Astellia (September 29, 2019 – October 29, 2021)
Genre: MMORPG | Developer: Barunson E&A | Platforms: PC | Payment Model: Buy2Play, later Free2Play
What kind of game was it? Astellia was a traditional theme park MMORPG from Asia. At launch, you had the choice of 5 classes, with which you followed a linear story centered around the battle of good versus evil. In its combat system, Astellia implemented tab-targeting.
The highlight of the MMORPG were the Astels, which were small magical companions that could take on roles of tanks, healers, or DPS. You could collect and level them up.
Otherwise, Astellia relied on classic MMORPG content such as:
- Dungeons, some of which were also woven into the storyline, and legendary dungeons with higher difficulty levels
- World bosses
- Avalon, a PvP area with 300v300v300 battles
- A simple crafting system
- A achievements system and a compendium for completing areas
What led to its failure? Astellia had few fans from the start. This was also because it was announced just after the discontinuation of Bless Online. The trust in Asian MMORPGs was understandably shaken at that point.
Additionally, Astellia did not really advertise any innovations or new features; it simply aimed to implement old concepts correctly and without pay-to-win. However, the extremely linear story and somewhat boring gameplay were major issues. The sometimes very childish Astels also created problems.
In the end, Astellia simply could not attract enough players and could not sustain itself financially. In 2021, there were barely 250 players at peak, but by June, the numbers had dropped to under 50 players (via SteamDB). During this period, there were also no significant updates anymore. In August, the discontinuation was then announced.
What are the best memories? Astellia was capable of shining mainly with the Astels. You could summon up to 3 at a time but had to manage your resources accordingly. This added more strategy to battles, especially in the legendary dungeons.
To exemplify this, we embedded this dungeon video from YouTuber bowchicabowwow.
Personally, my best memory is the gamescom 2019 when I got to speak with the then head for the western release, Wes Conner. He was a real MMO fan and had some great ideas. In the conversation itself, we talked more about the genre in general than about Astellia. Unfortunately, the game couldn’t live up to what he wanted to implement.
Are there alternatives or successors? There are several classic theme park MMORPGs available. Swords of Legends Online, Blade & Soul, and Final Fantasy XIV are probably the best matches in terms of art style and combat style.
Other interesting Asian MMORPGs can be found in this list:
