Otherland has been in development for approximately forever. It’s older than the great ship PCGamesN herself. A quick google indicates news posts first popping up across the digisphere in 2008, calling it a beautiful neon MMORPG. It’s been through at least one total reboot since then and a total change of developers, with two seperate beta phases. A closed beta for the latest edition has been running since late last year, but now it’s ready to go into open, paid-for Early Access on Steam.
The final version should be hitting in early 2016 as Otherland is, apparently, “one of the most advanced titles on the service, a far cry from the Pre-Alpha Versions often put up for sale.” It’s based on a series of novels by author Tad Williams about commonly available virtual reality technology towards the end of the 21st century.
There’s a lot of information available on the Steam listing, but here’s some of the highlights:
- A combat system that attempts to “feel more like an fighting in an action game than in a classic MMORPG”
- Four classes, two melee, two ranged. They broadly fit in tank, two DPSers and healing, but each looks able to fill a variety of roles.
- A wide range of customisation options when it comes to looks.
- Player housing within a large area of the map, where each player has their own unique space.
There’s no word on price yet, but it definitely doesn’t seem to be going the Free To Play route.
Thanks, Blue.