With Mortal Online 2, a new MMORPG has launched on Steam this week. It follows a hardcore approach and focuses primarily on PvP and sandbox fans. Shortly after the launch, the player numbers skyrocketed, and the reviews are mostly positive.
What kind of game is it? Mortal Online 2 is a sandbox MMORPG that focuses on freedom and PvP. It features a unique combat system reminiscent of For Honor. You determine the direction of your attack or block using the mouse. If an attack comes from the right and you block left, you will still be hit with full force. This requires a lot of practice, as we had to learn the hard way.
In addition to the challenging first-person combat system, Mortal Online 2 also implements full loot. This means you lose all your equipment when you die. As open PvP is possible in almost every area, this loss can happen quite frequently.
Mortal Online 2 offers you the following content:
- A very detailed character editor where you create a character with your desired attributes from various bloodlines
- A focus on equipment, as it determines your playstyle – there are no classes
- A deep crafting system for your item production
- Free trade between players
- A completely open game world
- Non-instanced housing
- Dungeons that you can find in the open world and enter with a group
The game also impresses with its beautiful graphics and aims to be “especially immersive.”
How is the game funded? Mortal Online 2 uses a rather costly funding model. You must purchase the base game first for 34 euros, and then subscribe to a monthly plan. However, the first month is included with the purchase of the game.
This video from YouTuber Megxx Gaming gives you an insight into the MMORPG:
Nearly 8,000 players at peak, despite subscription and Buy2Play
How is the game performing? Mortal Online 2 already launched in Early Access in November 2021, but could only attract just over 2,000 concurrent players then. Since the official release on January 25, the numbers have skyrocketed:
- On release day, up to 7,500 players were registered simultaneously at 10:00 PM German time.
- The peak was surpassed on Wednesday with 7,898 players.
It is very likely that the peak will be even higher over the weekend, as most new MMORPGs usually hit their peak on the first Sunday after release.
With nearly 8,000 players, Mortal Online 2 has significantly surpassed the previous player record of its predecessor Mortal Online (released in 2015). Back then, only 1,172 people played the MMORPG concurrently at peak.
Praise for combat system and game world, criticism for performance and crafting
What do players say about Mortal Online 2? Currently, the hardcore MMORPG has 1,209 reviews, with 75% being positive. This is a good value for an indie game that also focuses on PvP and full loot.
The positive voices praise:
- The active, but very unusual combat system. The user Zaferberger also describes it as a mix between the combat system of Mount and Blade and the sandbox of Ultima Online after over 100 hours (via Steam).
- The size of the world map.
- The beautiful graphics.
- Well-designed dungeons.
- Several users praise the fishing in the game. The user Jubeii even calls it the best system he has ever seen in a video game (via Steam).
However, some users praise and warn at the same time that the MMORPG is not for theme park fans. You have to invest hours to understand the game, and also constantly expect to lose everything. Although the tutorial is now reported to be very detailed, players can feel a bit lost afterwards. Many therefore recommend quickly finding a guild to make connections.
Furthermore, communication between developers and the community is said to be very good, and new content is expected to be implemented every two weeks.
However, there are also some negative reviews about the game:
- There are still performance issues, especially players outside the EU complain about high latency (via Steam).
- The community is reportedly quite toxic already. This is a common issue in PvP games.
- The crafting system is said to be rather boring, as the gathering process is designed quite carelessly (you simply hit with your weapon) and the processing and crafting consist merely of “boring mouse clicks” (via Steam).
There is also criticism of the funding model, as some users would like to play, but are not willing to spend so much money on a PvP MMORPG. The combat system has also been described as too slow or boring by some reviews, although tastes do clearly differ here.
Have you already tried Mortal Online 2? Does the MMORPG appeal to you in general or do full loot or other game content immediately discourage you? Feel free to write it in the comments.
In early January, another MMORPG called Chimeraland was released, focusing mainly on various playable races:
New MMORPG has launched – Lets you play the craziest beast creatures
