The MMO Launch Spotlight is back in full swing this week. In fact, it may be our biggest week for MMO launches, with some big cross-platform releases, and a variety of genres, from shooters, to cozy MMOs and even a racing game.
Enlisted: Reinforced
This week, Enlisted: Reinforced released on March 28th, and then was quickly un-launched on March 29th, and pulled from Early Access. It made the list because, for the very few that were able to purchase the Steam access pack, the game is still available for you, and technically it did “launch”.
Enlisted is an “MMO squad-based shooter” developed by Darkflow Software and Gajin Entertainment. Players will recreate some of the largest historical battles of the 20th century by commanding their squad of AI-controlled soldiers. You’ll place armaments, utilize tanks and planes, and play with 16 different soldier classes – or at least you would, if the game was still available. We’ll keep an eye out for the relaunch of Early Access. For more information about what went wrong here, check out our full coverage of Enlisted: Reinforced.
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile by Activision released March 20th, 2024 on Android and iOS. For those that are familiar with CoD you’ll be able to take your favorite FPS with you wherever you go, and Warzone Mobile states that the battles will be bigger, with more players than any mobile Battle Royale FPS on the market, with matches of 120 players. While CoD:WM might not fit the thousands of players we hope for in an MMO, the battles are larger than some current MMOs, so I feel it’s worth the listing.
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The game is already wildly popular, with over 10 million downloads on Google’s Play Store alone. CoD: Warzone Mobile brings you to some of their most iconic maps like Verdansk and Rebirth Island, has squad co-op content, and has a robust leveling system, where you can use cross-progression to bring your spoils of war to Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Motorbike Evolution
Early Access game Motorbike Evolution 2024 has just hit Steam and is available to play for free now. Developed by Petr Šimunek, a single developer that has been building this game since he attended high school (and is currently attending a Ph. D. program in Prague), Motorbike Evolution 2024 intends to capture 150 years of racing using procedurally generated terrains where dozens of other players will race against one another.
Listed as an MMO, the game currently only allows 39 players per race, and you’ll gain experience and credits to earn new vehicles as you progress. With 80 motorbikes and over a thousand configurations, if you’re a motorcycle racing fan, you’ll find a lot to tinker with. As an ‘MMO’ you’ll have leaderboards, daily missions, and achievements to earn and show off to other racers. Motorbike Evolutions 2024 intends to be in Early Access for less than 6 months before a full release, and so far, has garnered positive reviews. This will certainly be one for the racing fans out there.
Palia
The day has finally come! Palia has released on Steam! Despite some mild controversy related to the game’s full release status when it’s supposedly in an Early Access or Open Beta state, one thing is for certain, Singularity 6’s cozy MMO has certainly earned some attention here.
Boasting mixed reviews, Palia will have you farming, cooking, crafting, and building out your very own home. There’s tons to do alongside new friends, but it seems the Steam version may have its own issues with some reviews signaling that the original launcher version is less prone to problems. If you’ve been waiting to jump into Palia the Steam release is certainly a signal that Singularity 6 is making progress, but if the reviews are any indication, you might want to give it a couple weeks for the devs to handle those Steam launch problems.
AFK Journey
Fans of AFK Arena should rejoice, as AFK Journey by Lilith Games is now available on both mobile and PC. Launched on March 27th, 2024, AFK Journey takes the success of AFK Arena and expands exponentially, with a large overworld where you’ll meet other players, team up to take down corrupted beasts and world bosses and join guilds to take on some challenging content.
As with many gacha hero collectors, you’ll earn diamonds to roll for new characters, and obtain them randomly through rolls. However, AFK Journey goes one step further than games like Genshin Impact. You can set up roll lists, so that you narrow the focus of which characters you want to earn. In addition to that, the launch event will let you earn one of every character simply by logging in. With cross play and cross progression, you can jump into the game on either PC or mobile anytime you want. As the name suggests, a big part of the game is earning resources while you’re not playing, through their AFK system.
If you’re a fan of gacha hero collectors, this one falls into an MMO-lite category and if the reviews are any indication AFK Journey is heating up the mobile scene, with a 4.8 google play store review score, and a 4.9 iOS’s app store review score respectively.
DC Universe Online
DCUO didn’t “release” this week, necessarily. But Daybreak’s DC superhero MMO did happen to release their native client for PS5. The new client will grant DCUO players some benefits, mostly in the form of performance, like faster load times and better visuals. The launch doesn’t stop there, a native Xbox Series X|S is also on the way, which means you may see DCUO on the list in another few weeks, so don’t be surprised if it appears again!
Astral Odyssey
The last MMO on our list today is Astral Odyssey, a mobile MMO by Gamezaaa. The game launched March 23rd, 2024, and currently stands at over 50k downloads, marking a success for the title. Described as a multi-racial fantasy adventure MMORPG (whatever that means) the game has 17 world maps, four different customizable classes, and an overwhelming amount of loot to obtain.
I can’t say whether there is anything that particularly stands out about Astral Odyssey as the information, even on the official site is pretty limited. If you’re interested in checking out a new fantasy game on mobile that proclaims robust PvP and dragon battles, you can certainly give this one a shot.
