What MMORPG genre has in store for us in 2020/2021?
A shortlist of the most promising Upcoming MMORPGs
Introduction
In recent years, there has been a visible drought in the MMORPG genre; Most of the new titles didn't manage to get a foothold on the market, there were some spectacular failures (we are talking about you, Bless Online), and the most successful MMORPG of 2019 was a re-released 15-year-old game (but what a nostalgia trip it is). Moreover, mobile ports and cross-platform releases with a strong emphasis on mobile device compatibility seem to take over the market... Luckily, there are some very promising and interesting MMO titles scheduled for release in 2020, 2021, and beyond. With big and proven developers, like Pearl Abyss and Bluehole, leading the charge, there just might be a turn-around in the genre, and hopefully, the golden age of MMORPGs will return (to some extent, at least).
To keep our gamer spirits up and to build up some hype, we have prepared a shortlist of 6 most interesting (according to us) upcoming MMORPG titles. Here they are:
Crimson Desert |
| Game information |
- Release Date: TBA (end of 2021/early 2022 most likely)
- Developer: Pearl Abyss
- Genre: Open-World Fantasy MMORPG
- Available for: PC, Xbox One, and PS4
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| Developers of the well-received and very successful (especially for today's MMO standards) Black Desert Online, the Pearl Abyss, are back with a new MMORPG title! The game will be set in the same universe as the BDO, but it will not be connected with it in any other way. Developers have stated that Crimson Desert will put a large emphasis on Diversified Questing, Storytelling (players will get to experience stories of five different playable characters), improved action combat system (said to be even better than in BDO), and Large-Scale PvP. Moreover, despite being story-focused, Crimson Desert is promised to be a fully-fledged MMORPG with all of the more traditional aspects being present and mixed with new, innovative ideas. |
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Our Thoughts - Pearl Abyss is a very experienced South Korean developer, known for their previous MMO title - Black Desert Online. If they took their lessons from their previous MMO (and they say, they did), Crimson Desert will be one of the best online RPGs ever released. We just hope that they will change their idea of the end-game and make it less grindy and casual-friendly enough to keep a healthy amount of non-hardcore players interested in the long-term gameplay.
Note: Please remember that it is an "eastern" MMO, and it is at this point customary for eastern MMO's to have pay-to-win or at least pay-for-convenience elements; Sad, but true. There is hope that western release will be free of them, however.
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Ascent Infinite Realm |
| Game information |
- Release Date: TBA (But Beta is already playable and it should release in 2020)
- Developer: Bluehole Studio Inc.
- Genre: Steampunk Open-World MMORPG
- Available for: PC
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| One of the biggest players of the MMO market, the Bluehole Studio (developers of Tera), is back with a new (and promising) title. Ascent Infinite Realm (or A:IR for short) is a fully-fledged MMORPG that features a high fantasy world with Steampunk aesthetics, Realm versus Realm combat, single-player dungeons, drivable vehicles (vehicle combat is confirmed and works very well already), four races, and five customizable classes. The game is being developed on Unreal Engine 3, but Bluehole seems to know how to squeeze every last bit of performance and graphical fidelity out of this 14-year-old graphics engine. |
| Our Thoughts - A:IR has a chance to become a big name in the MMORPG genre, thanks to its refreshing Steampunk-like aesthetics, "3D" maps (airships, floating islands, and other such features, make the game world seem vast and diversified), and polished combat systems. |
Bless Unleashed |
| Game information |
- Release Date: March 12, 2020, for Xbox One; for other platforms: TBA
- Developer: Round 8
- Genre: Fantasy MMORPG
- Available for: Xbox One (other console ports might be coming, but there is no info about possible PC release)
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| First of all, Bless Unleashed should not be confused with Bless Online, as these are two completely different games (and Bless Unleashed is much, much better...). The game is made in Unreal Engine 4, features action combat with a soft-targeting system (which is optimized for console controllers at the moment but feels a bit static for modern standards because of animation locks), five playable classes, player housing, instanced dungeons, world bosses, random world events, and more. One of Bless's Unleashed main strongpoints is graphics. The game looks very pretty and runs surprisingly smoothly, especially for an MMO console title. |
| Our Thoughts - Finally, a reason to play on your Xbox for a long period of time... If Bless Unleashed finds its way to PC (fingers crossed), it might wash off the bitter taste left by the Bless Online; if the combat system gets optimized for more dynamic, mouse and keyboard gameplay. |
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen |
| Game information |
- Release Date: Beta should release late 2020/early 2021
- Developer: Visionary Realms
- Genre: High Fantasy MMORPG
- Available for: PC
|
| Unlike the three titles mentioned above, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is crowd-funded. At the start, the game has attracted less attention than anticipated (it managed to achieve only 57% of its Kickstarter fund goal), but the developers are determined to complete the project and their work looks very impressive already. The game is a spiritual successor to classics, like Vanguard: Saga of Heroes or EverQuest, and puts a large emphasis on challenging PvE content without neglecting the PvP aspects (at least one PvP server is planned for launch). As a "retro-stylized" title should, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will use a good-old tab-targeting combat system, with class-based abilities. |
| Our Thoughts - Wow Classic has proven that old school MMORPGs can still attract millions of players. If Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen keeps to its "retro" guidelines it might turn out to be one of the most successful MMORPGs of 2020/2021 (it is a spiritual successor of EverQuest, which is even more "classic" than WoW Classic, after all). |
Crowfall |
| Game information |
- Release Date: 4th quarter of 2020
- Developer: ArtCraft Entertainment
- Genre: Sandbox Fantasy MMORPG
- Available for: PC
|
| Another crowd-funded title on our list. Crowfall is in early access since the 30th of August 2015 and is finally nearing its release date. The game is focused around player interactions and puts a large emphasis on skill-based gameplay and player versus player competition. It features an interesting "Multiverse" system that allows players to explore and conquer dozens of unique worlds, none of which are permanent (except for the Ethernal Kingdoms); players participate in seasonal Campaigns that all end with world's death. All new worlds are procedurally generated, which ensures that no campaign is similar to another. Another strong point of Crowfall is its class diversity; there are twelve races and eleven available classes, and a Points-based character creation system that improves diversity even further. |
| Our Thoughts - Crowfall's concept is great because it offers refreshing and not repeatable gameplay. With the game finally out of the development hell, our hopes are up, and so are our expectations. |
New World |
| Game information |
- Release Date: 26th of May, 2020, open Beta starts in April 2020
- Developer: Amazon Game Studios
- Genre: MMORPG
- Available for: PC
|
| Set in the mid-1600s, the New World will take us to a newly-discovered island - Aeternum, the Eternal Isle, which is full of supernatural phenomenons and has an ancient evil lurking underneath it. The game puts a large emphasis on the player's freedom of choice and provides a true sandbox of gameplay without restrictions. It features an advanced crafting system, a player-driven economy, and a land ownership system that will allow players to build their own settlements. The game is promised to be difficult enough to promote cooperation and its combat system is said to be skill-based, just like in dynamic action-RPGs. It will also feature powerful world bosses and PvE siege events that will force players to team up to defend their lands. As for the PvP aspect, there will be large scale open Guild vs Guild battles and sieges, but they will not be forced on players who want to focus on PvE. |
| Our Thoughts - New World is shaping to be a true next-generation Sandbox MMORPG that will bring the world-shaping and social aspects to a completely new level. However, the fact that it is the player base that will shape the game means that New World's success will depend on its ability to keep very healthy server populations over long periods of time (unlike Theme Park MMOs that usually require less concurrent players to function properly). |
END NOTE
We have focused on just a few out of dozens of MMO titles scheduled for release in the near future. The games that we have selected seem to be the most promising ones, but we still consider adding a few more titles to the list in the future.
We hope that you have found this guide useful and informative. If we have missed an MMO that you are the most excited about, please let us know! Also, we will be happy to receive constructive criticism that will help us improve our future work so leave your suggestions in the comments section below.
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