March 2021 Multiplayer Game Rankings
I’ve opted to start thematic series investigating various MMORPGs and related titles. While I’ll still try to make runs of closures, new releases, and lesser-known titles — the monthly list of games to review will cease.
Here’s how our group ranked each of the MMORPGs we checked out in March. Bold games are recommended. Italicized games are ones that were in the “borderline” range — so they might interest you if you are into the specific theme, gameplay style, etc. I separated the games that received scores of 5.0 and above (the equivalent of an A- and up) into a separate category. The recommendations are based on the game itself, not the population. Quite a few of these games (i.e. Spellborn & Eldevin) have relatively low population figures.
Highly Recommended
#1 Chronicles of Spellborn
#2 Eldevin
#3 Age of Wushu
The Others
#4 Runes of Magic (Aun Meg highly recommended this one)
#5 OldSchool RuneScape
#6 RuneScape (RuneScape 3 / new RuneScape)
#7 Myst Online Uru
#8 Defiance
#9 Eden Eternal
#10 Salem
#11 Project Wasteland
#12 Spiral Knights
#13 Shaiya
#14 Red Stone
#15 Legend of Equestria
#16 Grand Fantasia
#17 Echo of Soul
#18 Last Chaos
#19 Twin Saga
#20 Astellia Royal
#21 Royal Quest
Random Thoughts
Shaiya and Red Stone would have likely been rated higher if this was written 10 years ago, with the player base much larger and before power/level creep settled in. Both are games where the PvE component feels like an afterthought. Shaiya essentially requires cash shop items to remain competitive in PvE and the story is so poorly-written and laid out in Red Stone that it’s confusing to follow.
Royal Quest was the most boring game I played on the list and was placed lower than Astellia because at least Astellia had a few unique mechanics and beautiful environments to observe.
Project Wasteland is a single developer early access title. It’s a unique take on the MMO genre and while it definitely has the lack of polish expected from an MMO with that few resources, Meg & I (Aun Egg) both loved it. It’s available at https://store.steampowered.com/app/1098390/Project_Wasteland_The_Mythiclands/.
Defiance, Twin Saga, and Eden Eternal all close at the end of April.
Chronicles of Spellborn’s lore and environments, Eldevin’s numerous professions and flexibility of builds, and Age of Wushu’s numerous sandbox features are the primary reasons why they ended up in the highly recommended portion of the list. All three games are flawed gems that require a bit of time to overcome their specific quirks, but once you do — they offer unique experiences well worth the trouble.
If this list was an objective ranking of which games are of the highest quality and offer the best experience in their current state (taking into consideration population as well), the only “highly recommended” games would have been OSRS and RuneScape.
