This feels like an Early Access title | Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore - First Impressions

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Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore is not your typical MMORPG. It is an old school, hardcore game with high ambitions and a promising idea, featuring voxel based graphics and a gameplay bordering sandbox and simulation elements rather than being an actual action-based game. The game has a strong resemblance to classic RPG games such as Runescape. Moreover, it boasts an adventurous orchestral soundtrack that will make medieval fantasy fans feel right at home

The player can only strictly move in four directions, meaning there are no diagonal movements or full 360 degrees of movement, which can be a bit jarring for new players especially those not used to this style. You can use the WASD to move, or use mouse clicks to anywhere near the character or the mini-map to move to that specific location automatically with decent pathing.

Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore started with me learning the ropes and slowly being introduced to the mechanics. Starting with learning how to pick up resources from the environment, and a bit offbeat tutorial teaching me how to cook first, above anything else. Then I was tasked to kill some Rats and that’s where I saw some minor combat action. The tutorial and the overall dialogue system is a bit long-winded and clunky to interact with, but aside from that, the new player experience does a pretty decent job of introducing the game to the player without overwhelming him with too much information.

The game then proceeds to offer me quest after quest, providing a guided exploration experience across the land while gradually introducing mechanics such as repairs, crafting, and healing. The world layout is fairly typical for an MMORPG, including towns, treacherous countryside brimming with unusual dangers such as oversized spiders or rats, as well as roaming NPCs, dungeons, forests, roads, and more. However, in line with the game's hardcore feel, the pacing is slow overall. Movement is sluggish, combat feels lethargic, and interacting with the environment can be a bit tedious.

There are many classes and subclasses to choose from, including fighters, protectors, archers, rogues, arcanists, and mystics. Perhaps more than the usual offering in MMORPGs, especially new ones. Each class offers widely varying opportunities for playstyles and approaches to combat, giving players the opportunity to customize their gameplay experience to their liking. The class names are very straightforward and easy to understand.

As for the potential costs of playing the game, Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore is going to cost around $10/month to access the entirety of the content, while the free-to-play option only gives access to the first two areas, including the tutorial area, which amounts to around 10 to 20 hours of gameplay.

While a lifetime (of the game only, not the player) subscription fee of $300 is available as an option, Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore may not be worth considering due to the current state of the game. The game launched a week ago plagued with problems even outside the game with purchases and server issues, and is planned to be relaunched come May 12th, with the servers getting a full wipe.