One of the biggest and most lasting genres in gaming is that of massively multiplayer online games. MMOs have been around for decades, ever since the launch of games like Realm Online and Neverwinter Nights. Several active titles today have been able to entertain fans for years on their own. MMOs like World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy 14, and more have entertained millions of players around the world.
While there are plenty of MMOs to choose from at the moment, each with hundreds of hours of gameplay, developers are still thinking of new MMO games to create. Some, like Riot Games, plan on developing its own MMO based on existing IP like League of Legends. Others are focused on building their own new IP, like Intrepid Studios with Ashes of Creation.
At face value, Ashes of Creation is a new MMO in development by California-based Intrepid Studios, an independent game studio founded by Steven Sharif and John Moore. Sharif serves as Ashes of Creation‘s Creative Director, Moore is the President of Intrepid Studios, and the two are joined by a team of industry veterans. The game has been in development for several years, but has become many gamers’ most-anticipated MMO release.
At its core, Ashes of Creation is created to be a unique take on the MMORPG experience. Many MMO games will drop players into a world filled with plenty of content, but no real way to affect the actual world of the game. Ashes of Creation is intended to be a dynamic game that truly reacts to a player’s choices. Players will be able to build and destroy cities with their collective power, and will be able to affect political systems, state rivalries, and what kind of quests and side-quests will be available to them. All this is possible through the MMO’s unique Node System.
The Node System in Ashes of Creation is what makes many players excited about the game. According to the developers, Nodes are the heart of the world, and will be placed at pre-determined locations around the world in each server. Player activity within these areas will help the area grow, and collectively, players can advance a Node from a Wilderness all the way to the final stage of Metropolis. Any effort in a specific Node will also effect the Nodes around it, which helps make Ashes of Creation a community-driven game. While the Node System is complicated, Intrepid Studios plans to make it easy to understand.
While Ashes of Creation may share several similarities with other fantasy MMOs like Elder Scrolls Online or World of Warcraft, it still wants to put its own unique spin on concepts like classes and races, too. The game is set in the fictional world of Verra, which is a fallen world where players have to rebuild and repopulate in order to bring it back to its former glory. Players will be able to choose between nine races, split between the four main groups of humans, elves, orcs, and dwarves.
Instead of having a more traditional class system, Ashes of Creation will have a unique Archetype class system. The Archetypes are Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Mage, Ranger, Rogue, Summoner, and Tank. Players will choose a primary Archetype, and at a certain point, can choose a secondary Archetype than will determine their final class. While the initial Archetypes are familiar, there are ultimately 64 possible variant classes a player can choose to be. For example, a player that chooses the Mage Archetype first, then Rogue second, will become a Shadow Caster. Overall, Ashes of Creation will put several unique spins on recognizable tropes in the MMO genre.
Intrepid Studios itself was founded in 2015, and the team began work on Ashes of Creation. Eventually, the developer put the project up on Kickstarter in 2017 to help support the game, and it received a massive $3.2 million from almost 20,000 backers. Many players were hooked by the promise of a game that aimed to be “the rebirth of the MMORPG.”
The ambitious project was naively planned for a 2018 release, but is still in development. On the bright side, Intrepid Studios is committed to an open and transparent development process. Sharif, the Creative Director, and the team want to be as open as possible, and they will often share letters to the community and monthly development videos. Intrepid also shares numerous in-progress art, game models, environmental designs, and more to help keep fans excited.
Even though the pandemic in 2020 affected the studio a little bit, Ashes of Creation has reached its pre-Alpha One milestone, and has been able to welcome players into the world of Verra for the first time. This summer, Ashes of Creation will officially open its Alpha One test builds, and lift the NDA on the game. At that point, fans will be able to hear the thoughts and opinions of those who have been able to play the game, as well as more details about the game. Until then, fans are able to tune in to Intrepid’s monthly Development Update streams to hear more.
Many players are eagerly awaiting the ability to dive into the world of Verra in Ashes of Creation. While the official release will be a long way off, with a late 2022 release being the absolute earliest, many fans already think this game will become one of the best MMOs on the block. Though hype is building around the game, there is always the chance it will be a major miss. Hopefully, the game can live up to players’ expectations. Only time will tell.
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