Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: The only way that players can tell truly dynamic stories in an open MMO world is by making it possible for them to slaughter one another without restriction. It’s a refrain that’s being repeated by Persist Online, the in-development PvPvE sandbox MMO from Tibia studio CipSoft, in its most recent dev blog.
“In Persist Online, PvP is not just about combat. It’s about competition, strategy, and making your mark on the world. The open world provides the perfect stage for this, offering contested territories, scarce resources, and opportunities to prove your strength. […] Did that player even notice me? Will that player walk by? Will he attack me? Is that player injured and could I get his loot? Should I run or should I shoot the first bullet?”
CipSoft contends that the game’s active combat and systems that let players create their own loadout and playstyle will keep PvP exciting, and reasons that guilds and players building rivalries will be the narrative drive for its open world.
Meanwhile, updates to the MMO continue, with the most recent adding a safehouse feature that gives players an instanced place of respite where they can partake in multiple progression features such as crafting, upgrading, cooking buff-granting food, and access to a training room that lets characters progress even while offline.
As a refresher, Persist Online describes itself as a “true, old-school MMORPG – but with zombies, guns, and baseball bats instead of orcs, mages, and spells,” and yes, the studio wants people to categorize it as an MMORPG and not a survival shooter. The game is still in a state of invite-only closed testing, with potential invites being offered either through newsletter sign-up or Discord, while early access release timing is still undetermined.
