This week at GDC, a new MMO made an unexpected debut to join the ranks of new and upcoming games. Skyforge will take your character on a journey from immortality to godliness as you ascend slowly into godhood. This Sci-Fi Fantasy MMO has a lot of interesting new features and we will begin to highlight a few here. The team who made Allods Online has joined with Obsidian Entertainment to create Skyforge which will run as a free to play MMO with a huge world on a single server, and a strong action combat play-style that changes with each class you choose.
Skyforge is a fully realized MMORPG with some great options in how you play the game. When you first see the planet interface on the screen there are lots of locations for you to travel to. Each location is essentially a different style of game play. Some are hubs or major city areas, other areas are PvP zones. The best news was that while many areas were multiplayer with open zones and full raiding areas, there is also a group of solo game play hubs for you to explore. They wanted players to have the option to level up however they want without having to be forced into one type of gameplay. The game is not run as a typical theme park either: the only quest line in the game is the main story. There are areas to explore and NPCs to guide you, but there are no direct quests when you enter a new zone. You must discover everything for yourself. Within zones on the map you will get highlights of areas that might have resources or enemies to battle. The main storyline delivers the history for each zone and world you explore.
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Your character starts as a immortal who must gain followers to truly rise into the pantheon of immortality to godhood. Once you reach god mode, the game is not finished. You then must compete against other invading gods trying to steal your power. Your character goes through a progression system the team will speak more on later, and can unlock classes as you play.
The two classes (of fifteen) we saw during the demo were the Paladin and Cryomancer. The Cryomancer is a mage who wields ice magic to freeze opponents and attacks at range. The Paladin was a strong melee fighter who fought in close. The hotbar and style of each class is completely different. The icons and set up change for each class in the game to really work with the action combat system. Players can unlock classes as they go. Each class is also equipped with unique fatalities to finish of enemies. You can also change your class as long as you are not in combat. During the demo the devs were able to use the class they needed for whatever fight they were going into.
As you explore certain areas and dungeons there will be increased rewards depending on how well you do in them. Some areas might reward better treasure for completing things faster, or not dying at all. The game looks to reward players who excel in battle and use their skills wisely. There are dungeons and raids throughout the zones. Even the single player areas give you boss fights and ways to explore the content.
The game looked far along and played smoothly. The travel interface worked well and players will be able to reach teleport nodes where they can then travel to other areas after going through them. Skyforge will also have full on PvP areas which means players can level up through PvP as well.
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This is only the beginning of our coverage for Skyforge. We got what answers we could during the short demo. We will be moving forward with coverage throughout the year as the team continues development. The game did not have any races other than the human looking mortals just yet. We also had a ton of questions on how the god system worked. However for now the demo focused on the specific gameplay elements to advance your character and combat foes. From what we saw Skyforge had some interesting elements and looked very promising. But there's a whole lot left to be uncovered.
Garrett Fuller / Garrett is the Industry Relations Manager for MMORPG.com. He cosplays as an orc, he hits people with LARP weapons, and loves Adventure Time. You can follow him on Twitter (when he uses it) @Gfulls.
