So hey. This hasn’t been the best week for MMOs and MMO fans. Watching what’s happening at Blizzard is just devastating, even if the games do spring back. But in the meantime, whatcha gonna play to cheer up? I have an idea: Islet Online.
MOP’s Justin noticed this one had sprung up on Steam as a fully launched MMO as of yesterday – no early access shenanigans here, folks. That’s because it’s not technically a brand-new game; Korean studio Morenori Soft actually started promoting it in English several years ago. It’s got a lot in common with games like Minecraft, Trove, and Portal Knights visually, though the characters are a bit more cartoony than blocky. It’s boasting a functional ecosystem, crafting, and even solo play on dedicated servers.
“Islet Online is a sandbox-style MMORPG. It is all about digging and placing bricks to build your own land. And with various materials from wildlife, bricks can be combined to make useful items, too. Whenever you act, your character gets experience. When your character gets experience, your character’s mastery skill level goes up. With enough skill level, you will be able to accomplish extraordinary results. […] In Islet Online, there is an ecosystem. Animals and plants interact with others. For example, wolves hunt rabbits for their life, rabbits eat grass to reproduce. Ecosystem of Islet can be affected by your character’s acts. If you hunt too many rabbits and pigs, wolves may starve to death, due to lack of food. Then you decide to kill every wolf on your sight, an army of herbivore will lay your world waste in ruin, left nothing but a wasteland. Basically, you will reap what you sow. Your small action may cause horrific climate change, sudden blight break out from nowhere. Who couldn’t adapt to the rapidly changing world, will die.”
Now that sounds a lot more like Ultima Online’s original ecosystem, or even Wakfu.
The Steam version is $16.99, though there looks to be a free-to-play version on Google Play too, at least if you can read Korean.
