Ghostcrawler and his team presented their new MMORPG codenamed Ghost in a livestream. In about an hour, they explained the main points such as the general gameplay loop, the combat system, the classes, and the orientation of the lore. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What kind of game is this? The new MMORPG from Ghostcrawler, who previously worked on WoW and the LoL MMORPG, is supposed to offer a special mix of theme park and sandbox, and between multiplayer and single-player:
- You start in the game world in a large city. From there, you see dozens of islands in the sky, all of which can be explored. They are divided into two types.
- The Red Shards are typical MMORPG areas. There, you’ll encounter quests, bosses, dungeons, and raids. Here, you are heavily reliant on fellow players, and you will receive the most important upgrade materials.
- The Blue Shards, on the other hand, are bound to you and your group. They are supposed to evoke small survival games. There will also be enemies and bosses, but everything is tied to you. You can build here, shape the shards, and everything you do remains permanent. Each player thus has completely unique worlds.
The gameplay loop is fundamentally about switching between red and blue shards and always completing the task that suits you best. If enough friends are online, you head into the classic MMO areas. If you’re out alone, you can kill solo bosses or do some housing.
The game aims to respect your time as much as possible, emphasized Ghostcrawler in the livestream. Nevertheless, players who want to maximize everything should also get their money’s worth:
- The dungeons and raids in the Red Shards should be oriented towards WoW. There is already a standard in the genre that can be used as a good reference.
- However, the team behind Ghost sees great potential in improving exploration and adventure themes in the open world. Here, they want to break away from the genre leader.
By the way, the shards in the game will not be procedurally generated, as this often leads to soulless and uninteresting areas.
You can watch the recording of the livestream here:
Many classes, many races, and skins that you can proudly showcase
What about the characters in the game? In Ghost, you should be able to choose from a variety of classes. Some are oriented towards traditional play styles like warrior or rogue, while others should be “unusual.”
You will also have various races to choose from, where simple elves and dwarves from the Tolkien universe won’t be copied. Ghost has a completely unique approach, and that should also be reflected in the playable races.
The classes are also tied to different factions. While they do fight among themselves a bit, this is more about hidden side and story aspects. Essentially, you should be able to play with any class and any race.
Generally, the theme of togetherness is very important to the studio. You should be able to play cross-server with friends without much effort.
What about the skins? The appearance of characters was particularly important in old MMORPGs. In Ghost, this should be the case again. There will be skins with which you can “peacock.” You should be able to stand proudly like a peacock in the big capital and let other players admire you.
However, you won’t get to the rarest skins just like that. You need a lot of talent, time, and a bit of luck. “We think exclusivity is cool,” emphasized Ghostcrawler on this topic.
Story in chapters and a hybrid combat system
What has been revealed about the story? The story in the game is supposed to be told in various chapters and will later continue just like that. The role of our hero is supposed to be more comparable to the story of Destiny.
You belong to an elite crew that is stronger than the average NPC. However, you are not the only chosen one, which is also nonsense in an MMO setting, emphasized the developers. After all, there would then be hundreds or thousands of chosen ones just walking around next to you.
You can check out a quick summary of the game here:
What else has been revealed? Ghost relies on a hybrid combat system. Players are used to pressing the tab key on the PC to select the next mob, which they do not want to change.
However, the team wants to provide controller support and bring a certain level of dynamism into the game. One topic is soft-lock, so you only need to aim close, but can guarantee hitting an enemy.
Regarding the art style, it was only said that they are still in a finding phase but do not want to become too “cartoony.”
First content should be testable in 2023
What visual material has been seen so far? Not much. Mostly concept arts and some sketches of ideas were shown. There has been no gameplay in the form of a video yet.
However, the website is supposed to be adjusted this year so that you can sign up for tests. It was mentioned in the livestream that the first test groups will be rather small. “Not everyone will be able to test the game this year,” explained Kristina Swanenburg.
That alone already sounds impressive for a studio that was only founded in spring 2023.
In general, however, the game is supposed to be developed strongly in collaboration with fans. There should be surveys on content, players should be involved in small focus groups in the development, and there should be many playtests.
Who is behind the game? The head of the studio is Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street. He was the lead designer at WoW from February 2008 to December 2013. After that, he moved to Riot Games, where he first worked on LoL and later on the upcoming LoL MMORPG as a lead.
Part of his team includes:
- Brian Holinka, who worked on WoW from August 2012 to June 2023,
- Candace Thomas, who worked at Blizzard from 2009 to 2020 and then at Amazon
- Graham Berger, who was a game designer at Blizzard from 2013 to 2023
- Bart Tiongson, an artist who created the concept arts for Orcs Must Die!
What do you think of the new project Ghost? Does this MMORPG appeal to you?
Although Ghost will not be released next year, there are some other highlights:
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