Black Desert Online MMORPG Features Preview | Hype Meter

Hype Meter is a FreeMMOStation show where we give you an overview of the most anticipated free MMO games. This time we take a look at Black Desert Online, the hugely exciting MMORPG from Pearl Abyss.

Introduction

What is Black Desert Online? Black Desert Online only counts two official trailers so far, but this was more than enough to draw attention to it. Developed by Pearl Abyss, a new studio from South Korea founded by the original producer of C9, this game took us by surprise and the stunning visuals immediately captured our attention. But beauty is only skin deep, as they usually say, so it’s good to know that there’s a host of features to support the amazing graphics. Come with us for a journey to the one desert you will never forget.

Selling points

At first, the major selling point would be the stunning visuals and characters, but there are other things to be excited about: parkour, action combat, amazing and seamless game world (no loading except for instances), weather system, housing system, and more!

The first thing that you’ll notice is the graphical brilliance of this game. I mean, just look at the majestic cities, so diverse and stunning and imagine just how it feels to explore them. It’s not just the cities either; it’s the castles, the surrounding terrain, the amazing shadows, the wildlife… Black Desert seems so full of life that it’s almost difficult to believe your eyes. But then you take a look at those jaw-dropping characters and you feel the need to pinch yourself. Just take a moment to look at them in the video, enjoy for a few seconds…

Ok, so now we’re taking a look at those monsters. The imagination on display is utterly amazing, every creature seems impressive and we can say that this is a fantasy world that actually displays a lot of imagination, not just a rehash of the tired old things we’re used to see.

But it’s not just the graphics – there’s a housing system. Every house in a city can be purchased by a player and even turned into a business, such as a store or a blacksmith. You can even add furniture to your house, such as a bed to sleep on and cabinets to store items. It’s like The Sims meets medieval fantasy MMORPG. You won’t be able to have a house in any place though, so if you want to take some time to rest in a field, your only option is a tent. This seems like a good thing to make sure that the cities are thriving and to avoid having some houses scattered across the land in the strangest of places.

Characters will be able to do some parkour moves, to climb on towers or houses when you feel bored, as the developers say. Who never wanted to take the moves of Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider or Prince of Persia to an MMORPG such as this one? Hopefully the game won’t have a pile of hay in each corner!

Black Desert’s world also includes day and night cycles that affect gameplay. Each day in the game takes about 4 real hours. During the night, monsters are more dangerous and most NPCs go home for a peaceful night. Some events are specific to daytime or nighttime, so you’ll have to be attentive to discover new quests.

Finally, we can’t forget the action combat system that was admittedly inspired by Red Dead Redemption and even includes horse drifting. We could have a much worse inspiration, you’ll have to agree. The siege warfare is also looking amazing!

Oh, and there’s elephants too, that should be fun!

Possible shortcomings

No matter how beautiful this game may be and how immersive the world is, there has to be a good story to keep players motivated and, mostly, interesting quests. If we’re given all this power to spend weeks just killing ten rats and taking a letter to an NPC, then all the potential is thrown out of the fantasy window. Let’s hope the designers know how to keep us interested in this world.

Also, apparently some characters were going to be gender locked – which is something that we know you all just loooooove – but new info seems to suggest the idea has been dropped. Fingers crossed. Classes known so far are pretty standard, but so that you know, here they are: fighter, ranger, sorcerer, predator and tamer. The character editor and customization is also a bit of a mystery so far, so let's hope that will be of high quality too.

Anticipation

If you haven’t figured it out already, we’re completely psyched for this game. We’re even considering moving to Korea for a few years just to play it. It’s that impressive, brimming with features and deserves a lot more attention than it is getting so far. So, on a scale of 1 to 5, our anticipation for this game is 10. 20. A hundred! We may sound like overexcited kids on Christmas Eve, but Black Desert really is the MMO that we’re eagerly anticipating for the most. It’s not The Elder Scrolls Online; it’s not World of Darkness, or even Blizzard’s Project Titan. This is the one, right here. Free to play or not? We’ll think about that one later, now we just don’t give a damn.

I hope you enjoyed our feature. We tried to cover the most important details that make Black Desert so exciting, but we never had the idea of getting into the tiny details. We'll be back for more episodes of Hype Meter!