It’s absolutely surreal to see that, despite the odds against it, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen actually released — albeit in early access — in 2024. Seeing as how I had some serious concerns about Visionary Realms pulling the trigger on this old school-styled MMORPG project before it was fully ready, I felt it was my duty to check it out first-hand while hoping for the best.
This Vanguard and EverQuest spiritual successor has a lot riding on it, not the least of which is a heap of crowdfunding from the very audience that’s now seeing the results of their “investment.” I’ve heard some mixed things, but there’s nothing like experiencing it for yourself.
We’ll start with the character creator, which already raises several unanswered questions. There are 12 total races with varying classes, and while each gets a description, the races don’t explain any benefits or drawbacks from choosing them, and the classes are vague to the point of madness (especially the “Dire Lord,” which doesn’t sound like any typical fantasy role). [We updated this chunk after publication to clarify the total number of classes available across all races, not just the Halflings.] Then you’ve got an actual throwback to MMOs of yore — an attribute sheet where you manually distribute some points. Or, like me, hit that big blue button to have the game automatically handle that task. It boggles my mind why this is even here.
I know we have to view all of this with the disclaimer of “it’s just early access,” and I will keep that in mind, but the appearance options are shockingly few. Get used to everyone of your race having the exact same face, I guess. I went with a Halfling Ranger because there’s sort of a hint of a pet system with it? Perhaps? It wouldn’t kill the writers to explain these things a bit better.
Back up the school bus, tutorial — how do I move again? Wait, let me grab a pen and write this down.
While the game did fling some basic tutorial stuff at me, what it failed to convey was (a) where I should go and (b) what I should do. After learning a few skills from scrolls in my inventory, I was dumped out on a series of treetop platforms with various vendors, trainers, and crafting stations. But without a map or guidance, I ended up blankly wandering around and feeling like an idiot until I finally found an elevator to the forest floor.
At least it sort of looks pretty, aside from the character models? There really do need to be shadows, though.
Flipping through the user interface revealed a few more details about the game, including the fact that I needed to stay fed and hydrated. Also, there was a screen for Pantheon’s much-vaunted “acclimation system” in which you can become accustomed to certain hazardous environmental types and (I suppose) die less often because of them.
Once down on the forest floor, I took a few minutes to appreciate the strengths of Pantheon’s visuals. It’s a fine-looking game — not cutting edge, but pleasing in a 2010-sort-of-way. The decision to go with more colorful, slightly cartoonish graphics was a good choice. And the music is rather pleasant.
Without any actual direction, all that was left to me was to explore and get into some scuffles. And scuffle I did, although in a somewhat awkward manner. I’ve heard it said that Pantheon is more of an EverQuest throwback than anything else, and now I can see why. If for whatever reason you want to return to the days when you had to “con” (consider) a mob to see how tough it is in relation to you and end every fight by sitting down to rest, then here you go.
The actual fighting was adequate. The sound effects and animations never quite matched up (and the sound was too muted for my taste), but both ranged and melee auto-attacks and skills worked well enough.
You ever have a game slam down night on you like someone hit a light switch? That’s what it felt like here. One moment the world was light and day, and within the span of perhaps five more seconds, it got nearly pitch black. Fortunately, I had a torch to light up a small circle around me, but this was going to seriously hamper getting around (especially without a map – I cannot stress enough how frustrating this game is without both a zone map and a minimap).
So without quests and direction, what’s there to do? I struck out in a random direction and explored, hoping to see something interesting or come across other players. I did take a cool screenshot of some light effects on waves while I was swimming, bumped into another character (he was standing stoically on a rock and didn’t respond to me), and got two-shotted by a gecko. Truly, the stuff of legends. It just doesn’t work for me in a world where there are so many other MMO options, even old-school options.
I realize that a segment of MMO gamers will enjoy this aimless experience; the game does have over a thousand positive reviews on Steam and over 4000 concurrent players, so obviously it resonates with a specific slice of old-school MMO gamers.
But many others will be as turned off as I was, and that worries me.
Part of my disappointment with the game is that playing it confirmed my suspicion that it is just not for me, and that’s fine. Lots of MMOs aren’t for me. Not every MMO has to be for me. The fact that it’s not for me means it might even be for you.
But the other part of my disappointment is less personal and more public because this game wasn’t ready for the kind of early access the broader MMO playerbase expects.
Coming to Pantheon for this experience, I had pretty low expectations, but this game didn’t rise to meet them, in spite of being in development for over 10 years. For the life of me, I don’t get why this was pushed into early access in this state. It’s not only that it’s a partially constructed MMO; it’s that there’s no specific reason to play this and not some other throwback MMO. There’s nothing here, at least not yet, that’s filling a niche or a need, other than to make good on some crowdfunding investments and be newer than other released games. This is the sort of unfinished effort that gives ammunition to critics and doomsayers of the genre, perhaps rightfully so.
If I’m playing a game and all I can think about are the many other similar titles that do any and all of this so much better, then that’s really not a good sign. You could just as easily play EverQuest, Embers Adrift, or Project Gorgon for that throwback MMO feel with far more content, direction, and engagement.
I don’t enjoy writing this, and I especially don’t enjoy criticizing a game whose indie studio has overcome dreadful luck and fought through so many hardships, including the tragic death of its own founder, whom the genre still mourns. I’d truly love to be able to say this game is in a great place, and if it does indeed get the continued development it needs, perhaps one day Pantheon will be a fleshed-out MMO that can take its place in the list of old-school MMOs I just rattled off above.
But will it endure until then and have that chance? It’s possible, if all those concurrent players I mentioned before stick around through whatever monetization plan the team finally picks. But I’m worried that by pushing this out the door in this way-too-early state, Visionary Realms hobbled rather than helped its odds of overcoming the “early access trap.” Here’s hoping I’m wrong.
Do you love spectating and speculating about upcoming MMOs? We do too! Every week, Justin tackles another upcoming title on the MMO Hype Train with opinions, analysis, and blind fervent hope. Choo choo all aboard!
