Chronicles of Elyria
Genre: Sandbox MMORPG | Developer: Soulbound Studios | Platform: PC | Release Date: Originally 2019, now none | Model: Buy2Play with subscription
What is Chronicles of Elyria? In this sandbox MMORPG, you will die; that is a fact. Upon death, you lose your hero. Chronicles of Elyria relies on an interesting gameplay concept. Your character ages and eventually passes away. However, you can inherit everything you have achieved to a successor.
During your lifetime, you will explore a vast fantasy realm, fight monsters, or build a craftsperson’s existence, such as becoming one of the greatest blacksmiths in the land. You can even become the king of your own realm.
How has the development progressed so far? The development of Chronicles of Elyria began over 20 years ago. In 2000, Jeromy “Caspian” Walsh started working alone on a concept for a new MMORPG. Until 2015, he was still developing the game without a team.
In 2016, a Kickstarter campaign raised almost $1.4 million for what became the assembled development team. At that time, it was said that Chronicles of Elyria would be released at the end of 2017. In 2017, the developers released a new roadmap that pushed the release to the end of 2019. However, this date was also not met.
In March 2020, the bad news followed. All employees had to be laid off due to a lack of funds for development. This was followed by criticism directed at the last remaining team member, studio founder Jeromy Walsh. There was even a wave of lawsuits from players who invested a lot of money and felt cheated.
Jeromy Walsh then explained that he is working alone on the MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria and is doing everything possible to still release it. However, players suspect that this is merely a delaying tactic to prevent lawsuits.
Why might the release never happen? It seems that the developers have completely overestimated their capabilities with this MMORPG. It is unlikely that one person can finish developing an MMORPG.
Without a large team and solid financing, it seems like we may never be able to play Chronicles of Elyria.
