On September 20, 2019, exactly one year ago, the MMORPG Astellia was released in the West. The game received little attention at release and never had large player numbers. However, it has found a niche where it can retain some players.
What kind of game is this? Astellia is a Buy2Play MMORPG by Studio 8 and Barunson E&A. It emphasizes traditional values and was developed in Unreal Engine 3. It offers:
- A classic theme park world in an Asian style.
- 5 different classes.
- The Astels, which meaningfully expand the otherwise monotonous combat system.
- A system with over 700 different achievements and Star’s Tale, a kind of compendium for players to discover everything in the game.
- Many areas, dungeons, and raids for 12 players.
- The PvP area Avalon, reminiscent of the WvW from Guild Wars 2.
Even at release, it was not really loud around Astellia. The game got little attention. The frustration from Bless Online, which came to us from Korea in 2018 and was shut down just before Astellia’s release, still lingered deep. Many were concerned that Astellia would become a second Bless and thus avoided the MMORPG altogether.
But how does the game look 12 months after release? Are there still updates and what do the player numbers say?
Why is it the best MMORPG of 2019? Alongside Astellia, the following games were also released in 2019:
- Kingdom Under Fire 2
- Eternal Magic
- Record of Lodoss War Online
All are MMORPGs, but they performed worse in ratings or player numbers than Astellia. Additionally, WoW Classic and ArcheAge Unchained were released, but we do not consider those as new MMORPGs either.
Closure in Korea, Steam release, and new updates
What is happening with Astellia? 2019 ended with a bang for the MMORPG, as the official servers in its home Korea closed. Nexon, the publisher in Korea, ordered the shutdown.
However, in the West, Barunson E&A managed the distribution and quickly took in the remaining players from Korea. They now play together with the Western players on our servers.
With the start of 2020, Astellia was released on Steam, hoping to gain a new influx of players. After 14 days, the player numbers were modest, but the rating was 73% positive. However, that was not enough for the top 10:
Throughout the year, several events were launched where Astellia could be played for free for a limited time. The developers still adhere to the Buy2Play system, with no sign of a switch to Free2Play.
What changes have been made recently? In June, the developers revised the daily quests and bosses because the community complained about monotony.
In July, the PvP world Avalon was revamped. Additionally, several contests were held with players who could submit videos or drawings to earn in-game rewards.
In August, a new equipment tier was introduced, Tier 3 of the legendary items. This is created by combining items from the legendary dungeons. Accordingly, new dungeons with higher difficulty levels were also released in August.
A new event is planned for September in honor of the birthday, where you can earn more currencies, receive more XP, and teleport for free (via Astellia).
The curiosity Astellia Royale: Recently, the closed beta for “Astellia Royale” started in Korea. However, it is the same game, just with slightly altered technology (via MMORPG.org.pl).
Support for blockchain has been introduced, which is supposed to ensure that the items found belong to the player. The same technology is also used by the sandbox MMORPG Ember Sword.
A release of Astellia Royale is not currently planned for us.
Is Astellia still worth it?
What do the player numbers say? Although there are no official player numbers for Astellia, at least the users on Steam can be determined. The Steamcharts website reveals that in the last 30 days, there were an average of 463 players online, with a peak of 740 simultaneously.
This means Astellia has around 2/3 of the numbers it had at Steam release, but it achieved a significant increase in August, which is now slowly fading. This, in turn, may be related to the free weekend event.
What do the players say? In the forum, players are currently rather quiet. Only in a few threads is there still discussion about current content. The mood on Steam has also shifted somewhat. Now, only about 69% of the 1,319 reviews are positive.
The reviews confirm the image that has been prevailing since Astellia’s release:
- The game has hardly any new features or special traits that set it apart from existing MMORPGs.
- There is no Pay2Win in the shop and the prices are reasonably fair.
- The story is very simple.
- The population is okay, but not excessively large.
- The dungeon tickets in the endgame are criticized, as they prevent constant re-run of the legendary dungeons.
- The graphics are okay, but there are definitely prettier MMORPGs.
- There is still a gender lock, which was supposed to be removed at launch, but was only applied to 2 out of 5 classes.
Who is Astellia interesting for? Anyone looking for a classic MMORPG where they can quest at their leisure, follow a linear story, and hack through dungeons will find Astellia to be the right place. However, do not expect graphic wonders, action-packed combat, or special innovations. These were never promised at launch either.
You can gain insight into the game Astellia in my report from September 2019, where I summarized what I thought of the MMORPG after 20 hours of gameplay.
