The Pirate MMO Atlas launched very strongly at the end of 2018, but has since been overwhelmed with negative reviews. The new lead designer admits that the title has issues.
How did Atlas start? In December, the title was able to reach nearly 59,000 concurrent players at launch during the early access phase according to Steamcharts. The pirate scenario with ARK gameplay attracted many players.
What is the situation like now? The tide has turned. During peak times, the MMO now has only around 5,300 concurrent players. The reviews on Steam don’t look good either. As of August 27, Atlas has a rating of 36% and “mostly negative”. However, the situation has improved slightly to 51% in the past 30 days.
Even the mega-update couldn’t bring the necessary upswing.
Many problems, but the team is working on it
What is the problem? There are several issues that players criticize:
- Due to island claiming, bases are vulnerable for 9 hours, which players feel is too long
- PvP servers frustrate. Enemy players can destroy a base overnight
- Atlas continues to be plagued by bugs and performance issues as well as cheaters
What do the developers say? Erik Waananen is the new lead designer of Atlas and has addressed the community in an open letter.
He explains that Atlas had a problem finding its “sea legs”. He admits that the MMO did not provide the best player experience at the beginning and has been struggling to get on its feet since then.
What does the team plan to improve Atlas? Erik Waananen and the other developers are now dedicated to making Atlas the ultimate pirate gaming experience.
However, this will take a lot of time and effort, as he explains. So don’t expect Atlas to improve overnight.
There is already a new update
What’s new already? With the addition of Erik Waananen, an update for Atlas has also been released. This brings a number of changes for the Blackwood mode:
- The entire Atlas experience has been brought together into a single 1×1 server grid
- 7 unique biomes on 11 islands, ranging from swamps to mysterious jungles full of dangers
- Resource-rich islands with all materials from the main game
New cities and remote areas, ideal for role-playing and server events - A new mermaid city ripe for exploration
- A new boss encounter with unpredictable enemies and the snake boss Anacthyon
- The Forbidden Reach: An island in hard mode with elemental creatures
- Other iconic Atlas content such as Army of the Damned mobs, all 9 Power Stone locations, the Fountain of Youth, tamable creatures, and much more
Fans of Atlas can therefore look forward to many changes in the future, hopefully for the better.
