4 Western MMORPGs To Look Forward To In 2018

Since a previous MMOByte post already discussed upcoming anime MMORPGS you need to watch out for, this article will highlight some promising Western MMORPGs as well. The likes of Wild West Online and Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen have been featured in the past, and today, the repertoire of amazing Western titles is bound to expand yet again.

Updates for the spiritual successor of Ultima Online may be infrequent, but a playable beta is expected this year (2018). Legends of Aria (formerly titled Shards Online) allows players to either go on official servers or host their own, where they can determine their own set of rules. Features include open PVP with full loot, a crime and punishment system, crafting, unique biomes, dungeons, and more.

Identity is an ambitious concept from Asylum Entertainment. In fact, the developers claim it is the new breed of MMORPG. There’s no confirmed release date yet but gamers are hoping for at least an open beta this year. The game is an ultra-realistic simulation, where players can interact with the world with absolute freedom. You can be a police officer, criminal, business professional, or anything in between. It takes place in a fictional land in the US, which is reminiscent of Georgia. There’s a housing system as well, where players can buy houses and customize them to their own liking. Apparently, you can even rent out your in-game home.

In Worlds Adrift, players can explore floating islands with unprecedented freedom. You can build anything, from a Skyship to your own floating base. It features a unique physics-based system that allows you to move everything you touch. With a lot of money and tech being poured into its development, it will be exciting to see the end result. Upon testing the game out, Adam Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun claimed that Worlds Adrift restored his faith in MMOs.

Not many details have been released about this upcoming MMORPG by Amazon Game Studios (AGS). The official description states that it’s a “massively multiplayer, open-ended sandbox game that allows you to carve your own destiny with other players in a living, hostile, cursed land.” While it’s not certain whether New World will actually be released this year, the developers are assuring fans that they will soon provide more information. Given AGS’s track record with titles like Til Morning’s Light and Lost Within though, it’s reasonable to say that New World will be a high-quality game as well.

With a flurry of Asian-developed MMORPGs dominating the market for some time now, it’s refreshing to see Western MMORPGS making their resurgence. If you played enough MMOs, you can differentiate the two gaming styles. Massively OP points out the differences in Eastern MMOs and Western MMOs, indicating that the former focuses more on graphics and grind-based gameplay while the latter makes great strides towards better storytelling.

Of course, these differences aren’t just limited to MMOs, as players can get a glimpse of either Western or Eastern culture through all sorts of games. When you look at the majority of titles from the East, you can learn about their traditions, ancient beliefs and hobbies to a certain extent. Video games such as Okami, Nioh, and even the mobile game Fruit Ninja are just some examples. The same goes for games from the West, in that they give players a glimpse of Western practices. Leading gaming portal Slingo hosts virtual Blackjack games, a Western pastime that has been popular since the 19th century but has recently been brought to the digital world. The virtual counterpart simulates actual gaming sessions in a casino, where a player goes head-to-head with a dealer. Blackjack joins a variety of tabletop games that weren’t as well-known in the Eastern region as they were in the West, but thanks to the Internet, games from all over the world can be experienced by different cultures.

While it’s up to personal preference when determining which style is better, it’s evident that both sides can learn from each other. There may be a lot of upcoming anime MMORPGs, but do not forget that the West has some promising gems, too.