Ultima Online released way back in 1997. It was a revolutionary MMORPG that revolved around player choice and intense player versus player combat. Fans have long been waiting for a sequel, but to no avail. Instead, a few of the Ultima developers have teamed up to form Citadel Studios and launch Legends of Aria, a spiritual successor to Ultima Online. The game was recently released on Steam Early Access, and while there are still a few bugs that need to be ironed out, Legends of Aria offers players a fantastic world that can easily keep them busy for hundreds of hours.

Create Your Hero Of Celador

The game starts by asking players to choose a server to join; either an official server or a community server. The official servers offer an authentic Legends of Aria experience, as the developers are the ones running the show. The community servers on the other hand, are run by other players. These are fully supported by Citadel Studios and can offer sweeping changes from the base game. For the sake of this preview, we will look solely at the official servers, although community servers are certainly worthy of your time. One server in particular, "Legends of Ultima," offers an excellent alternative for players looking for a more authentic Ultima experience.

Once players have selected their server, they will briefly customize their character’s appearance (several options are available, although it is nowhere near as in-depth as most other titles), select a starting build, allocate a few stats, and pick a starting location. There is no in-depth tutorial, although a “Guide” is available to answer some basic questions. Other than that you are left to your own devices.

You Are In Charge Of The Story

Legends of Aria sets up little to no story at the beginning of the game. As you progress, you will learn much more about the world of Celador and its inhabitants, but don’t expect much guidance along the way. You can easily play the game for a dozen hours, going about your own business and forging your own path forward, without learning even a bit about the world around you.

The bigger draw for a game like this is the story that you and your fellow players decide to create. Alliances will be formed, towns will be built, and battles will be won. All of this is up to the players. Thankfully, the community seems to be very accepting of newcomers at this point, and finding a few people to adventure with isn’t an issue.

What Exactly Do I Do?

The hardest part of Legends of Aria is simply figuring out what to do. There’s no tutorial to steer you in the right direction, nor is there a beginner questline to follow. Instead, you decide what to do. Unfortunately, this makes for a rough first impression. Several of the game mechanics are not explained, and there are a few things a new player should do before venturing out into the wild that are never even mentioned. However, after a few hours of playing, everything starts to click. This is the biggest hurdle of the game, and one that many players may not appreciate. The gameplay is very slow and meticulous to begin with, and if you are running around cluelessly it makes the game unbearable to play. The game doesn’t hold your hand at all, which is certainly a selling point for many players, but a few more nudges in the right direction would be much appreciated.

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Players who grind it out for the first few hours and learn the basics of gameplay are welcomed to a world that is teeming with possibilities. There are over 25 skills to develop, numerous resources to gather, crafting orders to fulfill, houses to build, guilds to join, dungeons to explore, and an impressive amount of PvP and PvE content.

Fight Club

Many players will be drawn to the PvP aspect of the game, and it does not disappoint. Large swathes of the game world are designated safe zones, where PvP is restricted. These include locations such as towns and outposts. Here, players are mostly safe from other players and are free to go about their business without interruption. Venture out into the wilderness, however, and it’s a no holds barred sort of affair. The wilderness holds some of the most valuable resources in the game along with some of the most interesting locations in the game. Players who are tempted to venture forth must always be on their toes.

When it comes to PvE content, there are a few dungeons to explore and well over 60 different types of enemies to slay. Combat, in general, stays fairly entertaining and active, and there are several different abilities to master. Weapons come with a few set skills that can always be used, while other skills must be learned as you progress through the game. Skills level up the more you use them; there’s no traditional “leveling up” and allocating points to your favorite stats. It’s important to note that only 600 skill points can be accumulated across all skills, so prioritizing your favorites is a must. The skill/leveling system offers plenty of room to tailor your character to your playstyle and fits the game perfectly.

Want A Tour Of My House?

If combat isn’t your thing, Legends of Aria has you covered. Finding land, building a home, and decking it out with the best furniture is just as engaging as slaying monsters. Building a house is a massive undertaking, requiring piles of gold as well as resources, but it’s a feature worthy of your time. In fact, you can also use your house to sell items to adventurers, as the best items in the game are usually items crafted by other players. Building a house will introduce you to the wide world of crafting and gathering. In fact, if you never want to fight another player, you could probably still pull hundreds of hours out of the game from crafting alone.

Legends of Aria is a wonderful game that promises to only get better as the developers update content, and it slowly crawls out of Early Access. There are still several graphical glitches (duplicate NPCs, character pop-ins, odd animations), gameplay bugs (items not stacking, items not transferring), and it could use a more elaborate tutorial. Also, some of the player-developed areas aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing (chalk it up to having no HOA), and it would be nice to have a few more towns that were developed by Citadel Studios. That being said, it’s a game that thrives on player choice and self-discovery. It’s up to you to determine if this is an adventure worth taking.

An Early Access copy of Legends of Aria was provided to TheGamer for this review. Legends of Aria is currently available on PC through Steam Early Access.

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