Welcome to my article covering my most anticipated MMO game releases in 2021 or beyond. This article is also in video format, please feel free to either watch it below or check it out on my YouTube channel which you can find here.
INTRODUCTION
Being a fan of massive open worlds and social games ever since I first played Lord of the Rings Online, MMOs have become a huge part of my life. This is true for many other people, who have explored the many different worlds that Warcraft has to offer from expansion to expansion, or journeying across the different regions in Guild Wars, MMOs have affected hundreds of thousands of gamers deeply and provided them with unforgettable experiences.
That said, there has been an abundance of low quality, poorly designed MMOs in the past few years, games with shallow worlds and boring quest designs. There are however a ton of developers working to create some of the most ambitious and high-quality games we’ve ever seen at the moment. These games feel like beacons of hope that I think will be a great sign for the MMO community in general. So without any further ado, let’s get into my most anticipated MMO games that are coming in 2021 or beyond.
1) Ashes of Creation
Kicking off this list with Ashes of Creation just felt right, the game has to be one of most ambitious MMORPGs in the fantasy genre to date, and with the leaps in technology and the jumps it has gotten recently after going through a long and tedious development hell, the release of this game doesn’t feel like just a dream anymore. To those unfamiliar with the game, the developers Intrepid Studios’ ambitious open world MMORPG features a player-driven world with a very interesting node system which will let players be the creators of the world around them, which means that the world in which you play will be left almost entirely up to you.
There are also some other interesting game mechanics such as this world’s ever changing dynamic engagements and the ability to do castle sieges, where you and your guild can take down another guild’s castle and create your own upon the ashes of that castle. The recent Alpha preview that many people got the chance to be a part of shows a lot of progress and hope for the future of this game and even though it lacks a proper release window at the moment, it will be coming around soon because of that Alpha preview which showcased the game in a highly unique light and made fans and supporters excited all over the world.
2) Crimson Desert
The second game on our list is the first truly “next-gen” title by the developers and publishers behind the popular Black Desert Online. This will be their upcoming flagship title, meaning that this is the main project that they are working on at the moment. Pearl Abyss have had a lot of success with Black Desert Online, but this game looks very different to their previous works, mainly because it seems much less like a typical Korean MMO and more like a western medieval fantasy game.
The game features way more cut scenes according to the trailers and recent information; though the developers have promised that it will have all the good stuff from BDO such as life-skilling, PVP and that incredibly fun and flexible combat system. Seeing the Crimson Desert combat in action in the recent trailer felt like a really cool rework of the BDO melee systems and we’re all here for it. We’ll start seeing way more of Crimson Desert going into 2021, as they are a company that truly has their vision figured out.
3) Zenith
Developed by the acutely named “Ramen VR” studios, Zenith is the very first VR MMO that the world has ever seen. The game is highly ambitious; being an open world fantasy MMO in virtual reality brings a brand new layer of immersion into the genre, especially combined with the social aspects of it. With the trailer’s release, the game looks like a great JRPG + Anime combo, the art style is reminiscent of a Breath of The Wild like world (albeit probably not as polished) and the game seems to have a lot of things going for it. The world is going to be based in a futuristic setting with many different kinds of combat and player types that you can play as or in.
The game will allow its players to fight monsters, go on raids, level up and craft a variety of different items for them to do all of that much easily. There will also be world bosses to fight, guilds and alliances to build and a lot of dynamic events happening throughout the game’s futuristic landscape but there isn’t much footage or information about the game’s combat and for now all we know is that it will be very much VR Combat as well. Although it does not have a proper release window at the moment, Zenith can be speculated to come out in late 2021, or early 2022 according to more and more information about the game coming to people through the publishers Tribe VR. I personally just hope that they add an in game microphone feature where you can talk to other players directly without having to type, that would make the experience so much more immersive for everyone, especially because of the VR element.
4) New World
Number four on the list is New World, this is a game that we will see being released fairly soon when compared to some of the other games on the list. Developed and Published by Amazon Game Studios, New World is an MMORPG with a bustling open world design and combat that is heavily inspired by the likes of Dark Souls but with a twist of spell casting and magical influences in the core combat design.
The world is a medieval fantasy inspired land which means lots of sieges and guilds. Once the alpha and beta were out and play tested, the game seemed to have a ton of bugs and game breaking issues because of which the developers had to delay the release of the game from late 2020 to spring 2021. Regardless of all the bugs and everything else, the game’s ambition was highly enjoyed the by the players and the world was fun to play in, and over time with expansions the game will probably become more and more up to shape of what the developers originally envisioned for it.
5) Star Citizen: Squadron 42
Star Citizen is without a shadow of a doubt, the largest MMORPG that has ever been in development. The game has already been in development for around 8 years, and has been in early access for a while now as well. Running on the Amazon Lumberyard engine, Star Citizen features real-time, life size cities and giant empty plains, along with multiple planets, solar systems and bustling metropolises with both space combat and ground combat. The game has got to be the most ambitious game in terms of the sheer scope and size of its world. Though it has been sort of stuck in development hell, and when I say stuck, I really mean it with this one.
Been in development for over 8 years, the game is still nowhere as close to being finished as it was a year or two ago, though the game is mostly finished when it comes to the exploration aspects of its world, and the space combat is tight and feels unique. The ground combat is absolutely busted and is being worked upon by the developers at the moment, while the crowd system in the game is also something that is being altered to make it more realistic and life like, other than they are also implementing new changes and additions to multiple quest lines and story missions. The game is in early access and a lot of the world is playable for you to check out the space combat and shooting mechanics in, as well as explore the giant life sized cities and upgrade your space ships. Though unfinished and probably won’t be finished for a while, Star Citizen is a shining example of a development team that is fully committed to making an unique experience for the people that have been supporting it and playing it.
6) Corepunk
Corepunk is one of the few games on this list that should be releasing EXTREMELY soon, it is also one of the more unique but cookie-cutter MMORPGs. The game is an isometric top down MMORPG with an emphasis on choice, much like most RPG games that are coming out these days. In terms of gameplay, Corepunk seems like half MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and half MMO game, the game has some of the most stylised graphics on this list, with a unique hero system that makes creating your character an essential part of the experience rather than just a cosmetic loop. The Fog of War mechanic is something the game features which limits the players’ visions to just the things on their screens, which makes the element of surprise a key factor in both PvP and PvE.
The game features a bunch of gameplay mechanics such as PvP, dungeon dwelling, gathering and crafting of items, multitudes of story quests with more expansions on the way and everything else that you would expect from an MMO. Aside from that, the game features, a bustling open world with a lot of dynamic events happening, and aside from your party, you can get attacked by any third party while raiding and pillaging. The aesthetic is quite pleasing to the eye as well, Artificial Core has created a great mix of a steam-punk and fantasy world with giant heavily populated and alive cities in addition to empty open landscapes full of treacherous beasts and demons.
7) Project TL
Now this one has a lot of hype behind it, Project TL is an upcoming MMORPG by NCSOFT. If you’ve ever heard of NCSOFT, you know that these guys do not play around. NCSOFT’s previous projects were huge games, Blade and Soul, Lineage and Lineage II. All three of these games were game changers on release and broke new ground in the massively multiplayer genre. Project TL was originally announced as Lineage Eternal back in 2011, but has gone through many delays since then because of a plethora of issues surrounding it. Though there isn’t much footage to go around it, they have reworked the entire way the game works and the developers have also switched to Unreal Engine 4 to enhance the game’s graphical fidelity as well as add new gameplay mechanics on the side.
At its core, Project TL is set to be an MMORPG that focuses heavily on combat and exploration. The gameplay loops will center on dungeon dwelling with many different classes and play styles to add to its fantasy medieval aesthetic. The game is also isometric by the details revealed by the developers, and the game was completely restarted in 2016 with a brand new trailer that came out in 2017 and got a lot of people super amped up. So after the plethora of delays, and tons of financial backing by veteran developers NCSOFT, Project TL is at the very least going to be an incredibly polished game that will be aiming for a 2021 release date according to information provided by the publishers. I expect this to be a huge MMO on release and if anything about NCSOFT’s past is something to take on when looking at Project TL, this is going to be an ambitious, ground breaking game with at least a couple hundred hours of play time and thorough backing with more and more expansions and additions to the game coming soon after release.
These seven games currently in development are what I consider to be some of the most exciting new projects in the upcoming year or perhaps even beyond. In any case, 2021 seems to be an incredibly jam-packed year for MMORPG games in general, whether it is combat centered games like Crimson Desert, space exploration and simulation based like Star Citizen, or a mix of funky comedic style of dungeon dwelling like Corepunk or just an incredibly player driven world with player made economies in Ashes of Creation. 2021 will be filled to the brim with a quality of MMOs that I for one will be investing a lot of my time into.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this article, I spent a lot of time on it and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. You can see the video for this article at the start or on YouTube, click here if you'd like to see it on YouTube. You can check out my YouTube channel here. Please feel free to hit that YouTube subscribe button so you don't miss out on any further video content.