dauntless – Mana Obscura

When I look back at 2017, the MMO landscape is tinged with disappointment. Destiny 2, my big hope for online extravagance, failed to live up to expectations. World of Warcraft has hit another lull in the gulf between expansions. Over the last 12 months, nothing new has truly landed and stuck.

Yes, there’s a few surprises. Final Fantasy XIV launched its Stormblood expansion, while Guild Wars 2 brought us Path of Fire (more on both later). But, putting these to one side, the biggest breakouts in online gaming haven’t brought us grand new MMOs. Instead, tight new ideas like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite have dominated the online scene.

Anyhow, enough dwelling on the past. Looking onwards to next year, and there are some significant gems on my release radar. Not all of them are MMOs in the purest sense, but I’m confident this selection will still scratch that itch. So, without further ado, here are my MMO picks for 2018.

Continue reading “My MMO Picks for 2018”

Disclaimer: I bought into the Founders Alpha. As such, the usual caveats apply: wanting to avoid buyer’s remorse, wanting something to be good because you’ve sunk money into it, and so on. If you’re not comfortable with risking your investment in an Early Access beta that you might not enjoy, then don’t.

With that out of the way, why am I excited about Dauntless? If I’m honest, it’s because of something I love about MMOs: fighting big-ass monsters with a group of heroes and stealing their loot. Take that idea, put the boss on a floating island, and that’s how I look at the core concept. Simple, right?

Sure, some gamers may invoke the Monster Hunter lineage, but that’s alien to me as I never got into the series. From what I understand, however, it’s a similar deal: kill big monsters, harvest them to make better weapons and armour, use that to take on bigger monsters. Rinse and repeat.

Continue reading “Dauntless Founders Alpha Preview”