10 Free to Play MMORPGs You Should Definitely Try In May, 2019.

So keeping with the tradition of featuring 10 MMORPGs per month you potentially haven’t played, I’d like to welcome you all to May 2019’s.
Before I get into this, allow me to preface it by stating that these are going to be 10 MMORPGs – MMORPGs that you may have played but also potentially haven’t.
None of these games are “the best MMORPG” – that’s not what this list is for. This list is purely to attempt to bring additional attention, additional focus to games you may have overlooked in the past or games you may not even know exist.
So, please don’t get the wrong idea.

Let’s start this off with probably the most requested game not currently in any of these lists, Phantasy Star Online 2.
It’s an Anime MMORPG – perhaps “the” Anime MMORPG for fans of the Anime genre.
It utilizes fast action combat and combos – sure, a much more basic version than a game like Black Desert or Blade & Soul but still, it’s fun in its own right.
The graphical style is also likely the most Anime-ish you’ll get. Sure, there are more chibi-Anime styled games like Aura Kingdom or Soul Worker, but none that enable you to fully embrace the Otaku lifestyle.
Like Soul Worker, PSO2 is hub-based, taking you through what I can only explain as the largest instanced linear zones you’ll probably come across in a game of this kind.
Unfortunately the game is only in Japanese, but there is a very large English translation patch available that every non Japanese player uses to play.

This is a private server for Closers because honestly, although En Masse do an alright job at publishing the game, it’s on its last legs. And people know it – especially with the recent Kritika shut down.
Closers, or Code Closers, rather, is an Anime MMORPG – although the term is used loosely. Yes it’s technically classified as an MMORPG but it’s hub-based, having you form parties with small groups to tackle instanced-based content.
The game features a side-scrolling brawler style of combat, giving you a small hotbar with which one can affix skills to and combo them together in perhaps some of the flashiest action combat in an Anime MMO.
Graphically, it’s also a very attractive Anime-themed game. It has a strong emphasis on.. plot, like most Korean MMOs do and the outfits help accentuate the characters’.. assets.
As I mentioned, the game is hub-based meaning it takes place primarily in small cities with other players being phased between channels. You select small, instanced dungeons and progress through the story via those dungeons.

I’m sure a lot of you have played Blade & Soul. I mean by this point who hasn’t? Well, on the off chance that someone here has actually somehow missed the game, let’s talk about it for a sec.
Blade & Soul is.. well, when I don’t call it an Anime MMORPG people get all defensive and criticize what my criteria for an Anime MMO must be. When I call it an Anime MMORPG, people get all pissy and say I don’t know what I’m talking about.
So Blade & Soul is a kinda Anime-inspired but not completely Anime-ish MMORPG.
It also has what is perhaps the smallest hotbar in an MMO I’ve ever seen, giving players a small selection of skills that you can combo into other skills providing more diversity in combat abilities the further you progress through the game.
Combat is action – not like Black Desert but.. well, its action combat is a little more unique in so that some of the skills requre targets as opposed to BDO that allows you to literally use anything anywhere.
When Blade & Soul released it was almost unparalleled in terms of graphics. Now, with new games popping up on the horizon the game definitely shows its age a little more but with the graphical overhaul on the way, we could see it looking even better!
And if you’re a fan of… thicc women, then Blade & Soul has all focus on one thing: Or, two things. I’m sure you can guess what.

I talk about Mabinogi all the time when I discuss Anime MMORPGs because – and I’m not exaggerating here – when Mabinogi launched, it was one of the most innovative MMOs of its kind.
To this day, mid 2019, it is still one of the most innovative MMOs of its kind. Never has an MMO managed to capture what Mabinogi did and still does.
Not the aging system. Not the rebirth system. Not the exploration or sheer freedom it gives you. Not all in one, no. Sure, some games have captured parts of what makes Mabinogi special, but never have we gotten an MMO as free and complete as this.
It has a very unique Anime-esque theme that hasn’t really been replicated since – with the exception being the upcoming Peria Chronicles.
Combat is very complex, although simultaneously slow and at times, clunky. Especially if you’re not used to this type of game. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad – it just requires time to learn.
Graphically it’s probably the most unique Anime MMO I’ve ever seen and that makes it memorable. It definitely shows its age but until Peria Chronicles, you probably won’t find a more unique game.

I almost feel like, at this point, the title of the video should be changed to “The 10 best Anime MMORPGs to play in 2019” because this is what, the.. 4th? 5th Anime-themed MMORPG? haha.
NosTale, or rather NosTale Vendetta, the much more densely populated NosTale private server is an Anime MMORPG, one of the last old-school themed Anime MMOs left alive. Yes, they are a dying breed.
NosTale, like Mabinogi, is actually a very uniquue game. It’s uh.. I’m not 100% certain how to go about explaining the type of game it is, but it features a very large world.
A world kind of like Final Fantasy XIV or Blade & Soul – instanced off via portals but not instanced off from other players. Rather, zones themselves are cut off from one another by loading screens required to transition between them.
Combat is old-school point-and-click, having you hover over your target and select them to engage them in combat.
There are a plethora of classes and so many things to level, explore and learn that I feel as though it’s a neverending struggle – but that’s where I feel it excels.
There’s nothing worse than an MMO that feels like it ends.
Graphically, it’s an old-school sprite-ish looking Anime themed MMORPG. It’s cute and actually resembles old JRPGs I used to love.

Requiem: Memento Mori is probably one of the only non-Anime themed MMOs in this list. And it’s quite the MMO at that. Do note that this game is not for the easily disturbed, disgusted or those of you that are squeamish.
There is a lot of death, a lot of gore, dismemberment, guts and more flown anywhere, everywhere and.. down places you would rather them not end up in Requiem.
Requiem is one of the only horror-themed MMORPGs available, taking place in a weird.. dystopian future? I think, I dunno, I forgot the plot as it’s been 2 years since I tried it out.
The game itself is pretty generic. Combat is normal tab-target and graphically it looks similar to most mid-2000s Korean MMOs but its setting is where it shines.
When I kill monsters, I can dismember them, sending their heads flying 20 feet into the air. I can slice their bodies in half and see their guts spill out. The shit in this game is crazy.
You have to try it out if even just to see what you can do to monsters.

Vindictus is pretty much like.. Phantasy Star Online 2.. but with titties. A massive, substantial, considerable-enormous even, focus on.. exploration. I’m messing with you guys. It’s on the titties.
Vindictus is a very realistic hub-based dungeon crawler MMORPG, just like PSO2, Soul Worker, Closers, Kritika and all the others.
It has very, very good action combat. To date, some people consider Vindictus to actually have the best action combat in the genre and I’ll admit, if it were optimized and made open-world, I could see it perhaps being one of the better MMOs out there.
Unfortunately, though, the instanced-world and dungeons prevent it from being as such but what it does it does very well.
It’s been around a long while and is very polished. With the exception of the optimization, man this game drives me crazy with FPS issues.
Graphically, it’s still one of the best looking MMOs in my opinion. The sheer detail in your characters is.. incomparable to almost any other MMO out there.

Pirate King Online or Tales of Pirates, whichever you want to refer to it as was my very first MMO.
I still occasionally go back to the game purely to see how it’s doing, and although the official servers were shut down by IGG years ago, there are private servers around carrying the torch.
Pirate King is a very old-school Anime MMO. It’s nothing fancy graphically, you’re what I feel like every browser-MMO character looks like- pixelated, generic and not very customizable.
But nevertheless, I had some of the best experiences of my life in that game. The combat is point-and-click, not tab-target and not action – you click a skill on your hotbar and you hover over the monster or enemy to use it.
I understand that most MMO players these days, or gamers, even, have a strong dislike for combat like this but the fact of the matter is.. there’s still a market for it, and it’s still damn polished.

Okay, so KurtzPel hasn’t actually come out yet, but I did a video on it a month or two ago and it’s hit almost a half million views.
The game is scheduled to release next week and I’m going to be playing it with my wife MrsStix while simultaneously doing a video on it so I thought now was the opportune time to include this in the list.
KurtzPel is a heavily instanced MMO-esque game. I say “MMO-esque” because like hub-based MMOs, KurtzPel takes place in a small quest-hub that you can take missions from and you enter instances to complete them.
However, unlike hub-based MMOs where you progress through linear instanced environments, KurtzPel has you take on battles- single battles as opposed to large groups of enemies with a final boss fight.
The game is also very PvP-heavy, so if that isn’t your thing.. the PvE might not be enough to hold you over. But nevertheless, my wife and I had fun partying and playing together.
We fully expect to play more this time and gather additional footage so if you wanna know more, wait a week or two and we’ll have an updated video up!

I feel like Atlantica Online is one of the very few unique, innovative MMORPGs pretty much ever released.
It’s not that the game “looks” unique, it’s that unlike most MMOs that have you play your character, customize your character, gear your character and ultimately progress your character, Atlantica has you do that to a party of them.
In specific, you gain access to a large group – a party of NPCs that you actually control in combat similarly to your own personal character, and you have the ability to craft and gear them how you like.
Tell me, what other games, other than Granado Espada allow for that kind of gameplay? Exactly, they don’t.
If you’re a fan of old-JRPGs like Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Star Ocean or the Tales of games then you’ll be surprised to learn that Atlantica actually utilizes an instanced-combat screen, having you engage in turn-based combat in an alternate screen.
I cannot begin to express how awesome this game is, seriously. You need to play it to fully understand.

And there we have it. 10 MMORPGs you may or may not have heard about.
Are they good MMORPGs? They’re all a lotta fun to mess around in and honestly you never lose anything from trying something new… other than perhaps a little time.
But if you’re watching this video looking for something to play, then clearly you have time to burn. So what harm is there in trying one or even several of these out?
Worst case scenario you end up still looking for an MMO to waste some time in. Best case? You find something fun to actually waste some time in.