Legends of Aria is intended to be a spiritual successor to the MMORPG classic Ultima Online, but that is not enough for fans. They are recreating the world of Britannia with a community server, a kind of Ultima Online 2.
Many fans desire a new Ultima Online (UO), but the rights holder Electronic Arts has not announced anything of the sort and there is nothing to expect. Therefore, fans are looking elsewhere. For instance, towards Shroud of the Avatar or Legends of Aria. It is currently in Closed Beta and could become a kind of modern UO in terms of gameplay.
Ultima Online 2 as a Fan Project in a New MMORPG
For many fans, not only the actual gameplay contributes to the feeling of a new UO, but also the world and the lore. And that is something the developers of Legends of Aria cannot provide for legal reasons – but they offer something else that makes the MMORPG interesting for UO fans: it is possible to create your own worlds with your own rules.
This is where the Stimwalt Studios come in, which are currently recreating the world of Britannia as their own server for Legends of Aria with Legends of Ultima. So this is a fan team, not the actual team of the new MMORPG “Legends of Aria.”
The fan team is focused on capturing the feeling of UO with the right rule set. This includes, among other things:
- The rules system of Ultima Online: The Second Age with some handpicked features from other game versions
- Open PvP with a full-loot system
- No “Trammel” gameplay, where PvP is only possible under limited conditions
- The free housing system of Ultima Online
- Taming of animals, crafting, a player-driven economy
- Hybrid classes like Hally Mage, Parry Mage, Bard Mage
- Britannia as the game world
Ultima Game World Coming Soon
Currently, it is possible to play on a test world that does not yet have the world map of Britannia. This can only be taken over by the developers when the Early Access version launches on Steam in April. This version will allow assets from the Unity editor to be transferred into the game.
The team has already created the world map in this tool and is basically just waiting for it to be transferred into Legends of Aria.
Legends of Ultima aims to come as close as possible to Ultima Online. Whether Electronic Arts ultimately takes action against this project remains to be seen.
The beta of Legends of Aria is already online.
