In the middle of April, pretty much everyone in the MMORPG was surprised to learn that Legends of Aria is getting a revival. Aria, of course, was originally Kickstarted as player-server-friendly Shards Online but didn’t quite make a splash at launch, leading developer Citadel Studios to sell it to a blockchain/crypto outfit back in 2021. That hasn’t gone anywhere of note, and the legacy Ethereal Moon server was apparently abandoned.
It always seemed like such a waste, hence the glee at learning that Citadel’s Derek Brinkmann is relaunching the original as Legends of Aria Classic, a brand-new fresh start server using the studio’s pre-Steam early access ruleset from 2019 and funded through a $9.99 sub after the first 30 days of play. The launch was supposed to be May 9th, but apparently, Brinkmann is running a “surprise” beta starting today at 2 p.m. EDT. Here’s the blurb from the newsletter dispatched to fans last night:
“We’re thrilled to announce a surprise open beta event for Legends of Aria Classic, starting on Friday, May 3rd, at 2 PM EST! This event will not only give you an early peek at the classic world of Aria but also serve as a critical stress test for our new server hardware profile. The beta will run until midnight EST on May 7th. It’s a fantastic opportunity for you to dive back into the realms you’ve missed, and experience the classic adventure and chaos anew. Please note that following the beta, we will be wiping the servers to prepare for the official launch on Thursday May 9th at 2 PM EST.”
The newsletter does not explain how to access the beta, but the game’s Discord denizens are reasonably assuming that it too will run through Steam (though there’s no request access button yet as I type this).
