With the collapse of the World of Warcraft clone trend that dominated the MMORPG development landscape for so long, we’ve seen a sort of “wild wild west” approach to MMO projects. The freedom is refreshing, but the results are all over the place and not conclusive that any one path is guaranteed to succeed.
A segment of these MMO projects — many of which were crowdfunded — decided that the smart course was to go as far in the other direction of “casual” and “accessible” that WoW and its ilk represented. There’s been a genuine push for more hardcore attitudes in MMOs, which raises the question: Is this a wise approach, or is this going to backfire pretty badly?
One of the earlier projects that I remember seeing this attitude emerge was Saga of Lucimia — which eventually became Embers Adrift. The idea was to make the world tougher, the UI more obtuse, the systems more clunky, and the difficulty such that grouping would be a necessity, not a nicety.
Embers Adrift didn’t become a big hit in any measurable way, but it did launch and found its niche for a small segment of players looking for just this kind of experience.
Other MMO projects also sought to recreate the more intense and uncompromising designs from games around the turn of the millennium (most notably EverQuest). Monsters and Memories and Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen unapologetically reached back to the past to incorporate more hardcore vibes into their PvE experiences. So far, these too have made limited inroads into the wider MMO community.
We see that “hardcore” label pop up in a multitude of other aspiring projects, both PvE and PvP. Titles such as Profane, Swordeye, Warborne Above Ashes, EVE Frontier, and Eternal Tombs also put out the call to like-minded souls with a gameplay design that promises harder progression, tougher death penalties, and an unforgiving setting.
It’s not every up-and-coming game that’s out there, but it shows up often enough that it’s worth discussing. Is it a smart idea to hew to embrace this design mindset, or is it ultimately foolishness?
Before we have a kneejerk reaction toward the latter response, let’s consider that there might be wisdom behind this. We’re no longer in the “Nintendo hard” era of gaming, nor are we back when MMORPGs were difficult to understand and play. Things have gotten pretty cushy in gaming, and so it makes sense that there would be a movement to create modern games with more cutthroat sensibilities.
Titles like Cuphead or Dark Souls intentionally made ruthless worlds that dared players to try — and probably die. And those and other projects like that became pretty popular because of the intentional choice to go as hard as possible.
There’s an appeal to some people to be strongly challenged by their games and put in the effort to eventually overcome that steep difficulty. The accomplishment feels greater and the deaths and pain along the way? That’s just a bonus that adds to the story of it all.
Plenty of MMOs have adopted optional modes that are more hardcore than others, with permadeath, artificial character stat nerfing, and other design elements feeding into this desire. So it’s not as though it’s foreign within this space either.
The question is if there’s enough actual — not vocal — demand to justify entire MMOs that embrace a top-down hardcore philosophy. That’s a harder sell, because you’re betting the entire game on that angle to the exclusion of a wider audience that might like your general ideas and world but not the merciless attitude.
And when it comes to the inherent risk of making and selling an MMORPG in today’s market, you better be darn well sure that the demand is there, or else you’re sinking your game based on the premise alone.
That’s what concerns me about titles like these. They’re hoping that there’s a real crowd out there of MMO players who aren’t satisfied with the challenge of current offerings that would flock to such a title — and further hoping that the crowd that shows up is so pleased that it’ll turn around and openly evangelize for this title. Start a snowball effect, in other words.
It might be too much to ask. MMORPGs usually slant toward being broad and general in the hopes of getting as much of a critical mass of players, and that means a world that isn’t actively punching you in the face because you dared to log in that day. It means a game you can actually understand, a user interface that isn’t some developer’s secret decoder club project, and a loop that’s satisfying and enjoyable. Some challenge is welcome, so much that it can frustrate and turn off a majority of players while only appealing to a minority is not.
What do you think? Should upcoming MMOs stop trying to position themselves as a hardcore contender and focus on other strengths, or is there room here a title with real teeth and bite? Let’s get talking in the comments!
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!
