The Fantasy MMORPG: Broken, beaten and scarred

A couple of days ago, Gala Networks announced Sevencore, a game they are selling as fusion fantasy. Translating, the game universe is composed by life forms such as creatures with pointy ears, but with a futuristic look to them – and heavy weaponry to match.

What new studio Noria is attempting here isn’t particularly new or exciting. We’ve seen it in Allods Online, or even in World of Warcraft. However, we can’t help but feel good when an MMORPG like Sevencore is announced. At least they’re trying to escape from the infinite boredom of two of the most exploited themes seen in the free-to-play genre: fantasy and Chinese mythology. I’m all in favor, although I’m still waiting to see someone develop the definite fusion-fantasy game. This would be one I would play… hell, I would probably even pay for it.

There are a lot of nice themes just waiting to be explored, some of them quite successful in the retail market. We need more post-apocalyptic games – Fallen Earth is turning free-to-play and that’s not bad, but we can’t wait for Interplay and Bethesda to settle their crap and finally develop a REAL Fallout MMO. And what about a horror MMORPG? Requiem: Memento Mori gets some things right, but where’s the competition?

I have no clue about what the future will bring. Are we going to see a deluge of fantasy MMOs for the next couple of years, or is someone developing the next big thing and everyone will copy… I mean, pay homage to that game? It’s hard to tell, but with the big players getting into the free-to-play industry with guns blazing (Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Crytek, Valve…), everyone will have to step up their game to win a share of the profits. It’s likely that the isometric city-building template won’t last that longer, so start thinking about some way to impress us – you know, gamers, people with lots of money to spend on virtual items.

What about you? What kind of setting would you like to see in your dream MMORPG?