At the Steam Next Fest 2025, MMORPG fans can try the dungeon co-op game Fellowship for the first time. Meinmmo looked in beforehand and reveals what to expect.
While new MMORPGS 2025 are coming, Fellowship comes with a candidate who offers the endgame from the genre as an independent co-op game. Instead of boring level phase and the liberation of the miller daughter from the hands of common bandits, you start at Fellowship directly into the dungeon adventure.
If you want, you can try the Multiplayer online dungeon Adventure (short: moda) at the Steam Next festival yourself and is already in a dungeon 10 minutes after starting.
Who writes here? Cedric Holmeier is a freelance author at Meinmmo and has already spent thousands of hours in MMORPGs. Together with the developers, he was allowed to play Fellowship and get an impression of the changes.
Here you can watch the new trailer from Fellowship:
New trailer for Fellowship’s Playtest shows Koop-Dungeon spectacle
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Dungeons that are ready to be conquered
I tried Fellowship for the first time last year together with the developers of Chief Rebel and was also invited to the closed beta afterwards. A lot of time has passed since then and a lot has happened in Fellowship.
The first step in the dungeon is always to build a group. Instead of a group finder from the early days of the MMORPGs, the Fellowship’s matchmaking system now rolls us quickly.
Before that, however, we have to select our desired dungeon at the mission table, the level of difficulty and possible additional effects. These additional effects are called “curses and ascensions” and give the dungeons additional challenges, such as a meteorite storm that keeps us busy the whole dungeon.
It is also important to choose between Quick-Play and Ranked play.
What I have already seen in the first monster group with the player with the developers is the improved visibility and the new effects that are playing on the screen when you are in combat. As an experienced MMORPG player, noticing without looking at my ice mage’s feet immediately that I am in a void.
While Fellowship worked a bit chunky last time, the game feeling has changed and I have the feeling of always doing something in combat with my beginner character.
Rethinking with the bosses
A small change in identity has crept in in boss fights since the last test. Before that, players could have little influence on the individual bosses through the level of difficulty. It changed almost exclusively. In the meantime, a higher level of difficulty is unlocked new mechanics for the bosses and reinforces old ones.
At the entry-level level you can also ignore the interruption of enemy skills, but later it becomes a duty. The same applies to the voids in which you can initially take a foot bath, but later you prefer not spends a second.
Not only the damage of the boss is increased by the level of difficulty, new skills of the boss opponent are also activated and old ones are upgraded.
A big hook
In contrast to a classic theme park mmorpg, Fellowship does not use classes such as warriors, archers or magicians to implement the Holy Trinity system. Instead, there are heroes in Fellowship who fill these roles.
We cannot play our own heroes according to our idea and with adaptation options, because a character editor is completely missing. Instead, we can choose from 6 different heroes at the start, which in addition to their life story and their skills also give us information about how difficult they are to play.
The appearance of the character changes about the maintenance of equipment or by buying skins as a microtransaction when the moda appears. However, what never changes is the appearance of the character under the dazzling armor. You can see the difference here:
Endgame and progression
As a MMORPG player, I always think about how the endgame loop can keep me on the shelf. The developers have changed a lot here since the last hands-on. Players can now experience gemstones that unlock additional effects for the character.
It is also worth visiting simpler dungeons together with friends, because even if the boss equipment is based on the level of difficulty, there are always gemstones as a reward.
The better your own character, the easier it has in the dungeons. In conversation, the developers said that a character that bears the equipment of high dungeons can help his friends in the low dungeons without exhausting.
In the endgame, the DEVS also want to promote competitive gameplay and offer timers that players can use to measure in Speedruns. In conversation, the developers opened openly to an e-sport in Fellowship, but in their opinion, this must grow out of the community. There were already individual groups in the last play test.
Are dungeons enough?
Many players want a new, large MMORPG. Fellowship has the potential to offer exactly that – especially for gamers who want to explore a few dungeons in the evening. Thanks to the adaptable level of difficulty, you can choose the right balance between challenge and fairness.
This is a strength that has also been shown when it is alluded. Although my last dungeon in Fellowship was months ago, everything immediately felt familiar. The mechanics were intuitive, and even the one-shot attack of a boss was understood after the first wipe. The wipe also triggered a learning effect that is reminiscent of Path of Exile 2’s campaign.
What I lack in the moda are raids or dungeons for eight players. The developers do not exclude them and are already considering how they could be integrated into the game, but in our conversation they made it clear that the effort is considerable. You don’t want to take this step for the early access release on Steam.
Fellowship can be played and streamed for the first time by everyone interested and fans at the Steam Next Fest 2025 between February 24th at 7:00 p.m. and March 3rd at 7:00 p.m. In addition to many new systems that have been added, players will also be allowed to play the melee hero Tariq for the first time.
Otherwise, the Holy Trinity from Tank, Healer and Damage Distributor, who are represented with two heroes each, await you again. Fellowship would like to start in the early access on Steam in 2025. This could almost fit on the list of Meinmmo editor Karsten: Which MMOs rock 2025? I am particularly looking forward to 6 games