MassivelyOP’s 2024 Awards: Indie MMO of the Year

January 1, 2025 11:00 AM

Welcome back to Massively Overpowered’s formal end-of-the-year awards!

Today’s award is for the Indie MMO of the Year, which was awarded to Project Gorgon last year. All indie MMOs, crowdfunded or not, are eligible for this award; the game needn’t actually have formally launched yet, though it does need to be in some form of persistently playable state (like early access). Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end!

And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Indie MMO of 2024 is…

PROJECT GORGON

Andrew Ross: Orna

Brianna Royce: Project Gorgon, Embers Adrift, City of Heroes Homecoming, Pax Dei, Brighter Shores, Monsters and Memories. I had a hard time choosing one, so I choose all of these. My heart still beats for Gorgon, though I wouldn’t have been sad to see Embers win for once.

Chris Neal: Project Gorgon. Yes, it’s this one again, but it’s also earned the nod in my view. The fact that it’s been putting out the content it has in the face of what one of its lead devs is dealing with speaks volumes to begin with, all the while being the kind of classic MMORPG experience that even someone late to the genre party can get behind. Yes, this one again, and it deserves it.

Eliot Lefebvre: Project Gorgon

Justin Olivetti: Project Gorgon, Embers Adrift. Project Gorgon is still not officially launched, but this game and its small but devoted team keep moving forward, one creative and stubborn step at a time despite adversity. I can’t help but admire that. And Embers Adrift has a lot stacked against it (including a payment provider that bilked it out of hard-earned money) if we’re being honest, but the studio’s hard work to continue to expand it and the constant communications have impressed me.

MJ Guthrie: Project Gorgon. I find that Project Gorgon continues to shine, showing that a game can grow without having a big studio throwing money at it.

Sam Kash: Pax Dei

Project Gorgon took our award for Indie MMO of the Year. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: What was the best indie MMO of 2024?

Project Gorgon (18%, 90 Votes)
Embers Adrift (10%, 48 Votes)
Corepunk (1%, 7 Votes)
Pantheon (10%, 48 Votes)
Fractured (1%, 6 Votes)
Ashes of Creation (2%, 10 Votes)
Pax Dei (3%, 13 Votes)
Brighter Shores (2%, 8 Votes)
City of Heroes Homecoming (6%, 31 Votes)
Orna (1%, 3 Votes)
Monsters and Memories (38%, 187 Votes)
Ship of Heroes (0%, 2 Votes)
City of Titans (0%, 1 Votes)
Villagers and Heroes (1%, 5 Votes)
AQ3D (1%, 6 Votes)
Mortal Online 2 (2%, 9 Votes)
Dual Universe (0%, 1 Votes)
Sky COTL (0%, 2 Votes)
Camelot Unchained (1%, 5 Votes)
Something else (tell us in the comments!) (1%, 6 Votes)

Total Voters: 435

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How does MassivelyOP choose the winner?

Our team gathers together to nominate and discuss candidates and hopefully settle on a consensus winner. We don’t have a hard vote, but we do include commentary from writers so that you can see our thought process. The site’s award goes to the staff selection, but we’ll include both it and the community’s top nomination in our debrief in January. Reader poll options include all MMOs nominated plus a few others we thought should be included.