last year’s post).

Worlds Adrift, Lost Ark, Sea of Thieves, Saga of Lucimia, and Twilight Spirits. I literally just read about these games. They did not immediately alienate me but otherwise I have not developed any opinion on them.

Games I’m Not Interested In

Destiny 2. Unless there is definitely going to be a PC version. Right now it’s “maybe,” so I’m not interested.

Star Citizen. I didn’t back it and I still don’t care. If it ever comes out, maybe I’ll buy it, but I don’t expect to see it in 2017. You can safely bet that I won’t be buying this until after some reviews from non-backers start coming in, though.

Life is Feudal. A slimmed-down “Your Own” survival version of this released on Steam Nov 17, 2015. And there is a seperate Banished-like “Forest Village” game available, too, which looks kind of interesting. Supposedly there is still an MMORPG coming but I’m not holding my breath anymore. The Steam Early Access version seems to be gone. The way they kept shifting and changing focus in 2016 did not make me feel better about this game.

Gloria Victis. Still don’t care. It’s available on Steam Early Access, but since it has never generated any buzz and never been on sale below my take-a-chance price point of $10, I haven’t purchased it and probably never will.

The Exiled and Albion Online. Still don’t care. I’m just not interested in isometric MMORPGs. I can’t stand not being able to see what’s off the side of the screen, because my character should be able to. Then again, if these games develop a huge groundswell of buzz, maybe I’ll take a closer look. Most of what I’ve seen so far is people looking at them, then never talking about them again.

Ever, Jane. I give them points for trying something new, but I’m just not interested.

Tree of Life. I saw some buzz about this when it first came to Early Access but have not seen much of anything since, which makes me think it’s not yet ready for prime time.

Lineage Eternal. If you can play it without click-to-move I might bump this up to “Undecided,” otherwise it’ll probably be a pass from me. I think it’s more of an ARPG anyway. I have no experience with any of the Lineage games, except enough Lineage II experience to know that I couldn’t play it because it was click-to-move.

MapleStory 2. Probably too cute for me. (Although “jamming with a band” did catch my eye.)

Darkfall, any remake. The original wasn’t that great and I assume the remake(s) won’t be that great either so I don’t plan to play them. Unless I get free access because I had an account in the original. :)

Nostalrius. Ha! The very thought makes me go, Ha! Even if Blizzard opens their own Pristine server I doubt I would play it.

Games I Already Bought

The Repopulation. I splurged on it for ~$20 in 2015. Currently dead because of the folding of the HERO platform. I have no idea what it’s future is. It had potential but it had a long way to go last time I saw it.

Wander. It’s still in Early Access. I bought it when it was on sale in 2016 for about $5. It’s a neat idea, but the implementation isn’t very good, and it looks like development completely stopped in 2016.

Removed Games

These games were removed from the radar this year:

Black Desert. It launched in 2016, and I bought, played, and liked it.

Blade And Soul. It launched in 2016, and I played it.

Das Tal. It was renamed to The Exiled in 2016.

EQNext. It was cancelled in 2016.

Landmark. It launched in 2016 as a consolation prize for the cancelled EQNext.

Otherland. It launched in 2016. I didn’t buy it, and I probably never will, and this game will probably die out in a couple years.

UPDATE 1/11/2017

Ashes of Creation. I just started hearing about this game in the past few days. It sounds interesting, but it’s too early to tell. My first impression is that they are promising more than they will be able to deliver, but I’d love to be wrong.