It’s been a couple trips around the sun since we last checked in with 2003’s A Tale in the Desert, an old MMO that’s famous for being one of the very few in the genre that eschewed combat for a crafting and community focus.
As the website describes it, “A Tale in the Desert is an MMO set in ancient Egypt. The game focuses on crafting and trading, with a mixed of social and political challenges, and has absolutely no combat. Within the game is one of the most complex crafting and trade skill systems that has ever been created. This is coupled with tests in various disciplines that challenge players to work together or against each other.”
Another prominent aspect of A Tale in the Desert is that the game resets every two years or so for a new “telling” with different rules. Currently, the MMO is in Tale 11, which began in the latter part of 2023. This means that players can expect to hear word, if not the actual start, of Tale 12 sometime this year.
In the Discord, the devs announced a “welcome back” event that ran at the end of December 2024, so the game is still very much alive and kicking.
If you’re curious about this game but want to observe someone else going through it all, a YouTuber named Knapp posted a 23-part journey covering all aspects of ATITD just a year ago:
