Cortyn is currently sinking into RimWorld, enslaving children, hating men, and subjugating all with mind control. It’s a great game.

If I’m not currently sinking into World of Warcraft or imagining that I will definitely become good at Overwatch 2 one day, I enjoy spending time on pleasant single-player games where you can sink for hours and days. So exactly what’s right to fill the time between the years.

I realize that I’m a bit “late to the party” with RimWorld, as the game has been out for quite a while. Until now, I have avoided such games, but a friend convinced me to give it a chance – and that was a damn good decision.

To summarize: RimWorld is a “colony simulation.” You crash on a strange planet with a few people and have to build a camp from sparse resources, conduct research, and accumulate more possessions to perhaps one day return to the stars – or simply subjugate the whole planet. Explaining all the details would probably be way too extensive.

The Colony of Succubi

Let me tell you about my colony. As usual, I start with three colonists, clicking on “generate randomly” a few times until I have three somewhat different characters – or ones that amusingly fit well together.

May I present? My trio of women who will now make history:

• Cortyn: A woman with high intelligence (humility has always been my forte), a passion for constructing buildings, who also loves to cook but will never do menial labor or nurse someone. Also, she has the trait “Macabre.”
• Bettevere: A young woman called to artistic pursuits and with high social skills. Also, she hates men.
• Carolyn: An older woman with the drawback of being “very ugly,” but she has a great passion for medicine, a good starting skill in mining, and can also handle plants solidly.

RimWorld always starts with the three colonists crashing in a location of my choice. So I choose a somewhat habitable area and let the escape pods crash there.

The first 10 minutes of a RimWorld game are spent on the “boring” settings. I define who will be responsible for which tasks and the priority with which they should be handled. For instance, I set that fires must always be extinguished with the highest priority, closely followed by tending to the injured. After that, I create more precise priorities for the individual colonists.

• So my Cortyn should prioritize construction tasks first, focusing on cooking afterwards.
• Bettevere takes on crafting items, carries necessary materials from A to B, and takes care of cleaning.
• Carolyn should toil in the mines, cultivate the fields, and if necessary, provide medical care.

Many fine adjustments are still made:

• What food should the colonists eat?
• Should drugs be freely consumed?
• Which weapons do the individual characters use?
• What kind of medicine are they carrying?
• At what time do they sleep and when do they work?

It makes sense to set this comprehensively at the beginning, so that afterwards you can have some peace.

After the tasks are distributed, things move quickly. The materials from the crash are gathered while chopping down trees begins, so that the first house can be constructed.

• After a day, the first shelter is completed.
• On day 2, each woman has her own bed, her own room, and even light.
• On day 3, the first potato field is sown. Additionally, my colony decides that Cortyn is a good leader (of course, she is!) and they will now call themselves “Succubi.”
• On day 4, research on electricity begins and a kitchen is built.

This is how my colony slowly but surely grows and thrives. I am not doing this for the first time, so I am a bit quicker. Soon I had researched technology to store solar energy in batteries, create a cold room for food preservation, and install heaters since winter is already approaching.

Obedience through Mind Control

The tasks are well distributed, it’s “going smoothly” until I finally get a quest. I am to keep a prisoner for a nearby empire for a few days. As a reward, I receive honor and thus a title that also brings “Psy Powers. “

A few days fast-forward:

I have accepted many missions for the empire. Guarded slaves, supported important leaders during attacks, or sheltered refugees who have showered me with honor.

This gave my Cortyn various titles and also Psy Powers. This is kind of like magic in RimWorld. The Psy Powers you receive are random, but it couldn’t have gone better. Because instead of receiving some meaningful combat skills, Cortyn got abilities suitable for the leader of the Succubi:

• Word of Love: One colonist falls in love with another, which very likely leads to a relationship.
• Word of Joy: One colonist is very happy for 7 days and therefore willing to work, but during that time loses 20% consciousness.

From now on, Cortyn could simply suppress every bad mood with “magic.” Morale in the camp was kept high, but my little ruler became increasingly arrogant. She herself worked less and less, only wanted the finest food, and preferred to meditate on her throne (yes, she wanted a throne).

Or to put it another way: Cortyn became a dictatorial sole ruler who simply waved away rebellious behavior.

A runaway child was quickly taken in by the camp. Unfortunately, it was a boy and this would lead to problems with Bettevere in the long run because she hates men. So, after considering all relevant voices ( = the women), it was decided to enslave the child for now and assign him to mining and field work. At least the child had low expectations and even a passion for plants. I was almost kind.

By the way, the anti-male sentiment in the colony grew and spread to Cortyn as well. Therefore, the boy was also not given a name. He simply remained “the child” and was now on a steep career path to become the best farmer and miner – at least, if you disregard such insignificant details as “wage,” “leisure,” or “a warm bed.”

A Sudden End – When It Goes Wrong, It Goes Wrong

RimWorld is one of those games where you still learn something after dozens of hours and always discover something new. Mostly because something goes wrong spontaneously and severely. That’s how it went for me with the Succubi.

Because while my Cortyn wallowed all day on the throne in her (magically enforced) undisputed superiority, the shaping of the child happened ever faster. The continuous field work and digging in the mines brought rapid progress, so the child could soon replace adults in their areas. No one could harvest potatoes faster, and no one was better at clearing stones and mining ore.

Yet my ruler’s hunger for power posed other problems. Because with increasing strength, my Cortyn wanted also more exclusivity. A larger, more magnificent throne room that would make others pale with envy.

Good, we can work on that. So I ordered that a small mountain near the camp should be flattened. I needed space for my new throne room, so space had to be created.

The child and Carolyn set to work and kept drilling through the stone. While I was already commissioning several statues to praise Cortyn’s glory from Bettevere, suddenly the alarm sound went off, along with several messages:

• “Colonist needs rescue: Carolyn”
• “Ritual option: Burial of the child”.

What.

A bit incredulous, I paused the game, let the camera pan to the mountain, and tried to comprehend what had actually happened. The mountain that I had the two diligent miners excavating had collapsed on top of them. The child was completely crushed by the rock, and a corpse cannot be recovered. Carolyn survived the incident but is bleeding out – and was the only doctor in the camp.

Apparently, RimWorld forgot to tell me in the last 20 hours that mountains can collapse if you don’t support them enough with pillars and hollow them out from the inside. Well, in retrospect, that is quite logical, but I hadn’t known that.

Another lesson learned, and it only cost a child. Fair trade.

Especially the last DLC brought many more bizarre possibilities to RimWorld:

After a deep breath, I come to terms with the fact that the child is lost and thereby my plans to turn him into a full-fledged work slave later. At least I might save Carolyn. So I send Bettevere to rescue the old woman and tend to her.

But RimWorld wouldn’t be RimWorld if it simply allowed that. Halfway to the rescue action comes the next message: “Raid!”

Of course. Of course, I am now being attacked by 4 raiders with assault rifles and grenades, who also enter the map dangerously close to the collapsed mountain and immediately begin their attack. In my mind, I calculate whether I can still save the situation. With a bit of luck, Bettevere would reach Carolyn in time, and Cortyn would arrive there to call for reinforcements from the empire – they still owed me a favor.

But “luck” is definitely something you can’t rely on in RimWorld. Although Bettevere manages to reach Carolyn and can also pick her up, the attackers are already too close. Bullets from rifles fly around Bettevere’s ears, and she collapses just before Cortyn, instantly dead. Carolyn falls from Bettevere’s arms and bleeds out a second later at the feet of her great ruler.

For a brief moment, I still see Cortyn in a good mood, because her “Macabre” trait comes into play: “I saw a corpse today. That’s so exciting!” This increases her mood by 20 points and makes her very satisfied.

It’s probably better this way, because the next shot from the attacker’s assault rifle is a headshot and ends my little colony’s existence, into which I had poured over 20 hours.

I love this game and I equally hate it so much. A building game with random factors that create such funny, exciting, and brilliant stories, which can, on the other hand, be crushing and frustrating. I believe I will never get enough of it.

And of course, I won’t make such mistakes in my next colony … definitely.

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Metin2 is an MMORPG from 2005 developed by WebZen/Ymir and published by Gameforge. Many of you probably played it back then, including MeinMMO author Anny Bader. But was the game really good?

What kind of game is this? Metin2 is a F2Play MMORPG from Korea. At the start of the game, you choose your character from 5 classes and join one of three kingdoms that are in conflict with each other.

The aim of the game is to level up your character and improve your equipment. This can only be accomplished through an everlasting grind.

You kill monsters and farm the so-called Metin stones, which the kingdoms are “oppressed” by according to the story (I never quite understood exactly how that happens). In any case, you can hit these colorful, smoky things and receive loot. Gradually, more and more monsters come out until the stone is broken and drops some items.

There are also quests in Metin2. At first, they make you run between NPCs on the first two maps, but later they turn into endless grinding when it comes to finding and defeating 50 rare monsters. The story is very boring and is overlooked by most players.

Is Metin2 still around? Yes. There are even a few real players among the numerous bots. However, the MMORPG will leave Steam in August and can only be played through its own client after that. It still receives updates to this day.

In the video from MMOHuts, you can see the gameplay of Metin2:

Leveling and Grinding took ages, Shop Items made it bearable

Many of us played and loved it, but Metin2 really isn’t a good MMORPG. Back then, I would come home from school and sit at my laptop for hours to grind in Metin2.

You could make progress even without spending money, but Metin2 still places a strong focus on Pay2Win aspects:

• Leveling takes forever from level 30, and those who don’t own an EXP ring have to grind much longer. We leveled first on Map1, then Map2, the starter maps with the easier monsters. Later, we went to the middle of the Orc Valley, where the black orcs provided a lot of experience points. From level 40, you could enter the Demon Tower to level up a bit. If that didn’t help anymore, you could go to the Spider Dungeon.
• If you wanted to gather significantly more experience points, you had to continue to the Spider Dungeon 2. For that, you needed a special access ticket, which was only available in the real money shop. Fortunately, the tickets are tradeable now, but we used to have to spend Dragon Coins (DR) for them.
• The Cave of Exile, where the monsters provided more EXP, only came much later. Nevertheless, some players managed to reach level 99, the maximum level. In Spider Dungeon 2, which is suitable up to around level 80, the grind was an incredible torment – no matter how many EXP rings you had.
• There wasn’t an auto-fight mode back then. Now there is, but only if you pump in money.
• If you wanted decent loot while farming, especially from the Metin stones, you needed the Thief’s Glove. An item that also comes from the DR shop. This significantly increased the loot dropped from the stones.
• To have the best equipment, your gear needed certain bonuses. There were items in the item shop to add random bonuses and others to randomly change bonuses.

Unfortunately, the developers leaned too far into Pay2Win and monetized every aspect of the game. Even with the mentioned items, it took a long time to make progress, but without them, the grind was unbearable.

Especially Pay2Win-oriented is also the new MMORPG Diablo Immortal.

EVERYTHING can fail and frustrate you

Metin2 also relies heavily on luck aspects, which is why it had a high addiction potential. Will my skill book or my item for the biologist work? Will my equipment get the bonuses I want? Will my horse quest succeed, or did I ride through the desert for nothing?

Everything in this game could fail. Really everything. Particularly frustrating was the enhancement of equipment. Up to +4, the upgrades were secure, after that, the chance sank with each level, up to a maximum of +9. With the higher levels, the blacksmith required increasingly expensive materials, for which you first had to farm certain monsters.

Among the required materials were various pearls, which were only available through fishing or on the market. So, it was a matter of eternally fishing, hoping to get a shell, and then hoping that a pearl comes out of the shell. Often, the shell contained either nothing or a piece of stone. Alternatively, the pearls could be bought for Yang, the in-game currency, on the market.

If the enhancement failed, the item was destroyed, and you had to go farm for a new one. The blacksmith was probably the most hated NPC in Metin2.

However, the moment something worked made us even happier. Perhaps that’s why many were so invested in Metin2. Everything annoys you, but eventually, the blacksmith enhances your weapon to +9, and your skill rises to the level of Grandmaster 1.

In the video, you can see 5 old MMORPGs that are still being played:

Body Warriors were way too OP

The original 4 classes of Metin2 were Warrior, Sura, Shaman, and Ninja. There wasn’t a classic Holy Trinity of Healer, DD, and Tank, although Shamans were considered the closest thing to support since the other classes could benefit from their buffs.

At level 4, you had to go to the skill master and choose one of two specializations:

• Body or Mental Warrior
• Magic or Weapon Sura
• Heal or Dragon Shaman
• Melee or Ranged Ninja

The differences between the classes were massive, and if you wanted to be good in PvE as well as PvP, you had to choose a Warrior.

• The Mental Warrior was incredibly tanky and therefore almost never died.
• The Body Warrior dealt the most damage and was simply much better than the other classes.
• Dragon Shamans were only suitable for buffing, which is why almost every player opened a second client to level their Shaman in a separate window. My first character was a Dragon Shaman, and I was very sad when I had to realize that the class was simply unplayable because it dealt no damage.
• Weapon Sura were good all-rounders in PvE as they dealt a lot of damage and simultaneously had good defense. However, they were completely useless in PvP.
• In PvP, Magic Sura, Ranged Ninja, and Heal Shaman were quite good, and when properly skilled, they had a chance against the Warriors.

Unfortunately, there was no way around the Warrior if you really wanted to excel in Metin2. It was a pity because I thought my Dragon Shaman was really cool.

The community was (mostly) nice to me

What you can say about Metin2 is that it has a helpful community. People still talked to each other, unlike today’s MMORPGs where everything runs through a dungeon finder that automatically assigns you to a group.

I was a member of various guilds where players supported each other and chatted nicely in Teamspeak every evening. Discord didn’t exist back then.

Also, the so-called DT runs, meaning ascents in the Demon Tower, brought us together. Together with a group, you fought through many monsters to ultimately improve an item with a special blacksmith who required no upgrade materials.

Of course, there were also nasty players who tried to steal my Metin stone. Or players from opposing kingdoms who simply killed me. But most people in Metin2 were really friendly.

Is it still worth it today? Those who want to take a nostalgic look at Metin2 should definitely do so. But I wouldn’t play it seriously today. I loved it and spent about 2000 hours playing back then, but I have to admit that it’s a rather bad MMORPG.

Some things have been improved by the developers, but the focus is still heavily on Pay2Win aspects. Warriors are still OP, and the Lycan certainly doesn’t help as a 5th class, especially since it’s almost worse than the other classes.

Furthermore, numerous accounts are still being hacked to this day. So, those who farmed particularly good equipment always had to expect to be hacked and cleared out. Gameforge has not improved this problem to this day.

For example, they try to ban cheaters, but last year they made a mistake in doing so.

Do you feel the nostalgia? What do you think of Metin2 in general? Did you play it back then, or are you maybe even playing it today? Do you believe that Gameforge can still save the MMORPG and make it playable again one day? Feel free to write us in the comments here on MeinMMO!

Are you looking for an MMORPG but don’t want to start any of the big classics? There are also good MMORPGs that hardly anyone knows: 5 strong MMORPGs on Steam that you should know about

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Are you a true MMORPG expert and want to prove your knowledge? Test yourself in our quiz and tell us which game you see in the screenshot.

Even though MMORPGs are usually the type of games that demand most of your time, there are many genre lovers who play several of them simultaneously. A few of you have surely tried hundreds of MMORPGs over the years and have seen them from the inside. You feel comfortable and at home in the entire genre or are still looking for the MMORPG that suits you.

As a result, many enthusiasts are exceptionally knowledgeable in the world of online role-playing games and have gathered a wealth of knowledge about them, but do you belong to the true MMORPG experts? Test yourself in our quiz and tell us which game you see in the screenshot.

This is how the quiz works: In the quiz in the box below, you will find a total of 15 screenshots from various MMORPGs. Among them are a few very well-known titles and some games that only true experts should recognize. But you will always see a shot directly from the game itself.

Based on this one image, you must then tell us which game you actually see. You will have 5 answer options provided for each. At the end of the quiz, you will receive an evaluation based on how many MMORPGs you identified correctly.

Some of the screenshots show titles that you may have never heard of. We have also included a few particularly tricky images. Try your luck, analyze the images carefully, and maybe you’ll become the MMORPG god.

Have fun with the quiz!

How many of the screenshots did you recognize correctly? Were they all easy for you, or did you sweat a bit on some titles? Feel free to tell us in the comments what result you achieved and how you found the quiz overall.

If you like it a bit crazier, you can also try to see if you can recognize these 15 multiplayer games just based on emojis.

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