In the last 7 years, dozens of new MMORPGs appeared, but very few of them could convince in the long term. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch is still crying over three games that sounded really good on paper but unfortunately never came out.
New MMORPGs come out regularly. This year alone, 5 new games came out. But most of them are only briefly heard from. That’s because they either have too few or the wrong innovations, or are simply technically weaker than what’s already playable.
The best examples are Swords of Legends and Elyon, which were released in 2021. Both are basically not bad games, but they just don’t make anything better that I can’t experience in other MMORPGs.
The MMORPGs currently simply lack innovation and great features. And that’s exactly why I mourn the loss of three games that had a new vision but unfortunately never made it to release.
This article originally appeared on May 22, 2022 and was last updated with new information and links on May 1, 2023.
EverQuest Next
What was that game? EverQuest Next was planned as the third part of the MMORPG series, but it should do many things differently than the two predecessors. The focus was on the idea of a gigantic sandbox in which the players can participate themselves.
You should be able to change the world like in Minecraft and build your own structures. At the same time, the NPCs should react to this adapted world using a special technology and not just remain in place as stupid AI. This should make the otherwise often rigid MMORPG world more dynamic.
Great importance was also attached to freedom and dynamism in the classes. You should only choose a rough framework at the beginning and then be able to put together your own skills. Everyone could only put a certain number of abilities in the action bar, similar to Guild Wars 1. The abilities were dependent on the weapon, but also on keywords like damage, damage over time or healing, which you could set yourself.
Graphically, EverQuest Next relied on a colorful but stylistically pretty world that made a good impression even before the alpha.
Here’s a trailer for EverQuest Next:
The big innovation was the addition of EverQuest Landmark, a custom game that gave players access to developer tools and allowed them to create content. This could then have been quickly transferred from Daybreak Games into the main game EverQuest Next, whereby the players would have become developers themselves.
Games like Skyrim show that players have fun developing their own mods and can create endless content. That would have been even faster with Landmark.
With dynamic NPCs, player-generated content, and a big brand like EverQuest in the background, there was a lot to be said for a small revolution in MMORPGs. Landmark was even released as its own game, but in 2016 EverQuest Next was announced to be discontinued.
Dave Georgeson, the former head of the project, was sure EverQuest Next would have been possible under Sony, but they sold the studio to Daybreak Games during development.
That should have been the nail in the coffin for the ambitious project. Development on Everquest Next officially ended on March 11, 2016.
Everquest Next: “We could have done it”
Ultima X Odyssey
Ultima X Odyssey was supposed to be a new sequel to Ultima Online after the actual second part was canceled in 2001. The basic idea of Odyssey, which was announced in 2003, relies on a third-person view and a virtue system.
Instead of constantly defeating the next big bad, players had to complete actions and quests to demonstrate virtues such as compassion, honesty, humility, and sacrifice. These should then unlock new skills and set the direction of the character.
According to EA, you should always be able to make decisions and thus change the outcome of quests. Do you let the thief caught in the act live because he starved to death and saw no other option, or do you bring him to justice?
Here you can see the official trailer for the game from 2003:
Ultima X Odyssey offered a choice of 12 different classes and should rely on a dynamic combat system with block and dodge. The game also broke new ground when it came to equipment, because you should be able to equip items that level with you and that you can improve through crafting.
In the endgame, PvP should play a role in particular, with the fights only taking place in special areas and linked to a ladder.
The game would probably have had a hard time with a release in 2004 against WoW and EverQuest 2. But much still sounds on paper like a really good idea that EA had in 2003, especially with the many decisions on the quests.
However, the game was discontinued before it could even compete with the other two titles. The reasons given were that part of the team was withdrawn for a new expansion of Ultima Online and another part did not want to go along with EA’s move from Austin, Texas to California.
titanium
Project Titan is a Blizzard MMORPG that never saw the light of day. In it, you should take on the role of a super soldier who goes about his normal life during the day while carrying out important missions to protect humanity at night.
The MMORPG should take place in a near future Earth and have many realistic elements. One goal of the game was probably that the players should build a kind of second life.
Blizzard never became much more specific. Development stopped back in 2014 and the remains of the game were partly used to build Overwatch.
According to then-Blizzard boss Mike Morhaine, the game was a logical progression from WoW, which, however, consisted only of ideas and never of real passion.
Honorable Mention: Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is a story from Japan that is told in novellas, manga and anime. It’s an MMORPG in virtual reality, in which the players experience all the sensory perceptions that happen in the game through special hardware.
In fact, there are already MMORPGs that bear the name of Sword Art Online, but they only scratch the surface of what the actual idea of the game is. So far there is no title that comes close to such an immersive world.
With Zenith – The Last City, a VR MMORPG was released on Steam in early 2022, but it has a lot of room for improvement, both graphically and in terms of content. Nevertheless, the interest in it was already huge:
VR MMORPG Zenith is overrun on Steam – now gets 31.7 million euros for further development
A new WoW needs big ideas – and a big name can help
A more dynamic world, player-generated content, the construction of a second life and a virtual reality – these are the great innovations that have characterized the titles mentioned here and that the games of the future must dare to breathe fresh air into the genre bring.
For many, the fascination of the upcoming MMORPG Ashes of Creation lies in the nodes. The areas in the game are designed to evolve and dependent on the progress of the players. Cities grow, new quests are unlocked, and world bosses, dungeons, or dynamic events appear.
It’s one of the few upcoming MMORPGs that I also see as innovative, although the PvP focus will be an obstacle for some and therefore could limit success. Here’s how the game is doing at the moment:
Everything about the new MMORPG Ashes of Creation – release, classes, gameplay and nodes
It is also noticeable that a big name helps to attract attention and of course to have the necessary money for the implementation. MMORPGs are an expensive and risky genre, as these discontinued games all prove.
Which MMORPG were you most looking forward to? And what do you think the MMORPG of the future needs?