PC User Reviews

Generally a more varied and vibrant game experience than anything else I have played. I first caught wind of their Kickstarter over a decade ago. I am not as frequent **** as I would like to be, but when I have time to game I come back to SOTA time and time again. It is more immersive than most games even attempt. The one real downfall is the loading screens between instances. I do not mind the cash store at all, as it is entirely vanity items. Nothing gains you an advantage in game except your own investment in time and effort, as it should be! And the time a developer spends to create new in game assets for us players should be compensated fairly. You can purchase many things from pieces of outfits to armor styles, and dyes for equipable items, special character emote effects, lot deeds and different house styles, decorations and furnishings for your home. Travel is more realistic than most games even dare to dabble in. And we have mounts now! The ability to travel the entire world map with just a few instanced choke points and the occasional boat ride strikes a fair balance between immersion and tediousness. I LOVE the diversity of things I can do here. I love having a home that is a persistent part of the game world, where I can chill or socialize, where I can display and organize my game assets (not just the bank) to my hearts content. I can also collect rares or not so rares, I can craft, I can cook, I can grow and harvest crops as well as harvesting crops in the world at large, gather resources, I can TAME creatures, I can hunt and battle NPCs, solve and complete intricate quest lines (which are not just "Go get me 3 frog legs" kind of crap quests) I can train any skill wish, and untrain a skill and regain experience to apply to a skill I prefer to train. The entire game is vast and wide, with much opportunity for cooperative and social game play, including raids and one can have or participate in large player devised and hosted gatherings (especially centered around various holidays) including dance parties. The developers interact with the players in their forums regularly, and also have live streams monthly. In my opinion, the best thing about SOTA is their NO botting/macroing policy (unlike sooo many games that are ruined by such.) I love that we can customize our characters so thoroughly not just at creation, but if one changes their mind, a character can be modified in game for a small in game cost. If you want, there is a single player mode, as well as the MMO world, which is vast, and mirrored in the single player. Some aspects are a bit grindish as crafting requires time at a crafting bench of various types for each step in an item's creation.

Twenty years a ago it would have been a great game, maybe. Laggy servers and such would have been worse then, but maybe one could have taken the graphics as state-of-the-art. Would should I say what hasn't already been said? Clunky controls, clunky combat, indiscutable interaction. An unfinished game, and ghost towns created by early backers who preferred not to play anymore.

I played probably roughly 1,000 hours. I was able to max out an Archer character, start a new player guild, and reach the highest forms of PvE. This game is inventive, and the crafting system uses crafting tables and the like for the first time. The graphics are reasonable, and the players I encountered were friendly and helpful. However, this game was full of bugs. The game was largely unpopulated. It is pretty taxing on your computer system; you have to have a decent GPU.

I've never played an Ultima game in my life, but this is a LOT like Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, & as someone who still prefers Morrowind over Skyrim or Oblivion, this game feels very familiar, yet also refreshingly different from any RPG I've played in about 10 years. You can play it as an online MMORPG or an offline singleplayer game. Offline, you can own every plot of land there is. There's lots of books to collect & read, just like in Morrowind. The playerbase is small, but the community is nice. The install doesn't play nice with some firewalls, as is with many games, so use the STEAM version.

I had high hopes for this. Unfortunately, when the shroud was pulled off of the game it was revealed that all that was under the shroud was a representation **** game rather than the real thing... an avatar. The mechanics are a disaster for getting around especially. What I love about the game is that if you use skills, then only those skills get good. You won't become a great bowman by chopping wood or swinging a sword. You won't be a great carpenter by shooting anyone or making potions. If you don't use a skill it will never improve. So, a master really has mastered whatever they are a master at. I also love all the things you can make yourself if you get the skills for what interests you. You can do great financially if you choose a craft to specialize in or if you do a lot of crafts and never get great at any but can make all the simple things. The rest of the game is an unmitigated disaster. It also has the same problem as like Civilization VI where the maker is constantly advertising their far-left political ideas rather than concentrating on making a good game for everyone to enjoy. Overall the game is horrible. The idea was great though. I hope someone makes something similar with good graphics and mechanics and no real life politics involved.

Been Playing this for many months now and found it to be one of the more interesting MMO Sandbox games out there with a lot of features. It has a true system of be what you want to be. Mix and match the skills. Crafting is crazy, everything in the game can be used for something or just sold as is. It has a lot of lore and many dungeons and instanced zones to check out which are ever evolving. Random events, weather, and instances that show up on the world. housing system that allows you to decorate it with everything you make and or Store items. Has fishing, hunting, trophies and many other things to do. World Puzzles, buff shrine, player made dungeons (not 100% implemented yet only the start of this system), as well PVP. Only weakness I see is still needs a lot more optimizations, as well new quest system which is coming Ep2. which hopefully will make questing better all round. look forward to seeing this sleeper keep expanding.

Not a successor by any means. Firstly it’s in the hands of an incompetent dev who will never hand this game over to someone that might actually be able to salvage it and make it shine. He regularly goes on the offensive and just can’t handle criticism. Seems he only cares about how much money lines his pockets. His ‘community manager’ (fanboi) silences any negativity and bans anyone with an opinion. There are a multitude of fake positive reviews on steam. Everyone gloats about the community being great, but they are fanbois that will white knight and gaslight. The game itself is a mess. It’s not going anywhere fast and has evolved into a barbie sims second life housing and fishing simulator with hot tubs and DJ dance parties, players grinding on each other, garish neon night clubs, floppy hats and stilettos. The run down: - The PvP is run with a carebear approach - Exploits and bugs galore (pink textures anyone) - No real death penalties - No item degradation or gold sink - Crafting is pointless - Adventuring is pointless - Loot rewards are rubbish - Grinding is worthless - No end game - Lacklustre story - No coherence or back history between areas of the game - No coherence in the theme (Darth Vader Samurai steam punk sims medieval Star Wars) - Pets are useless - Poor balancing in skills and items - Broken economy - No auction house or even seller search system - Dungeons attach to player house don’t even function properly - No originality in models used - Same set of creatures encountered in nearly every area of the game with no proper ai added - Stiff animations, bad textures and poor optimisations drag even the beefiest machines to 5fps - Couldn’t even fit a physical reward book in a box to send out to backers - Excuses, broken promises, shady business practices, and poor management of users personal data They are working on the second ‘episode‘ and so far the first priority has been implementing housing on a tiny set of islands before any actual gameplay is even live. That’s right, instead of releasing it once it’s a completely finished second game/DLC(what ever it’s trying to be), it’s being released live in an unfinished untested state just to please the big spenders who have (for some insane reason) spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars to move to this new area. Wait isn’t this meant to be a free to play game? /s And btw that’s how they work in general. Make money first always. Updates and bug fixes barely brush past the test server before being pushed to live. Test server bugs still make it to live constantly. Half implemented systems pushed to live and then forgotten or stated as ‘working as intended’. Development shown live on twitch as if its still in alpha state. The work ethos is ‘whatever’. Honestly not even indie, just bad. Every update ‘release’ is 80% items to make money, 10% game content and fixing, 10% unrelated Richard Garriott self promotion. Money is their main concern, once they have it, they cease caring. If your looking for a UO successor or an RPG with rich story and good gameplay that takes itself seriously, this is NOT it.

это был развод на деньги фанатов великой Ультимы Онлайн. Я удивлен - что спустя столько лет, ктото еще тешит себя надеждой, что этот проект хотябы залатает основные баги)))

amazing and graphics maxed out are beautiful...screw the haters with no brains and potato pc's

I really love this game. I am not a fan of huge MMO's that have all sorts of kids running around acting 10 years old getting in your way and doing stupid stuff. I love that I can get a group together go out and quest and only see other people in tows. I am not a PVP fan I am a PVE fan so this is perfect for me. I think the crafting system is amazing. I love the combat system. So many games are just hack and slash I hate that. I love that there is strategy and different combat decks that you can switch between, I also love that this is skill based and not level based. Its to bad some others don't like it but I love it. The graphics could be better but its been out a few years its not a new game. That said the graphics are still good in my opinion. Everyone I have seen in the game is super nice and friendly.

Games great theres a TON of things to do, the only issue i had is getting through the initial quests. They're very easy to skip over but once i read the handbook that the game provided things made more sense plus i met a group of players who helped explain things as well. The game has this cool oracle that you visit and he informs you about the virtues. You can end up being good or evil in the game based on choices made which is really cool. The emote system is the best ive ever seen in a game, the fighting system is smooth and very fun. The class diversity is so cool you can really fine tune your character like you can be a mage specializing in fire or you can specialize in life which makes u a great healer or u can be an expert swordsman with magic mixed in or u can be a combo archer/ swordsman/ mage. Same thing with crafting the crafting system is very deep and you won't become a gm blacksmith overnight thats for sure. Also the game has tons of cool items that you can hang in a home literally everything u can think of and you can build a dungeon in the basement of your home and fully customize it with monsters down there and everything! so awsome. Take care everyone and happy playing :)

Do not Pay for this Game. Play it please, enjoy it, what there is and meet the Community. The players are all that can be said positive anymore. I was backing since day 1 and backed a lot. I did a lot and put in effort to try and help them along. Time goes on and they just continue to make the same stupid mistake. They introduce more and more yet there is way to much unfinished and broken. They advertise soo much yet only deliver less than 30%. There is about 80 hours of true game play. After that it is nothing but Grind to accomplish very little. ALL OF THIS CAN BE DONE FOR FREEE. after that then decide if you think they needs your backing. Just remember that what they say is not what you will get. They failed on more than one thing to produce and or deliver. Read their forums sure but remember they make sure that it is only good things you see. Also remember that they have a very solid base of sycophants who will defend the game until the plug is pulled. Soo in the end go for it but be smart, PLAY for FREEEE, give it time, keep at it and after a month or two make a financial decision. You are so informed.

I have been an early backer of the project of the times before Steam, but I can only say, the project went completely out of control. The development team wanted to make something like the ultimate RPG of all times, but they failed hopelessly because of their lack of technical knowledge and abilities. SOTA came out after long, long years with screamigly outdated graphics, ridiculous game mechanics, dusty ghost towns owned and built by some early backer, clunky multiplayer mode, and so on. Erverybody was so incredibly disappointed to see Richard Garriott fail like a programming rookie overwhelmed by his own ambitions and all the time trying to convince everyone that the project will get better. No, SOTA won't get better.

So I tried the free trial of this because I was really curious. It may be that I never got into Ultima Online but I just can get into the world Garriot has made. Not because the lore **** - in fact it's kind of intriguing. It's all the technical issues the game has. Pros - Love the skills-based leveling system Tons of housing and crafting possibilities Huge world, interesting overworld map Very challenging, lots of possibilities for roleplaying. Intesting PVE questing, makes you really think about how to complete each one. CONS Horribly optimized and a lagfest in towns and game crashes quite a bit. Housing costs HUNDREDS of real-world dollars. This will prevent most players from ever owning one. Kind of crap sound effects (not a big deal to me) No fast travel and PVP (i've heard) is non-existent for the most part. Grindy (to be expected for an old school rpg) in certain areas. SOTA has some potential but it just feels really unfinished and the devs seem more concerned about cash shop purchases for virtual real estate and the next "chapter" but aren't doing much about the current bugs, poor gameplay.

Take a look at it on Steam and you will see a million reasons on why this game is awful. It is an RMT's paradise - only if the game was actually GOOD. Which, unfortunately for them, it is not. Dated graphics, devs with thin skin, banning for giving critical feedback, moderation out of control, lies, lies, and more lies, broken mechanics, horrible combat, etc etc etc it goes on and on. Stay far away from this dump.

I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone I know. The gameplay itself is below average at best. I'm usually more forgiving about such flaws in MMOs but the development team behind the game is definitely more interested in the finances ($$$) of the game and how much it can get out of its players rather than how it can improve to attract more players.

Pros Having a great time playing Shroud of the Avatar. Its a true sandbox MMO. Playing with gaming friends I have had for over 20 years. Unlike most games the best gear your characters can wear are made by players. There is not need to fight over monster loot! Also your character can cast spells, fight melee, shoot a bow, fight with his bare knuckles, or just quest and craft in town. Is there PVP, why yes there is! It is either consensual in the majority of the game, yet many of the highest level areas are mandatory PVP so be careful. And did I mention the best part... Player owned towns and housing. I live in the lively Player Owned Town of Bastion's Point, and I run the Bandit Camp/HOA/Execution area. There is always something going on in our town, crafting, fun, shopping, executions; either by hanging, guillotine, or disembowelment, and cooking classes! Cons This game is a work in progress.... if you are expecting the polish of a Blizzard game you have the wrong expectations, yet the game is so much more fun that Wow! Fishing has not been fully implemented yet... can you believe that! I need my drunken fishing! Overall having a great time playing with old friends and meeting new friends!

All I play now. Too hard for some, it has a steep learning curve but if you can get past it you might be hooked. Crafting like crazy. The best gear in the game comes from players. Over 1000 recipes and patterns on top of that. Sell gear to an NPC and it ends up in the loot tables. Use your brain for puzzles. Seriously, if you want to be led by the hand and taken care of, then you're not ready for the quests or the puzzles here. The housing is cool, and in loot drops. Decorate, throw parties, run a store, make quests for others. If you are tired of dumb games designed to hold you by the hand, then you could be in for a treat. Stuff that needs work: The interface, and the FPS. Those keep getting better though, and don't stop me from spending all my game time here. Try the free trial if you think you're up for it.

This game is a lot of fun. There's tons to do: dancing, crafting, questing, combat, housing, exploring, taming, PVP. The social aspect is one of the greatest things about this game. There are SO MANY emotes to use to be expressive and players in this game have a great time just hanging out together dancing, drinking, playing Gustball, or PVP sparing. You can truly play this game all day every day and not run out of stuff to do. Lots of fun and totally worth the buy.

A game that I backed with a good contribution. Sadly it's turned out to be quite a poor game. Clunky controls, latency that shows players rubber banding all over the place, graphics that would have been mid tier 10 years ago but requires high end gaming rigs to run at low double digit frame rates .... Theres very little to it . The promised Ultima successor story is poorly written, sparse and amateur, literally a bad fan fic written by a fan bought on board . Do yourself a favor and pass on this one .

For full disclosure, I am a fan of Richard Garriott, the single Ultimas and Ultima Online. I am also not your typical 20-40-year old male. I’m a 59-year-old grandma who runs a business and is a weekend player. I have been reading the reviews from supposed professional critics and I constantly wonder if we are playing the same game. The information they give is often incorrect (even in interviews!). Having said that, here are my thoughts on what *I* like to do with games. Maybe people like me will find it helpful. The world is beautiful and vast. If you to experience ANY new game, your rig should be super good. So don’t expect an older machine with low ram and old video card to show you the beauty of the game. For my play style, I enjoy being a merchant and socializing. So I own a few shops that sell things others don't want to craft or can’t get like rare items. I enjoy gardening so I also grow and sell reagents for lower than what players can buy them for from NPCs. There are tons of social events created by and for the players. So far I have been to: weddings, grand openings of book stores, role playing event that had a story line and included Lord British himself, the monthly launch party that celebrates the successful launch of a new release that includes updates, new items, etc, a fashion show, scavenger hunt, a PVP training demonstration at an arena, a poetry reading, some city tour events, Lunch with Laz & Jack, Church of the Darkstarr church services. Keep in mind I’m not around that much. Those are the things I happened to catch. There are plenty of community events/hunts around PVE and PVP that just don’t interest me. Again, I’m sharing my experience. I love the housing in the game. I lost count of how many types of houses there are. And the reviews that you have to spend a ton of RL money to have a house is simply not true. There is a wonderful thread on the official forums from a player who is on a quest to start as a brand new player with nothing and earn enough gold to buy his own house. He’s keeping track of hours played, how he’s making the gold, etc. He is proving that you don’t have to spend a dime to have a house. I’m not a great decorator so I visit other houses and steal their ideas. The options are unending. Again, you CAN spend RL money to get fancy stuff but you don’t have to. Lots and lots of items have craftable counterparts. Shroud is not a simple game. And it is an MMO. Some of the reviews mention being lost and not able to find things. Each new player has a beginning place and there is a book there that is the player guide. If you miss that, there are plenty of places to get information. The community is extremely friendly and helpful. Be sure you read more of the higher rated score reviews on here. They will give you more flavor for other play styles besides mine. The world is in constant change, sometimes small changes and sometimes big ones. The world is being designed by the players who give feedback. I’ve seen major systems changed because the vast majority said it should be. The designers looked at it close and changed it. Very unique and kinda cool. So come check it out for yourself. Announce yourself in the forums and you’ll be offered more help then you could use. And you should if you really want to know what this is all about.

I have now played Shroud of the Avatar for about 200 hours. my impression of the game continues to grow better as i get more familiar with it's nuances. I have never tried the single player mode, so far i only have gone online with everybody else. The combat system is still an unknown to me as i only use the locked version thus far. I have not tried PVP yet. I am still not strong enough to go after any areas above a T-3 with reasonable confidence of success. I have only gotten to the basic materials in crafting save teleport, recall scrolls and heal/focus potions I have not yet been to about 70% of the towns on the map. I have met a bunch of very helpful people in game and I really have yet to come across "that player" ( you know who i mean) Point is I have realized that even 200 hours later, I have only scratched the surface of what this game might have to offer. that is a deep , complex and a rich environment to be sure. If you seek a quick hack and slash this one will not suit you. If you want an immersive world where your whim has room to get depleted then jump in.

Alright so ive been a backer since release 12. Metacritic only gives me a limit of 5000 characters so i will give you the best succint review I can As someone who has played a handful of ultima games (which is a rarity for my generation) and countless mmo's both sandbox and linear in playstyle, this game is very much a sandbox game with a lot of lore that makes it feel like a spiritual successor to the Ultima series as Garriot advertised. Do not let the negative responses about quests sway you considering most mmo's post world of warcraft have done two things to the genre. They have taken out true concepts of player run economies and have taken out quests actually feeling like quests. Your typical mmo today will have you make your character, choose a predefined class that has predefined abilities and you are stuck with those and the gear that the class is allowed and you sit there for days leveling by following glowing paths and exclamation points to whatever the level cap is and then you grind dungeon a,b and c to get some currency thats used for epic gear that is required for a so called epic level raid that just becomes useless when an expansion comes out and raises the level cap and changes what that currency is thats required. So rather than have to actually make an effort to be successful in the game you just get a lot of instant gratification. This game does none of that. The only good weapons and armor in the game are infact the ones that other players have taken the time to create themselves. The quests are rewarding in the sense that it feels like an actual quest. One of the beginning quest lines took me to an abandoned monastary and the quest from the guard captain (That wasn't even part of the main story mind you) took me from 8pm to about 3am to complete from start to finish. Ive yet to even hold D&D sessions that have come close to being that long though i came pretty close a couple days before writing this review. I will say it again for those in the back. If you are looking for instant gratification in playing this game YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME. Do not come into this game with a mindset that its easy because it will slap you on your willy every **** Ultima games were meant to be difficult and this one definitely can be. There are two issues i have with this game and im going to get them out of the way before I continue on with the more positive things I like. The combat is still a bit clunky and I do get annoyed every now and then considering how long it's been in development. The Game is also quite resource intensive so you may need more ram than you would with most mmo',s Now onto the real positives of the game. This is very much a ROLE PLAYING game in the sense that you can write books, sheet music which can be used to play your own music in the game. The player housing is pretty awesome and so are the player cities which really give it that sandbox feel. I could go on but again i have a character limit. The crafting is pivotal in acquiring the best equipment. Do not go dropping a bunch of gold on npc gear thinking you wont get wrecked by something becasuse you will get R.E.K.T rekt. But the absolute best thing I love the most about this game that no other mmo really has is a good community base. Very helpful players and its also a pretty immsersive game in the sense that you have the ability to compose and play music on instruments in. If you want to know more my suggestion is to at least play the free trial.

I'd love to sit here and say that this game is the best game I've ever played and that everyone will love it, but the truth is I would be lying. This game it not for everyone. It has an old school feel and it's tailored with that in mind. Portalarium is striving to create something different and unique from what we all know as MMO's. This is not an easy task or it would have already been done. It's not something that just happens. This is an ever changing game and it will continue to change over time as more people play, provide feedback, and more data is evaluated. That said, there's a lot of work ahead of us, but this team is so unbelievably committed to making progress every month. They are very active and are constantly evaluating and adding new features, content, and optimization. They do listen to player feedback. Starr goes out of his way to answer each question or suggestion and post an itemized personal response to all of them every month in the live stream. Others post daily blogs about ideas, concerns, and upcoming changes. IMO there's no better time to get involved than now to play a part in its development and to get ahead of the curve. I see the potential here which is why it's my go to game for the last year and a half. I do believe It will pay off down the road and I've created some great memories, and made some great friends along the way. This game itself has a lot to offer. A deep crafting system, very diverse combat system, home ownership, open instanced PVP "if selected", fun music system, and one server for all. These are just a few of the features as I couldn't even begin to go over everything. In my opinion, you're more than likely going to come out ahead for hours played compared to what you spend for the game itself if you like the old school feel of mmorpgs and play the game like it's meant to be played. Let's talk briefly about what to expect and what not to expect as per my steam review. If you're looking for a game that you will ramp up quickly, this game is probably not for you. You're not going to be fighting end game content, getting rich, or feeling strong any time soon. On the other hand, If you're looking for a long term commitment where you really have to earn your stripes in combat and crafting and are willing to learn despite the frustrations of a huge learning curve, then you're in the right place. This game is a slow burn and you will be grinding. However, that doesn't mean you can't have fun in the beginning and there's plenty to get in to outside of the grind. But I would advise any new players joining the game to make friends with an experienced player and have them show you the ropes. There's far too much to figure out and absorb without help and becoming frustrated. I see a lot of people fall victim of that, many of which have gone on to post negative reviews. It happens regularly. This game is not about hand outs, it's not easy, and a lot of people can't handle that you actually have to learn and put thought into being successful. The community in this game is absolutely fantastic. There are bugs. You will encounter them. Most of them now are minor, but they can be annoying. You can choose to play through them or report them to help better the game. If you can't handle minor bugs with quest lines, animations, cosmetics, and some combat, you may want to give it a little more time. This team is not huge. But expect that this game isn't going to be perfect in that aspect. If you think that being able to buy stuff with real money = P2W, then this game is also probably not for you. Everything in this game does have real life monetary value. But if you look at it as an investment for your time and effort, you could find yourself having a blast and building a small empire, making deals with other players, and snag a little side change to boot. I will agree, the story line and how questing works still needs a lot of work. If you're here for just the quests and story, maybe give it some more time. I hope for this to be ironed out as the game progresses. Combat is a different beast all around. In the beginning it feels clunky, but that's by design. It's complexity has required Portalarium to dumb it down early on because it can be a bit overwhelming. Once you start building decks and can turn off auto attack, that's where it really starts to shine and your character customization increases significantly. There are tutorial videos in the forums for this. I would suggest doing some homework on it, or like i said above, make friends and get help. The game has progressed A LOT in performance, graphics, over all functionality, and player base just over the last few months, and I expect it to become more polished every release (monthly) going forward. There are 4 more episodes planned and that means a lot of room for improvements. Remember, Shroud aims to be something different. Play the free trial first.

To start with I have been playing online games since 1985 so I have seen and played quite a few of them. I love this game because it lets me play as I want to. I am not stuck in a predefined class. I have been playing shroud for almost 2 years now and I continually see it improving. It is not perfect yet, but it is getting better daily. I am not sure if I enjoy the crafting or the puzzles most of all, but right now Shroud is the only online game I play anymore. I do think the game takes time to get used to, but doesn't everything. One of the things that I think is really great is the weekly live streams as I always learn something new. I really feel that the designers really listen and care about our input and that makes a big difference to me in picking a world to invest my time into.

Where do I start to find the wonder in this game you need to give it a little time, patience is needed... but after that you will be **** in Avatar.. It is a really long term game if you want to rush and want instant results you will be disappointed! Let's start with the positive The Roleplaying in this game is marvelous! the emotes, houses, decorations, smoking your pipe! you can create the perfect roleplaying environment I would say this is THE online roleplaying game where you have so many tools to work with your imagination! You can create songs write books threaten people at their home and find fellow adventurer If you like RP online definitely give it a go The dungeons are well designed... I still feel the full potential is untapped but the seed is there leveling up requires skill! Its different from all other mmos i played to clear regular mobs in zones you need to think! plan your skills effectively counter with right skills, to specific enemies you can always find a challenge in this game if you are seeking it that is a big plus. and It has lots of untapped potential! Skills oh man! You have so much freedom so much niche builds you can try out there are lots of things even the veterans miss, If you like character building without heavy restrictions you can really enjoy it. Discover unique combos, skill tree combinations its all up to you! Housing is really cool, the decoration options are as much as sims maybe more! You can build towns from scratch although a drawback to housing is $$ Wall Crafting! Really cool you can actually choose specific enchants and make a unique item! Like a special sword you made can be the only one in the game with properties it is a Looooooooooooong grind as it is in an old school MMO ;) Hardcore crafters welcome home and it feels really satisfying after you get there! PvP seems a bit off the radar but they are focusing on it, I haven't done so much PVP so cant comment on it as much.. there are just so many things about this game to present so why did I give it 8 because the game has so much untapped potential, Town raids, conquers, Raids, Lockpicking, Party quests all these can be implemented this is the MMO with most potential I have no doubt well see how it goes. and most important try it for yourself but dont leave it in an hour if you are actually looking for an mmo, try a little bit look at the skills explore areas finish some quests(some are actually really cool!) talk to some players try to really! get a feeling overall and see for youself You can either be a virtuous knight or a Dark shroud over the realm all up you or just be a gardener :) all up to you

I just bought this game a few days after it had released, having never heard of it, it looked good from what I read in the description of it rpg, mmo, pvp. Boy what a wreck ****. This is quite possible the most disappointing game I've ever paid money for. The combat is clunky and unexciting, it's just an overall awful mess of a combat system that tries to be different but for no reason other than to bore you to death. Another annoyance is how xp works, you have to pool up xp while turning down skills and only work on a few at a time to get anywhere. I've never seen a game that makes you grind so hard for so little reward. Remember UO you could just be a gatherer and be a crafter if you wanted? Not in this game, you have to endure their awful combat system to gain anything. The mobs in this game are placeholder looking and so are their animations, very basic and unexciting, not to mention the loot, rusty worthless swords and boring loot that yields no real gold value. The questing is your basic, boring, overdone, go fetch me this and bring it back, except you have to trudge through endless, uninteresting text lines that reads as if a middle school student worked very hard to write. The character creation is very basic and everyone looks pretty similar, it's not very well done, much like everything in this game. The world itself is divided into small pockets of adventure areas and housing areas, full of loading screens. Any place you want to go in to will drag you into a loading screen that takes way too long and it's quite often, it breaks any immersion you might have had for a moment. I should have done my homework on this game before buying it, seeing that they have spent like 18 million on this, I **** sure doesn't look and play like a game with that much money in it. This does not look and play like a quality released game, it seems like it's still Pre-Alpha. If I could get a refund I would. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. If you're looking for a good Rpg, this is not it, if you're looking for a good mmo, this is not it, if you're looking for good pvp, this is just not it.

Original backer, still waiting for the promised rich story mode Ultima type game. In my opinion its currently just a lifeless empty shell with no pull or reason to play. I get the impression while playing this game that they expect the player to just make up the game as they go along, what did I pay them for? I like that it does not hold your hand, but it's just so utterly dry, meaningless and what comes down to in my mind, a very boring grind fest. The great kick starter promised "story" just seems to be cobbled together at the very last possible minute, very poorly written and in a lot of places does not flow well at all. The UI is awful and clunky, graphics are not impressive by any means for today's standards, although it takes a very high-end graphics card to even run the game. Overall a huge disappointment, I cannot recommend this mess, although after all the years of waiting, i really wanted to like it.

there are about a trillion multiverses containing an infinite more verses within. many are cubic zirconium, this world how ever is a diamond, how ever rough, and they are just getting started. what makes it shine you ask. a lot of little things. the foremost, and most outstanding, yet obscured, is there are many multiplayer online games. a lot of times they forget the role playing element (and the rule playing element - combat). it is multi faceted with deep and intricate crafting and combat systems, and while frustrating to learn, when mastered it leaves a shine that is unparalleled among-st its peers. yes. that is right. many of you slanderous Outlanders will succumb to to despair and never witness the elegance and extravagance which can be attained. with the confines of the world. to those which do prevail, well met adventurer. welcome home.. cause they (Port) also have homes covered, inside and out, big houses, small houses, huge damn castles, even a windmill, guilds, entire player towns. I like my windmill. A lot :) -- a living breathing economy which is logistic based, and it is not at your whim, you want a deal, you will go out and find it. there is no market window to find what ever cool bauble or mcguffin you need. it is better this way. you work for every thing you get in shroud. ps: dont believe the hype from someone who spent half a week on this game and decided to give it a bad review because johnny the doorman didnt get. SotA has a learning curve in some case which paralleled by that of Eve Online. the well runs deep; sometimes people are afraid of the dark, which is the real dilemma when it comes to reviews. SotA has so many hidden treasures to find in the world, that no one who plays a week or a month is going to find them all. Read books prior to judging them. now all we need is non euclidean weaponry.... Diaz Dizazter Spell Ranger of BLadewyke

Great game, and I've been playing since the beginning. It continues to get better and better but has been the only game I play since they did the final wipe. The things people complain about SoTA is the same things people complain about every game ever released. The community is great and you never run out of things to do. The dungeons are fun to run with your friends and the puzzles and hidden places add a different kind of element to this game. If your looking for a deep game that can hold you attention for the foreseeable future then give this one a shot and you wont regret it. The game isn't perfect, but no game is. It gets better and better with every monthly update and will continue to do so.

I'm not invested in this game emotionally or financially - not a backer. Ultimately the game is disappointing. The combat system with dynamic cards for decks is flat out dumb. Game feels extremely unpolished, buggy and clunky. The graphics are insanely dated. I played for just over a week and only spotted 11 different players - apparently population is pretty low and confirmed my suspicion using steam charts. Maybe worth another look in a year or so when it's been heavily worked on and population is healthy.

Wow... trolls are abundant on here too... Look.. the game isnt perfect.. However, I AM going to give it a 10 because its literally the only game I play now. I love all of it.. the community, the RPG story, the combat system and the massive depth of combat/crafting. There is NO OTHER game like it. If you are looking for something old school.. something that will remind you of the old days of UO or even EQ, this is where it finally gives me a taste of my past. There are some issues that I beleive they will work on.. such as the Cloak system needs work on clipping (my biggest issue, tbh... I hate clipping cloaks) and a few quest bugs that are being ironed out. I love this game and im sorry to see trolls here trying to make sure it fails... the game doesn't deserve it because its a gem that should be told to any classic RPG fans.

I'm not an original backer or invested thousands of dollars into this game like those who are rating this game ZERO. I got and started playing the game a month before release and I have no prior Ultima experience because I was still a baby when those games were released. Shroud Of The Avatar is my first Richard Garriott game and I'm liking it very much. Gone are the annoying and immersion breaking question marks and exclamation points over NPC heads. There are also no Quest Arrows that points the way or Quest Lines to follow. Not having any of these makes the game very different and fresh. Korean and Chinese MMORPGs keep dumbing down MMORPGs with their Auto-Battles and Auto-Pathing features but not this one. I'm sure many will not like it because it can be frustrating not to know where to go but, not me, because I like exploring and discovering things. If they can continue to improve loading speeds and performance, the highly instanced nature of the game will stop becoming an issue. I have not yet tried Housing yet because I still don't have a house in-game. The information I got from Reddit is, I need to spend money to get a house and a lot but I learned later it was a BIG LIE because I've seen players selling Lot Deeds for 300k game gold. I just need to save up enough game gold and I will get my house or lot in-game, not that I really need one. I'm happy with my Bank Storage in Resolute. I've also seen players wearing the Shroud Of The Avatar and it looks awesome. I can't wait to get myself one. I was told I need to finish the story to get the Shroud and I will definitely get it. There are still many things I have yet to learn to do in Shroud Of The Avatar and I think that's exciting. The game will keep me busy playing for months.

Not fun. Royal Founder here, the game was promised to be so many different things and it ended up being none of them. Dismiss the story, it's uninspired. The combat is no good. They overhauled combat so many times it's hard to understand where they're headed or when they'll say it's done. Playing the game is not fun and all you're left with is a grind economy that is run by predatory RMT resellers. I was looking for something to quench my thirst for a modern UO, this isn't it.

My thoughts about Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. 1. Housing System. It took me many months to save enough game gold to buy a row lot deed. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I bought the row lot deed from a player vendor in New Britannian Market. I spent a lot of time decorating my crafted greenhouse row house and it was fun. 2. Crafting. With so many things to craft, I still have not collected and learned all the recipes in the game. With only a few hours of play time every day due to work, it will take me some time to learn them all but I'm not in a hurry and new craftable things are added every release. 3. Story. The story of the game took me to various places and took me months to finish. I had to ask for help in some of the areas because I was still low level when I did them. I'm thinking of resetting all my quests and do them over again but I don't want to lose my Shroud. 4. Combat. I did not find it very difficult to learn maybe because I kept my combat bar locked. Having my skills locked made the game feel more like a traditional mmorpg. 5. Fishing. I'm a big fan of fishing in any games. Fishing in Shroud of the Avatar is not fully fleshed out yet but having it in the game now scores big points for me. They just need to make it even better with a scoreboard system and more fish types. 6. Solo Online. I like this mode very much. It makes the game perform 2 to 3 times better. I can also solo all the resources in a scene without fighting over them. 7. Graphics. Shroud of the Avatar does not have triple A graphics but it never distracted me from exploring the world. I was having too much fun running away from player killers in Blood Bay to worry about graphics. 8. Offline Mode. This is an ingenious idea. When MMORPGs get shuts down, they're dead forever but with Shroud of the Avatar's Offline Mode, the game is with you forever. They do need to address the DRM-Free part. 9. Outlanders. All Outlanders I've met and friended in the game are very helpful. They taught me a lot of things about the game. Some even gave me free items to get me started specially Majoria. Thank you. 10. Monthly Releases. The monthly releases are wonderful because we get many new content to enjoy like new items to craft, new side quests to complete, new towns to visit, new rare items to discover, new mobs to hunt and kill and the gradual improvements in performance. 11. Free. You can play Shroud of the Avatar for free if you want to. The Free Trial is not time limited. Certain features are limited but you'll still get hours and hours of fun from a Free Trial account. Total money spent on the game: $40 Amount of enjoyment received playing the game: Infinite

The game cannot seem to decide if it wants to be the Sims, a single player RPG, or an MMO. It fails at all three. Content is repetitive, quests are poorly written and unengaging, lots of loading screens and weird bugs, incoherent combat with few effective builds despite hundreds of skills, and a dev team that charges the player base cash money for recolored free assets from the Unity store.

Disappointing. I was an original backer from 2013, and this game just doesn't deliver much of anything. The game on release is still very buggy, still has placeholder text and names, and stuff that in game states it is not done yet. On top of that the missions and world are super boring and lazy implemented, the controls are slugish and bad, the graphics is 10 years dated and music and sound design seems to be absent.