Bossa Studios’ big ambitious MMO, Worlds Adrift, has been cast out into the endless skies to continue its journey a little while longer. Originally stated for a 2016 launch, the game has been pushed back to Q1 2017.
Until then you’ll have to make do with our list of the best MMORPGs.
Earlier in the year, studio headHenrique Olifiers said that Bossa wouldn’t release a game that’s not ready, not even into Early Access.
Worlds Adrift is underpinned by some special tech that allows for one persistent server filled with all the players, remembering every action anyone takes. The problem with being pioneers, is that it also means there are some unexpected issues cropping up along the way.
“The main issue we face [in developing Worlds Adrift] is that we’re not dealing with just features, but a new way of engineering a massive multiplayer game whose core tech affects each one of the features all the time, generating a huge amount of rework and debugging,” Olifiers said back in July. “Since Alpha3.5 we’ve been delayed by roughly ten weeks as most of the team had to focus on the network code, with features’ development slowed down. Only in the past week have we picked up the pace again.”
Now Bossa are planning for the next playtest, which will apparently be the biggest yet, adding a bunch of new features for players to mess around with. The next playtest is “imminent” and adds the following:
- Knowledge – Islands now have ancient Saborian databanks scattered around. Scan these for Knowledge, which you can use to specialise your character in the Knowledge tree tab of your character sheet.
- New Shipyard – The new Shipyard makes its debut! Build your custom ship frame exactly how you want: tall and skinny or wide and flat, small and sleek or big and bulky, it’s all up to you
- Loot – Islands now contain lootable containers, where ancient schematics are now found.
- Pistols – The crossbow has been replaced by the pistol, which should be easier to aim with.
- Combat – ranged combat has had a complete overhaul, and rebalance, so ship combat will involve lots of cannons, and big ship fights.
- Male character – Many of you have been asking for this feature for a long time. Well, it’s finally here. You can now play as a gentleman of the skies.
- Sails – Sails are now craftable and attachable to decks. A ship now only technically needs a core and a sail to fly, though it’s probably still a good idea to add a reviver. Pay attention to the direction of the wind.