Snail Games shows the first scenes of their “Dark and Light” remake in the debut trailer of the online role-playing game.
The Chinese developer Snail Games (e.g. Age of Wulin) officially announced at the China Joy Expo 2016 that they will release the sandbox MMORPG “Dark and Light” later this year. The game is characterized by its large, fully simulated, and thus lifelike game world, where even the smallest changes can have an impact on the entire world.
Wait a minute! Dark and Light, wasn’t there something?
Yes, there was something! Long before the current indie-sandbox revival driven by games like “Shroud of the Avatar” and “Albion Online“, the developer NPCube was already working in 2006 to shake up the MMO market with “Dark and Light” at a time when everyone else was chasing after “World of Warcraft“.
The project was extremely ambitious and was supposed to feature a gigantic 40,000 square kilometer realistic game world, in which the weather, as well as the animal and plant life, were to be fully simulated. In addition to housing, the creation of entire cities and kingdoms as well as control over entire areas was planned. A number of great-sounding features that likely inspired the creators of the new Permadeath-Sandbox MMO “Chronicles of Elyria” show some similarities.
In the end, it all turned out to be a bit too ambitious for the time, as the game suffered from technical problems and many bugs from the beginning. Otherwise, the game fell short of expectations on all levels and was derided as a glorified weather simulation. Eventually, players gradually disappeared until the servers were shut down in 2008 after a lost lawsuit.
Like a phoenix from the ashes
Ten years later, “Dark and Light”, along with its once-promised features, is set to rise again. The Chinese developer and publisher Snail Games secured the rights in 2008 and began development on a reboot.
While the features remain the same, quite a few changes have also occurred. The Unreal Engine 4 now powers the game, and it shows, as the game looks more magnificent than ever in the trailer.
But not only has technology changed significantly. “Dark and Light” also gets a new story and is now set in a world full of magic and multiple universes. Three new races and a third PvP faction are also part of the changes.
