With the upcoming update, the MMORPG Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) introduces zombie children that you will fight in masses.
The zombie children are attacking!
Children as monsters! The update R54, which will be released on May 31, brings new enemies to the online RPG that started at the end of March. These are zombie children. The undead plague on the fantasy continent Novia does not spare the little ones. You will therefore have to deal with zombie children as well. Due to the excessive grinding of the game, you will probably have to eliminate many zombie children. The little undead are less robust than the “adult variants,” but they do attack from ambush.
What is it about the zombie children? Even during the development of Ultima 5, which was released in 1988, designer Richard “Lord British” Garriott integrated children as enemies. The player discovered captured children in a dungeon who attacked the hero after he freed them. This led to controversial discussions. However, Garriott was undeterred and kept incorporating such elements into his games. Now, it is also the case in Shroud of the Avatar. No one is discriminated against just because they are young and undead.
The MMO is struggling
What is the status of Shroud of the Avatar? The MMORPG is currently facing its largest player loss in about a year (back then, the MMO was still in Early Access). According to Steamcharts, only about 240 players are playing simultaneously on average. The last official statements from the development indicate that the players on Steam only account for about 35 percent of the total player count, as most play through their own client. However, even if it would only be about 10 percent, the player count would be very poor for an MMO.
Dance parties are controversial: Questionable marketing actions that highlight the game’s dance parties do not help improve the MMO’s reputation – quite the opposite. The dance parties have long become something that many players mock because they show that more emphasis is placed on them than on fixing the quest system and other issues. Presenting this as a “special feature” in a video seems to indicate that the marketing department does not understand the current perception of the game at all.
Players hope for Episode 2. A handful of loyal fans continue to support the MMO financially in the monthly “Telethons.” Many hope that Episode 2 of the game can fix much of what went wrong in Episode 1. The quest system, in particular, is causing massive problems. However, the question is whether the planned Kickstarter campaign for Episode 2 can be successful after all the negative feedback.
