The indie MMO Identity aimed to transport you into a realistic world, similar to Second Life, and make you a drug lord there. It started in Early Access back in 2018, but then disappeared from the scene. Where does this ambitious game stand today?
What is Identity? The MMO strives to be both a game and a life simulation. Similar to the once-popular Second Life. In this, Identity throws you into a world that is supposed to be very close to reality and is set in a fictional America.
Unlike what you are used to from MMOs, you will not encounter orcs, elves, or dwarves, but rather people who walk through cities, do their jobs, and buy houses.
When it comes to gameplay, Identity is also oriented towards the real world:
- You can either join the gangsters or the police. This is crucial for the PvP aspect of the game.
- You should also be able to choose professions and improve in them continuously. Besides normal jobs like cook, there are also drug dealer and trader roles.
- If you pursue the latter, you will start in a small garage with drug production and work your way up to become a known drug lord. The scenario is very inspired by the series Breaking Bad.
- Since you can also buy houses and simulate a life, housing also plays a role in Identity.
You can see a trailer for the MMO here; even though it is over 3 years old, it is the most current one:
The progress so far is rather poor
What happened to the title? The MMO started in Early Access on Steam back in 2018. Initially as a Buy2Play title and very unfinished. The plan was to release Identity in several modules that would expand the base game with new features. Such a system is known from Star Citizen, among others.
- The first module integrated social life. You could explore a city and enter houses. This module was also what was available in Early Access.
- The SWAT module was supposed to bring additional content alongside PvP and shootouts, was planned for 2019, but never came out.
- Additionally, a racing module was supposed to be added to the game in 2020, allowing you to drive vehicles, but that also never materialized.
- The planned release in 2021 was consequently also not met.
- Instead, the developers returned to speak after 2 years of silence in January 2020.
- In a newsletter, they mentioned that there are technical and financial problems, but they still want to finish the game.
- Since that blog post, there has been silence again, until a few days ago.
How is the game perceived? Rather modestly. The Early Access version on Steam is still for sale, but it hasn’t received an update since June 2019. The 553 reviews of the title are currently mostly negative, with only 23% positive ratings.
Taking a look at these reviews quickly reveals that it’s a mix of false expectations and technical issues. The developers do communicate on Steam that this is only a module of the game and that it is not yet finished, yet that is often criticized.
Other users, however, mention technical problems and the fact that the game simply hasn’t been updated for 3 years. Many of the negative reviews lament this, as they still see potential in the game.
Developer speaks up after silence and doesn’t want your money anymore
What does the developer say? On August 14, the developer spoke up for the first time in a long time through his forum and provides a current status of the MMO. And a lot has changed. Despite the current chaos surrounding the game, the studio still wants to finish it, but now in a completely different way than before.
They have now moved the entire game to Unreal Engine 5 and had to rebuild everything from scratch. Furthermore, the developers have discarded the concept of modules and want to release a single, finished game.
They don’t want your money anymore: Additionally, the developer wants to remove the game from Steam and build their own launcher. They further explain in the statement that there were and are money problems during development, but that should no longer be at your expense.
“You guys have really paid enough. You should really not make any more purchases until we have shown more updates about the game. After all the delays, it’s time for us to prove ourselves again.”
Additionally, the community manager writes that in the past years, as a studio, they had to take on and implement smaller projects to finance the game, and soon money from another source should flow into the project. Until then, the game will be removed from Steam in the near future. You can read the entire statement on identityrpg.com.
What do you think of Identity? Will you give the game another chance, or is the entire chaos around the title too exhausting for you? Do you still trust the developer that the game will come out? What do you think about the statement that you shouldn’t buy the game? Feel free to tell us in the comments here at MeinMMO.
