In 2009, the MMORPG The Chronicles of Spellborn ended in Europe. The game offered some unique features that still inspire modern MMORPGs. But it could not hold on. Now it is being relaunched.
This MMORPG is about: The Chronicles of Spellborn was released in November 2008 in Europe and was developed by the Danish developers Spellborn Internation. Acclaim Games was the publisher behind the MMORPG.
It followed a kind of freemium model. The game itself was free, but in order to continue playing, you needed playtime, which varied in cost depending on certain levels of premium subscriptions.
Only a little later, in July 2009, The Chronicles of Spellborn was discontinued. In the USA, the servers ran until August 2010, when the game was also ended there.
What Makes the Game So Special
These are the features of the game: The Chronicles of Spellborn wanted to be different from games of its kind. The developers’ goal was to distinguish themselves from the “overused vanilla fantasy setting” and to be “closer to an FPS than to traditional MMORPGs”. (via endgaget)
The game thus featured several elements:
- a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, where the world was destroyed and shattered
- no bonuses from races or equipment
- a combo system for skills
- an active combat system
- three classes: Mage, Warrior, and Rogue, each with three “disciplines”
For its time, the graphics and customization options were also a major plus. Especially the combat system made The Chronicles of Spellborn well-known and even earned it good reviews from the gaming press.
Why Was the MMORPG Ahead of Its Time?
What Makes the MMO Special: In The Chronicles of Spellborn, it doesn’t matter what your character wears. All armor and weapons are cosmetic, and when you obtain new items in dungeons or raids, they simply look different.
Instead, what matters is how well you play. And that is the heart of the game: In combat, you have to aim and use abilities actively with a crosshair using the mouse to hit. You must also actively dodge to avoid getting hit. You improve only through seals, skills, or personal performance.
Also, the abilities determine your strength in combat. You have six ability bars, each with 5 slots, that can be chained into combos.
Active combat system, few skills, and intuitive combos – all features that are associated with modern MMOs like Black Desert Online, Guild Wars 2, or The Elder Scrolls Online.
The Transformation Behind It: What sounds normal today was unusual back then and did not resonate with the zeitgeist. Players during this time especially sympathized with the conventional, semi-turn-based tab targeting system – the one that made World of Warcraft famous. The thirst for something new ignited later.
In the following years, other MMOs like Vindictus adopted the idea of the active combat system. But it wasn’t until TERA released in 2012 that it really achieved major success, and the then-innovative “action combat” found many followers. This was not granted to The Chronicles of Spellborn.
This is the Beta
Who Operates the Beta? After The Chronicles of Spellborn was closed in 2009, there were long efforts from players to revive the game. However, it wasn’t successful, at least until now.
In May 2019, a group of fans launched the project “Spellborn Reborn” in an open beta. Using a code from the Asian version, the team created what they describe as “the best version of The Chronicles of Spellborn ever available”.
How to Participate: If you want to play the game yourself (again), you can simply sign up via the new website of The Chronicles of Spellborn and get involved. There, the operators also provide precise instructions with links to account creation.
For more interaction and discussion about the game, a dedicated Discord server was even set up. Currently, over 100 people are registered there.
The Chronicles of Spellborn is not the only “old” MMORPG that is still popular:
