It’s been almost three years since Ashes of Creation took in over $3 million dollars to create one of the most ambitious sounding MMORPGs of all-time.
It promises to marry the best and most beloved aspects of both old-school and new-school MMORPGs while creating a game world that will evolve and change in dramatic ways based solely on the actions and decisions made by players.
Talk is cheap of course, and most things sound great on paper. That said, we did get to go hands-on with an extremely early version of Ashes of Creation back at PAX East 2018, and also chat with creative director Steven Sharif about his plan for succeeding in a space dominated by games like WoW and FFXIV and walked away impressed.
As is often the case when it comes to hugely ambitious crowdfunding projects (hi Star Citizen!), as the scope grows, things can get pushed back. However for some eager fans, the trickling out of information about the MMORPG version of Ashes of Creation (there’s a standalone battle royale game called Apocalypse that exists which is a testing ground of sorts for systems/gameplay for the MMO) has been a bit slow.
Over New Years Eve/Day though, developer Intrepid Studio reaffirmed their commitment to releasing Alpha One in 2020, which allow fans to take their first steps in the game world of Verra.
According to the letter penned by Sharif, internal testing of Alpha One will begin next month and a first look will be shown at GDC in March. If all goes well, some time after that Alpha One will be open to the public.
Arguably more exciting than all of that though was the reveal of the game’s full world map. It looks absolutely massive and it according to Sharif, it’s intended to hold up to 10,000 concurrent players.
The actual image is massive and it’s best viewed via this link if you want to get an in-depth look and zoom around, there’s a lot of detail that you have to look closely to appreciate, but below is a crude shot I took of it in case you’re feeling lazy.
Hopefully Ashes of Creation lives up to its promising vision and its gorgeous world map.
You can read the full letter from the creative director here via the official Ashes of Creation blog.
