With Land of Britain, a new MMORPG is in development, which relies on Kickstarter and is heavily reminiscent of the genre classics Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer.
As a DAOC veteran, I thought of Dark Age of Camelot as soon as I saw the map in the trailer: Three kingdoms on the British island will be at war in the new MMORPG Land of Britain:
- In the south Avalon with the capital Camelot – the realm of humans.
- In the west Talamhria, the realm of elves, goblins, and the old ways.
- And in the north Norsengard, the realm of the Vikings.
In DAOC, the realms were called Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard. Both then and now, a semi-fictional Britain serves as the setting – so at some point, after the Romans left, and long before the Normans came, this story would likely take place, if it were possible with all its peculiarities and fantasy beings.
It was a time when the east coast of Britain was still besieged by Vikings and when everything in the west was so mystical from the perspective of the proto-Britons that fairies and giants could just as well have lived there.
18 Classes, 18 Races, and a Lot of Consequences
Land of Britain is an MMORPG by former “Warhammer Online” and “Ryse: Son of Rome” veterans, so it is said. The biggest goal is set to be “sustainability”. The decisions of players must have consequences. The studio Potato Killer aims to launch a Kickstarter campaign to secure funding. At the moment, first ideas are already emerging, which again strongly remind of Dark Age of Camelot or Warhammer Online.
There will be a constant conflict between the realms. Each of these kingdoms will have its own classes and races (6 classes and races per kingdom, totaling 18).
Craftsmen as Their Own Classes
Unlike the classics, crafting will take a different approach. Here, players will choose to register either as adventurers or as craftsmen right from the start: Craftsmen will be their own class.
The crafting will not, as promised, boil down to constantly spamming the same recipes, but crafting will be a kind of life decision that will be noticeable at every step of the way. Otherwise, there are already some other announcements about the direction they want to take with Land of Britain and what features they have planned. But they sound, in such an early stage, always too good to be true: Every skill point should be noticeable on the individual hero’s journey. Every hero should be able to contribute to the success of their realm. Guilds will vie for the dominion of their respective realm. Everything should be dynamic and in motion.
It Will Take a Long Time Before a First Impression Is Possible
By now, we are all skeptical enough not to give too much heed to the early promises of a new MMORPG, I think. Especially when so little is there and the budget is still so uncertain as here.
Still: Just the idea of playing a game set in Dark Age of Camelot after all these years makes me perk up. In this junction of three such interesting mythologies (Celtic, Nordic, and the strangely Christian-knightly-pagan Arthurian legend), a lot is possible. Even if we will take a long time to get a clear picture of Land of Britain and to get a feel for what production quality they are aiming for.
Especially since players’ (including my) expectations are already so high, one should temper oneself with such a project and not expect too much. Even a “successful” Kickstarter project does not have to meet the industry standard that so many of us expect visually and in detail from a modern MMO.
With Camelot Unchained, a “spiritual successor” to Dark Age of Camelot is already much more imminent. However, it is still hard to say what category it will land in.
This is our beautiful, new MMO world: The big studios are struggling to deliver, and expecting that from small studios and indie concepts is unfair and would be like expecting a miracle. It is impossible to predict whether such projects will have substance.
