Tibia is now 22 years old. Nevertheless, fans are still playing it enthusiastically. Two of the fans have taken on a mammoth project and are giving the MMORPG classic a new graphics.
What is Tibia? The MMORPG was developed in 1995 by then-students Stephan Börzsönyi, Guido Lübke, Ulrich Schlott, and Stephan Vogler at the University of Regensburg and was released in January 1997.
The MMORPG Tibia has gained popularity over the years and is still playable today, over 22 years later. It even has a loyal fan base of around 500,000 active players, who keep discovering new things in the game.
Tibia plays like a typical MMORPG. You create a hero, explore the game world together with friends, fight monsters, and improve your character.
The comparison between 2D and 3D
In the video below, you will find the current and completely pixelated 2D gameplay of Tibia.
What does Tibia look like now in 2D? The 2D graphics of Tibia strongly resemble Ultima 6, released in 1990, but with higher resolution and more details.
You control your hero from a top-down perspective through a colorful game world. This graphics now seem outdated, but the fans don’t mind too much. A better look would still be nice.
This is what Tibia looks like in 3D:
This is why the project is impressive: The two Polish players “Fedor” and “Picus” have been working on an ambitious project for over a year. They want to improve the graphics of Tibia.
This means that the 2D visuals will be completely replaced by a 3D engine. This entails that essentially all graphical assets need to be recreated.
Every object, every texture, and every creature must be recreated. It is a gigantic project that has already taken good shape.
The two Tibia fans are working on this project in their spare time. Although Tibia does not look super modern with the new graphics, the graphics are not comparable to those of The Elder Scrolls Online, it still makes a significantly better impression visually.
What does the 3D Tibia look like? Several videos have been released showing how Tibia looks in 3D. Interestingly, the charm and character of the game remain intact.
The videos make a good impression.
The release is still uncertain
When will the graphics update be released? There is currently no release date.
Is the project even allowed to be released? It could be that Tibia developers Cipsoft require the work on the graphics update to be stopped. However, the company has not yet acted against fan projects. For instance, an alternative version of Tibia Online, named Archlight Online, has long existed and is tolerated.
It is therefore conceivable that Cipsoft has no objections to the release of the graphics update for the MMORPG.
