Arvita is a fantasy MMORPG that places a strong emphasis on social interaction within groups. What makes it special are the battles against the developers themselves, where players must bring all their skill. The release is planned for 2023.
What kind of game is this? Arvita is an indie MMORPG that was originally announced under the name “Astaria”. It was developed by just one person at the time, and it currently seems that this is still the case. On Discord, at least, there is only the “Creator” and the backers as special roles.
Much about the MMORPG sounds like the usual fare:
- You choose one of six classes for your character.
- You complete quests that have a strong focus on group play. Generally, you should not face any disadvantages when playing as a group.
- There are shared combo attacks that can only be executed as a team.
- Crafting is supposed to play an important role.
- There are dungeons.
- In the endgame, a lot revolves around conquering territories, but not by players, rather by monsters.
However, the game takes a hardcore approach. On one hand, you lose your equipment when you die. To avoid dying, you need to eat and drink, like in a survival game. On the other hand, the developers are supposed to respond to how well the players are progressing and make their lives harder.
The developers refer to this as PvD – Player versus Developer.
You can watch the latest trailer for the game, featuring the area Grand Heart Plains and the class Highlander, here:
Developers intervene, but the game still feels very unfinished after years
How does PvD work? In general, it’s about the developers being able to intervene in the game at any time and change the scenario. If the players get too strong, more enemies or hard bosses can be summoned to push them back.
The monsters also strike back and try to attack the players’ capital.
The system is intended to resemble a dungeon master in pen & paper and at the same time make the game world lively and dynamic. Part of the events is supposed to happen automatically, but the game masters can make adjustments at any time.
How far along is the game in development? For the first time, we reported on Arvita in 2019. In 2020, early testers were able to take a look at the MMORPG. At that time, it was said that much felt very unfinished, that there were bugs and lags, and that the graphics looked more like a standard toolkit rather than a unique game due to Unity.
After the test, it went quiet on Steam, but there were regular updates and smaller showcases on Discord. Communication has increased significantly in recent months. Now, three videos were published on YouTube within three weeks. However, the videos still look unfinished.
Especially the combat system has not been well received in the few comments on the videos on YouTube. It is said to be very static, overloaded in animations, and doesn’t feel impactful at all. There is little hit feedback. The graphics are also perceived as very outdated.
Nevertheless, the Early Access on Steam is supposed to start in 2023 – ideally even directly in January. The game version is supposed to cost 19.99 Euros, and future updates and expansions are to be free. The project is said to have cost the developer about 10,000 dollars over four years. 4,000 of that came back through backers.
What do you think of the project? Do you find the idea of the game master and fighting against PvE mobs interesting? And can an indie developer handle this challenge?
Arvita is currently not the only MMORPG that relies on a game master. War of Dragnorox is also set to be released in 2023:
