MMORPG hope for release 2021: Lost ARK
What is Lost Ark? This is a high-profile action MMORPG from an isometric perspective, like Diablo 3. However, it is not a hack-and-slash; rather, it’s a “full featured MMORPG”: the developers compare it to Guild Wars 2.
Lost Ark is characterized by a wild genre mix. You can see that by the classes. There are 18 planned. There are classic fantasy classes like the Berserker or the Summoner, but also classes like from a sci-fi MMORPG with the Scouter.
As an Asia MMORPG, Lost Ark brings a new perspective: this is already evident in the game’s aesthetics. Cowboys walk alongside demons and battle gigantic steampunk mechs.
Lost Ark also brings an interesting perspective to gameplay with its focus on exploring islands and sailing.
Since when have players been looking forward to Lost Ark? In 2014, GameStar published several articles and videos about the game from a presentation at a Korean fair. It seemed that Lost Ark would be the new “Diablo 3” and was almost finished.
That impression was misleading: At that fair, only a “vertical slice” of Lost Ark was shown. In South Korea, games are developed such that an impressive demo is created at the beginning, which looks like a finished game, but then the actual development begins.
Lost Ark was still far from being completed in 2014. However, the demo looked so “complete and polished” back then that a strange phenomenon arose around Lost Ark: players in Germany felt that the game had been finished since 2014 and should come to Germany at any moment. Meanwhile, the developers had gone “dark,” ceasing all contact with the public and developing the game in silence.
This led to frequent comments in sections like ours on MeinMMO, stating: “It’s now definitely too late for Lost Ark.” Fans had been looking forward to the game for years, but it just never came. Now they didn’t want it anymore as they felt the developers had messed it up.
Why is Lost Ark taking so long? Lost Ark has been out in South Korea for 2 years and is now also available in Russia and Japan. However, a port to Europe and Germany apparently posed difficulties for Smilegate: they currently have no infrastructure here.
The European market is presumably not very attractive either, as several Korean MMORPGs have already failed here. From an Asian perspective, Germany is probably seen as the country where new MMORPGs come and die.
Lost Ark: European release for 2021 planned by Amazon
Is it really coming in 2021? The likelihood is high that we will be able to play Lost Ark in Germany in 2021. Amazon will handle the distribution. There is yet to be a specific release date.
However, Lost Ark is already finished as a game and has received a long list of updates. The developers were already looking for people for English translation months ago. So the chances are good that Lost Ark will be released in 2021 in Germany.
What can we expect from Lost Ark? Lost Ark is the most exciting new Asian MMORPG to be released in Europe since Black Desert came in 2016.
It has impressed in South Korea, won awards and generated good buzz. However, it is also not a candidate for game of the year that will overshadow everything else like Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s an MMORPG that players can spend a few hours a day on. It will provide Western players with some new experiences, and it will hit home for some – similar to what Genshin Impact did recently. Others might find nothing to relate to in Lost Ark.
However, every fan of the genre should definitely keep an eye on Lost Ark.
There is a detailed review of Lost Ark from MeinMMO author Irina Moritz. She was able to extensively test the game on the Russian servers.
