It would be pretty amusing if after all those mis-fires with new games, the next Jagex MMO actually comes from someone who left Jagex altogether. And that’s sorta just what’s happening, as one of the co-founders of Jagex, Andrew Gower, has just dropped his new MMO on Steam under the Fen Research label, with a planned release of Q3 this year. It’s called Brighter Shores.
“Brighter Shores is an all new adventure from award winning MMORPG designer Andrew Gower,” reads the pitch. “Explore a land of magic and mysteries, with a huge number of professions to try, and something new to find around every corner. Brighter Shores features an ongoing story and hundreds of hours of gameplay.”
Fans of the RuneScape viewpoint will be right at home here, though the graphics are significantly more realistic. The Steam listing bundles it under online co-op and single-player as well as MMO, and the short list of classes – just three total – made us wonder about the ambition of the title. However, the game also promises a “huge number of professions”; we count at least nine with a promise of “many more” alongside a “constantly expanding story” with “episodic” content featuring quests, professions, and maps – sooooo kinda like RuneScape, and at least as heavy on the crafting.
The business model is also laid out cleanly on Steam; it’ll run as a free-to-play title with a premium pass that unlocks ongoing content as well as trading.
