RPS Feature God alrighty?
It takes quite a lot to get me to download a new MMO these days. When I hear good rumblings though, I listen, and so yesterday I decided to check out the Skyforge Open Beta. [official site]. This is not a review, so it’s not intended as a sweeping look at all systems. Think of it as dipping a toe into the water – did it catch my attention, and was it at least worth the whopping client download?
Ah yes, I’ve just checked and it is a day ending in y, meaning a free to play MMO has entered open beta. This go round on the roulette wheel is Skyforge’s [official site], made chiefly by the lot behind Russian MMO Allods Online, Allods Team (formerly Astrum Nival). Obsidian, of Pillars of Eternity among various others, are oddly also involved (hey, we all have bills to pay).
Skyforge is set on the world of Aelion and you play gods attempting to protect it from alien invasion. It’s full on hammy sci-fi fantasy, but looks just eye-catching and interesting enough in class design and art direction to dispel some of my cynicism. Come see details on the beta and the latest trailer:
If there was one winner at this year’s E3, it was fans of open worlds. The industry has become so efficient at creating beautiful places that there’s half a dozen games coming in the next year that I want to play in spite of their mechanics, not because of them. Skyforge is on the list. It’s an MMO likely to be a grind to play, but it’s set in the kind of techno-fantasy world that juts mountain palaces up against spaceships and sets it all under a vibrant blue sky. There’s a trailer introducing that world below, alongside another talking through some of the game’s combat and leveling mechanics.
