Warhammer: Odyssey Exclusive Interview – Auto-Play, Release Date, Emulators & More

Warhammer: Odyssey is the upcoming MMORPG from Virtual Realms, which is releasing soon on Android and iOS. We had the opportunity to ask  Community Manager Difinitus a few questions to prepare for the road ahead. Read our Warhammer: Odyssey exclusive interview below to discover what he had to say about the dreaded auto-play (spoiler: there isn't any), the challenges of developing an MMORPG with an old-school mindset, and if you can safely play this game on PC using an Android emulator, among other questions.

FreeMMOStation: Can you introduce yourself to our readers and talk about your role in the development of Warhammer: Odyssey?

Difinitus: Hello! I am Difinitus and I am the Community Manager for Warhammer Odyssey. Each of us here wear many hats in the studio, but you will most frequently find me interacting with the Community on Discord and our other channels listening to feedback and answering questions about the game. Think of me as a bridge between players and the dev team. I take the feedback, comments, and suggestions from the community and evaluate it internally to fix any bugs, balance content, and make Warhammer: Odyssey a great game!

FMMOS: How did the opportunity to develop a game based on such a high-profile franchise came up?

Difinitus: We are big Warhammer fans, and we wanted to explore the Wahammer Fantasy world in a unique way beyond the battlefields that are most common to us. We’re also devotees to the classical MMORPG experience that we frequently miss. We saw the opportunity to combine the two and Games Workshop were equally excited to share in our vision.

FMMOS: Since this is the Warhammer license, did you feel any restrictions while designing a game inspired by this massive universe? What was the most challenging aspect for the team?

Difinitus: With all its history, we feel that Warhammer Fantasy has a huge amount of fantastic lore to work with, so it wasn’t hard to find lots of references when designing characters and environments and it’s important to us to remain as true as possible. However, taking the world from its massive scale into a more individualized experience has proven to be challenging in ways we didn’t expect.

FMMOS: Warhammer: Odyssey is in development for mobile devices. However, it won’t include auto options such as auto-pathing and auto-combat. What led you to this decision, and how do you think it changes the design and flow of the game?

Difinitus: To echo what I wrote earlier, we’re passionate (and a bit nostalgic) to the “old school” MMORPGS we grew up on. Mobile devices have come an incredibly long way and allow us to take those same experiences with us during our busy lives. We feel that auto-play features take away from that experience and it just isn’t as fun to watch the game play for you.

FMMOS: Is there any sort of energy system in Warhammer: Odyssey to artificially lock players from the game, and why did you choose that option?

Difinitus: There is no type of ‘stamina system’ that forces you to top-up in our store or wait it out in order to continue progressing in Warhammer: Odyssey. We want players to play as much as they desire and it will take a significant investment of time to perfect your equipment.

FMMOS: Can you tell us a little about the world and regions that we get to visit in Warhammer: Odyssey? Is this MMORPG open world or not?

Difinitus: Warhammer: Odyssey takes place in the Old World and your adventure begins centered around the trade-port of Marienburg. Every zone is open to explore and play with friends to discover the mysteries and treasure that lie within. In future content updates, we plan to expand deeper into the Old World to bring familiar cultures, factions, and heroes to players.

FMMOS: Are there any mounts in the game or is exploration done on foot?

Difinitus: Warhammer: Odyssey was not designed with mounts in mind, so at this time exploration will be taken on foot. However, there are convenient fast travel waypoints scattered in every zone that you will have to discover and unlock.

FMMOS: Are you planning on including a housing system, or is this something that you’re considering for a future update, if at all?

Difinitus: Although I greatly enjoy player housing personally, it’s not something we are planning currently.

FMMOS: What will be the more common way of levelling up in Warhammer: Odyssey? Is it more story-based quests or grinding enemies?

Difinitus: For most, questing will be a great source of experience, while grinding is key to obtaining new equipment for your character as you progress through zones and the main story quest.

FMMOS: The character creation reveal showed us gender-locked classes, but you did state that this limitation is going to be removed. When can we expect this to happen, is it at launch or later?

Difinitus: We planned from the start to allow players to choose both male and female for each class. When we previewed an early look into the Character Creation for Warhammer: Odyssey, players showed us how important this feature was to them. In response, we re-prioritized and moved it up the development schedule to be available a lot sooner than originally expected.

FMMOS: Since Warhammer: Odyssey is a mobile game, many players will want to play it on PC. What is your stance on Android emulators? Are you fine with it or do you plan on blocking their use?

Difinitus: It’s important to the team to make the game available to as many devices as possible, Android emulators come with their own unique limitations. While we won’t actively block the use of emulators, they are not an officially supported device to play the game. Should a player encounter any issue playing Warhammer: Odyssey on one, our in-game support may not be able to assist in helping them to resolve it. To this we say, use at your own risk.

FMMOS: When are you planning on running a beta test?

Difinitus: While we have had a successful closed beta test for a few months now, our Soft Launch is, in a way, another kind of beta. Warhammer: Odyssey will be limited to a few countries initially and we will slowly expand availability with a full expected global release by end of January 2021!

FMMOS: Anything else you would like to say to our readers?

Difinitus: We’re really excited for you to play Warhammer: Odyssey with us! Come talk to some members of the dev team and other adventurers in our Discord, or follow us on Twitter for the latest info when Warhammer: Odyssey is available in your area!

FMMOS: Thank you for your time!

We would like to thank Difinitus for taking the time to give us this Warhammer: Odyssey exclusive interview. You can follow the game on Facebook and on the official website as well. Just a quick reminder that the Warhammer: Odyssey release date is set for late January 2021, so you should be exploring the Old World in no time.