There’s nothing more delightfully confusing than when there are completely different versions of the same MMORPG operating globally, as with TERA or Aion. But usually those separate versions are in different regional markets.
Not so for Astellia, which made the extremely weird move of launching a rival version — Astellia Royal — in North America, Europe, and Korea alongside the already-existing MMO. Royal’s main difference is its free-to-play (rather than $27 buy-to-play) model. Both are now being published by Way2Bit (yes, yet another new publisher).
Astellia Royal was brought over from Korea and launched on Steam this past March 10th. So what kind of contents are available here? “There are a lot of contents in the world Astellia Royal,” the delightfully translated FAQ explained. “You can enjoy Dungeon, Duel Arena, Colosseum, and Avalon with other users. There are life contents such as gathering and crafting. Also, you can play the game with other people through Party and Guild system.”
While Astellia has “mixed” reviews on Steam, Astellia Royal has garnered “mostly negative” comments since its debut. It seems to be gathering only about 500 players a day on Steam, although that’s not counting people who are playing through the official website.
