Huge open worlds have been a staple in many MMORPGs since time immemorial, allowing thousands or even tens of thousands of players to inhabit the same virtual world simultaneously. For many games of the genre, massive open worlds serve as nothing more than progression zones as players level up and move on to more challenging and rewarding content. Rinse and repeat.
It’s not every day that you see an indie hardcore sandbox MMORPG create a world that actually, fundamentally, changes the way players see themselves in the game world, and the unscripted emergent content begins to take on a life of its own. This is exactly what you will find in Mortal Online 2, an upcoming title that has garnered considerable mainstream coverage as of late.
The world of Mortal Online 2 is purportedly six times larger than that of its predecessor, Mortal Online. Built on the vastly more advanced and powerful Unreal Engine 4.25, the relatively small development team at Star Vault has recreated its main continent, called Myrland, in painstaking detail.
It is a world that is not only beautiful to behold and a joy to explore, but a showcase of the incredibly talented landscape artists and world designers who put it all together, piece by piece.
So, what can you expect to see happen in such a massive open world where fast travel doesn’t exist, where there is local banking and chat, first-person view only, pvp anytime, anywhere, and full looting upon death? In these conditions, players form their own local communities and economies.
The gear and equipment players use in the local area become more homogeneous based on the region’s resources. Players visiting from another region would be viewed more as an outsider by the local community. They may be viewed with suspicion, and their every move could be closely scrutinized by those who live in the local region.
Transporting goods across regions becomes a high-risk activity that requires careful planning, reconnaissance, and armed escort protection against player bandits. A never-ending war of cat-and-mouse will be silently waged as players from both sides attempt to ensure that the valuable cargo doesn’t fall into anyone’s hands but theirs.
Spies and infiltrators may be sent to gather information or steal resources from another region. They might try to blend in or stay out of sight, waiting patiently for the right opportunity to present itself in order to get what they came for. Overhearing a nearby conversation can be just as valuable as sneaking off with a stack of rare metal ingots from a complacent player’s inventory. These are just a few examples of the myriad of unscripted emergent gameplay that we may very well see in the world of Mortal Online 2 once the game goes into persistent state (meaning no more progress wipes).
It is a fascinating phenomenon rarely seen in the genre, and one that is sure to draw many who are looking for something unique and different. A breath of fresh air from the boring grind and repetitive progression tropes that we are so used to seeing in the MMORPG market for so many years.
Credits
| Program | Founding Writers |
| Author | Finegamingconnoisseur |
| YouTuber | Finegamingconnoisseur |
| Publisher | MGN |
| Game | Mortal Online 2 |