Even more competition for Diablo 4 – 2022 should finally see the new “75 million €” MMORPG come out

For 10 years, “Project TL” (formerly: Lineage Eternal) has been in development. The game is finally set to be released in 2022, with a release also planned for Europe. The MMORPG is expected to become an action role-playing game and resembles titles like Lost Ark or Diablo 4 due to its isometric perspective.

What kind of game is this?

• Lineage is the largest MMORPG series in South Korea. It is similar to what WoW is for us. “Project TL” is set to be the third part of the series after Lineage 1 and 2 and will be a full-featured MMORPG with an isometric perspective.
• The game has undergone a significant development. It was originally announced in 2011 as “Lineage Eternal,” a hybrid title for PC and mobile. The game was long considered to be the great future hope of struggling NCSoft. However, because mobile games from the Lineage series generated a lot of money for NCSoft, the pressure to release Lineage Eternal quickly diminished.
• Lineage Eternal was already quite advanced in 2017 and was on the brink of a worldwide release, but was then pulled back at the last moment. The “gimmick” of the game was that you controlled a group of multiple characters and could switch between the characters. “Lineage Eternal” was perceived as very grindy.

“Project TL” has been fundamentally revised and further developed since 2017, receiving new leadership, a new engine, and a new team. Little is known about this “new version,” Project TL. Only a trailer has been released, which is already a few years old. Since then, there have been ongoing discussions about extensive internal testing.

The game is said to have cost over 75 million euros and is planned for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

Worldwide simultaneous release planned for the second half of 2022

Here’s what NCSoft says now: After years of silence, there was now a clear statement about Project TL in NCSoft’s financial report:

For new games from NC, including Project TL, we aim for a simultaneous worldwide release. Although it is well known that NC’s flagship is an MMORPG, we are trying to develop various genres and series to expand our global customer base. We aim to become a global multi-platform company that publishes Mobile, PC, and console players in the long term.

NCSoft’s CFO Hong

They plan the worldwide simultaneous release for Project TL for the second half of 2022.

Project TL is also set to be released for PS5, Xbox Series X

What does this mean? These are statements that NCSoft has repeatedly made: They want to develop every new game they make for PC also for “consoles,” meaning Xbox and PlayStation, because they want to enter the global market.

Additionally, games are supposed to be released simultaneously in South Korea, the USA, and Europe.

However, they have been saying this for years without really relevant games being released. The last game from NCSoft that really came to Europe was discontinued after a short time.

Is there an exact date? NCSoft does not provide a specific date. However, there is a leak from the service “Geforce Now” that indicates the release of Project TL for July 21, 2022. This could be a placeholder date.

More on the topic

So wollen Project TL und Lost Ark das PC-MMORPG retten

von Schuhmann

What does this mean for Diablo 4?? It is an absurd situation: Fans of hack-and-slash games have been waiting for a long time for new entries in the genre, as the extremely popular Diablo 3 received only one expansion and was treated rather dismissively.

Now it seems that 2022 will be the year of the “action MMORPG” in the style of Diablo. Because alongside Project TL, Lost Ark is also sure to be released in 2022. Additionally, Path of Exile 2 is gearing up.

The release of Diablo 4 is still years away. Blizzard recently pushed it back further; it will not be released in 2022. It is quite possible that fans of the isometric perspective will have already found a new favorite by the time Diablo 4 is released.

However, Lost Ark and Project TL are rather “classic MMORPGs,” albeit with an action focus and the isometric perspective that is unusual for us.

Three major AAA MMORPGs were actually planned for 2021, including Project TL. In the end, only one really made it to be released in the intended timeframe:

3 new AAA MMORPGs that are finally set to be released in 2021 (No, really!)