New World may have garnered most of the MMO attention this week, but there’s still a lot going on in the indie scene as well. In fact, this is the biggest Indie MMO Spotlight to date, with twenty entries in total. We even have two new games in the Spotlight this week. So let’s flip the switch and get started with this week’s Indie MMO Spotlight.
Archewood
The 2D MMORPG Archewood received a new update just in time for the weekend. The new Alpha release v0.0.6.0 brings a new tileset and Forest map along with an update to the monster AI. There’s also a new camp system as well as several other minor changes.
Corepunk
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from Corepunk developer Artificial Core. A quick post on the Corepunk forums this week alludes to a new gameplay video coming soon. The video, expected to arrive on October 12, will give an updated look at the combat we can expect to find in Corepunk.
The Cycle: Frontier
I usually save any minor news I missed from previous weeks for the Loose Ends section at the end of the Spotlight, but I missed a big announcement last week from YAGER Development regarding the temporary closure of the in-game shop on October 6, followed by access to the current game being disabled on October 13. This is being done so the team can focus solely on the Closed Beta that started on Thursday. If you did some prospecting in the Alphas, you can update your client and start playing immediately. For anyone who hasn’t played The Cycle yet, you can request access to the Closed Beta on Steam or Epic Games Store.
The Day After
September has come and gone, and the Mega Event that Fntastic teased at the beginning of the month hasn’t materialized. To be fair, they never actually gave a solid date for the event, but the newest teaser comes with a #september45 tag. I’m not sure if that is some secret code or just their way of trying to make light of the situation, but either way, let’s just say that the teaser was a little underwhelming.
Dual Universe
The Ares update for Dual Universe has been live for almost two weeks now, giving players some time to test out the new PvP changes and additions. In an attempt to field questions on the Ares update as well as the previous Apollo update from August, Novaquark has opened up a thread on the DU forum where players can submit questions for an upcoming Q&A session.
EmberSword
September 30 was supposed to be the day that applicants could finally purchase their plot of land in EmberSword. Due to a security issue, the purchase date has been postponed by two weeks to October 14. You can read all about the delay in the ES blog post which also covers information about the sale of Community Badges.
Fractured
The final video in the Fractured Fall Alpha Spotlight was released this week. Among other things, the video covers alignments, the tech tree, and world events. Another patch was also released this week, bringing optimizations to sleeping monsters and a whole slew of bug fixes.
Gloria Victis
The GV team is back on track with their weekly updates. It was a big update, too, with the addition of the Equipment progression trees being the main topic of discussion. You can check out everything Update 289 has to offer over on the GV Steam page.
Hordes.io
I’ve mentioned it before, but every Friday there is a GM Event in Hordes.io. The event consists of three parts: Ground War, Sky Arena, and Mount Race. It all starts at 9 pm GMT.
Ilysia
Team 21 Studios took some time out of their busy schedule to post a status update on Ilysia this week. All seems to be going well with Ilysia, with Alpha 2 still expected to land within the next month or two. They also announced that they secured a second round of funding and are planning on posting a Community Manager position soon.
OrbusVR: Reborn
The annual Fall Festival has returned to Patreayl. Part of the most recent patch that also contained the Character Update we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, you can begin the Fall Festival quests (same quests as last year but with some new rewards) by talking to Festival Glodgoren outside the Highsteppe Gate near Randel and the Festival Farmer outside the Critter Capture shop. You’ll also want to talk to Pierre Cenn to pick up a new Critter Capture quest if you want all of the available rewards this year.
Profane
Insane CEO Diego “BunnyJoker” Beltran recently had a discussion with Twitch streamer Oxfurd. The topic of the day was zerging in games - is it good or is it bad? It was a lengthy talk, so INSANE is breaking it up into bite-sized chunks. You can check out the first clip on the Profane YouTube channel.
Soul Kingdoms
Another game making its debut in the Indie Spotlight is Soul Kingdoms, an upcoming MMO-lite with a focus on PvP. You can read all about the new direction that developer Power Proc Studios is taking with Soul Kingdoms, or just check out our article from earlier this week for the Cliff Notes version.
Project F4E
If you’re a fan of MOBAs then you’ll want to follow Project F4E, our newest addition to the Indie MMO Spotlight. F4E is still early in the development cycle, and you can participate in the current playtest for free (yep, no paid access required). Just join the F4E Discord and click on the heart to get a Steam code.
Project Gorgon
There was a big update to Project Gorgon this week, with a new high-level zone and new skills taking center stage. It’s a long read, but you can check out all the changes on the Project Gorgon Forums.
Prosperous Universe
Dev log #304 is up and ready to read.
Realm of the Mad God
Update 2.0.4.0 went live this week, bringing a plethora of tweaks to The Shatters as well as many other updates and fixes. The RotMG Discord also kicked off the Spooky RotMG Event this week, where you can win prizes by submitting a RotMG themed spooky creation. Just join the RotMG Discord and head to the server-events channel for all the details.
Ship of Heroes
Heroic Games made a post this week to share a wrap-up of the SoH Summer Beta Event. Claiming it to be a huge success, they shared some of the player feedback from the event, followed by a bullet point list of things to come.
TitanReach
So, after receiving funding to continue the development of TitanReach, the developers have decided to...wait for it...shut down the server? Yes, TitanReach is moving into private development and the servers and download link were turned off on Monday to allow the team to focus on development. This decision sparked a lot of conversation on the TitanReach Discord this week, with community members arguing whether the shutdown is a good move or not. Either way, players will have to wait for future Alpha/Beta tests to get a look at what a fully funded TitanReach looks like.
Zenith: The Last City
TitanReach isn’t the only indie MMO to obtain some funding recently. Zenith developer Ramen VR announced this week that they had secured $10mil through a Series A funding campaign. VR could very well be the next frontier for MMOs, and that extra cash should help Ramen VR blaze the trail with Zenith: The Last City.
