I had an opportunity to try CoS in the Sneak Peak and really liked it!  Even better, I love how actively involved the developers and community team are with the players and how seriously they take player feedback and suggestions!  The game is now entering an alpha stage and many changes have been incorporated that were directly influenced by player feedback.

Also, this game played flawlessly in the browser!  I was amazed how well it played on an old laptop, It's only going to play better on even newer hardware.

I can't wait for the alpha to start!

I like the idea of the game. The model for the city itself, with the giant geared zones surrounding the city was awesome looking.

Does the game do anything outside of the standard MMORPG mechanics (so far)? Are there quests and do you run into a quest hub, grab all your quests and then run out to finish them as quickly as you can? Do they have raids for the end game? Those are the questions I have (so far).

The game is more of a dungeon crawler with a persistent world than a real open-world MMO. As such, it's very quest and instance driven.Think of it more like a Diablo or Torchlight, but with an actual world with  other players, as opposed to lobby groups.

I'm excited for this game too.  I've wanted to play in steam punk land for a long long time now.  Alpha testing is coming up this weekend.  If anyone is interested they should sign up for the newsletter and create an account.

If you could - how would you compare this games atmosphere and idea's with Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura .

Ive been looking for a 3d virtual world and hopefully mmo type game that followed in the styling set down by that old gem. This City Of Steam looks like it might do the trick though from what ive seen so far there seems an overabundance of steamworks and little magick obscura.

I got an Alpha Key but there was nowhere to enter it. I guess it will come up when the weekend starts. I see they are bypasing kickstarter and just doing their own packages but I wish under the key section it would have gave me more options besides hitting me up for cash so much.

Looks interesting though.

Originally posted by atuerstar

If you could - how would you compare this games atmosphere and idea's with Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Ive been looking for a 3d virtual world and hopefully mmo type game that followed in the styling set down by that old gem. This City Of Steam looks like it might do the trick though from what ive seen so far there seems an overabundance of steamworks and little magick obscura.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of my favorite PC games (that and Planescape: Torment)!

I really like the atmosphere and ideas in City of Steam, but it isn't really Victorian, so it doesn't compare there.  Also, there isn't an emphasis on the conficting powers of technology vs. magic, as there is in Arcanum.  That being said, I think there's a good mix of tech and magic with CoS.

Of course, CoS is a completely different type of game, but overall I really like the theme and art.

 Originally posted by DashiDMV

 

I got an Alpha Key but there was nowhere to enter it. I guess it will come up when the weekend starts. I see they are bypasing kickstarter and just doing their own packages but I wish under the key section it would have gave me more options besides hitting me up for cash so much.

Looks interesting though.,

Apparently, there was some sort of problem with their activation page and it should be available July 18th.

Originally posted by rhinok

Originally posted by atuerstar

If you could - how would you compare this games atmosphere and idea's with Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Ive been looking for a 3d virtual world and hopefully mmo type game that followed in the styling set down by that old gem. This City Of Steam looks like it might do the trick though from what ive seen so far there seems an overabundance of steamworks and little magick obscura.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of my favorite PC games (that and Planescape: Torment)!

I really like the atmosphere and ideas in City of Steam, but it isn't really Victorian, so it doesn't compare there.  Also, there isn't an emphasis on the conficting powers of technology vs. magic, as there is in Arcanum.  That being said, I think there's a good mix of tech and magic with CoS.

Of course, CoS is a completely different type of game, but overall I really like the theme and art.

 

 Originally posted by DashiDMV

 

I got an Alpha Key but there was nowhere to enter it. I guess it will come up when the weekend starts. I see they are bypasing kickstarter and just doing their own packages but I wish under the key section it would have gave me more options besides hitting me up for cash so much.

Looks interesting though.,

Apparently, there was some sort of problem with their activation page and it should be available July 18th.

Indeed, the activation page had a bit of an issue; we addressed the problem in a recent announcement: http://www.cityofsteam.com/important-activation-of-alpha-keys-issue

As for the game's atmosphere, rhinok pretty much hit the nail on the head. It would be misleading to try to compare it to Arcanum, as that was more of a distinctly "steampunk" setting, whereas with City of Steam, we see it more as "industrial fantasy". It's not a world that has recently come into a new age of industry, rather, industry has always been a part of it, up to the rotation of the entire world itself being turned by massive gears. Magical powers do exist, but are effects harnessed from science and technology (rather than being a polar opposite thereof). So to compare it to other game styles, well, not easy, but hopefully in a good way! It should stand out from your generic "enchanted forest with elves living in trees" and tired "slay the evil dragon" games we've all played countless times already.

And we're still just in Alpha... so much can be added and built up from there!

And we're still just in Alpha... so much can be added and built up from there!

To emphasize what Ian said, I can see dramatic changes between the sneak peak alpha and this upcoming alpha test.  The CoS team is intimately involved with the tester community and it's Mechanist  takes the tester feedback  seriously and acts upon it.

Played for a couple hours. Liking the choices available and the setting quite a bit. Not really feeling the combat but then I am more of a slow paced player. I would like to be able to attack with mouse buttons instead of running around spamming keys and maybe something hits. Also sometimes it is hard to see the dropped items so a highlight area/grab all feature would be great. Maybe it is in there now and I didn't notice but I was trying to find something like that.

It's still in Alpha so everything gets the benefit of the doubt but was really interesting and high quality for a browser game.

For those of people who want to see the gameplay at this stage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc0fWh0_Y28&feature=g-u-u

I'm impressed with with the game.

Did you guys enjoy it too?