Zenith Release Date? A Brand New Upcoming VR Anime MMORPG

Zenith? Zeeneth?
People have been asking me why I don’t do videos on VR MMORPGs. My answer to that had always been that there was no VR MMO at the time worth covering.
That changed today, though, when a game I’d been following, a VR MMO called Zenith released a brand new trailer showcasing the game, its progress through the development cycle and what players had to look forward to. The trailer in specific was released on the 4th of September, but I wasn’t aware it was available until just now.

Honestly, it isn’t a bad looking trailer. I can see why it has a 99% like ratio and so many people are praising it – I saw the very first trailer they released for the game and it has seen some remarkable improvements.

But what is Zenith? Zenith is a VR MMO set in a futuristic world inspired by Anime and JRPGs – two genres I’m sure you’re all more than happy to see meshed together.
The game will allow players to level up, fight monsters, craft a wide selection of items, forge alliances, join guilds, group up with other players and tackle world bosses, participate in huge raids and explore the large, open world.
I’m not really sure what you’d classify Zenith’s combat as. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a term coined for VR combat.
But according to the devs, the gameplay that was shown within the trailer represents – in their words – “less than 20%” of the content found within the upcoming Alpha. Yes, the game is going into Alpha testing, hopefully this year if everything goes according to plan.
With the new Alpha comes a slew of new content such as brand new environments, whole new classes and enemy mechanics. Things people have been waiting to see for a while now. When Zenith launched their Kickstarter, the game was fully funded within several hours of going live, finishing their run with almost $300,000.

Zenith isn’t going to be exclusively available on VR though. The team behind the upcoming MMO revealed that it’ll also be fully compatible with desktop devices!

Speaking a little more on classes, Zenith is actually going to ditch the holy trinity that has been so prevalent in MMOs throughout the decades, instead allowing for players to highly customize their build.
Every player, every class can become each and every role – with your final role being solely dependent on what skills you choose, and what skills you opt to equip.
As an example, if you want to start off as a Mage, you definitely can. Mages typically fill the DPS role of course, and you’d expect that to be the case here.
While that is a route you could definitely take if you wanted, you could also choose to spec into heals, providing you the ability to not only deal elemental damage, but also support your allies as a secondary healer.
Or you could spec into tanking abilities, and tank for the party while fighting close range. The choices are endless, really, and I feel as though that’s going to kind of make for a highly enjoyable experience overall.
Customization – class customization and class identity specifically has been lost in MMOs these days. In Final Fantasy XIV they ruined tanks by making us all feel the same.
In WoW they removed so much of what made each class feel unique and special. So it’s good seeing devs taking this into consideration and building on something that players want to see.
Speaking of customization, the game is going to have a fully fleshed out character creation system, allowing players to craft their avatar with precision. Their face, their body. This is a game that will feature full-body avatars and animations, and as such, the need to customize yourself is important.

A little earlier I touched on how the next Alpha test phase will include additional AI enemy mechanics, right? According to the dev team, Zenith is going to feature “advanced AI,” as “a fully immersive world must be filled with believable characters and AI” they go on to state.
Supposedly, monsters are going to move and act much like the player will. They’ll attempt to dodge your attacks, they’ll run, hide, take cover, and hunt – things you’ve never seen in any MMORPG before. Their words, not mine.
This is actually really interesting to hear, honestly, and I look forward to seeing where they ultimately take this.

“Pull earth shields out of the ground, suck creatures in with devastating gravity wells, or simply blast them with ultimate power using chain lightning.”
They’re examples given when discussing the various types of gameplay that will be present in-game. Each class apparently has their own unique weapon type, their own unique combat style and an ability set specific to them.
As an example, the Essence Mage relies heavily on ranged throwing while requiring a certain level of accuracy. So you know this class is out for Mrs Stix. However, the Duelist, as you’d expect is a close-range melee class that requires the precise timing of combos.
Each class is going to function differently, and will require time to learn and adapt accordingly.

Zenith is going to be a fully functional MMORPG built for both desktop and VR. It’ll feature a large, open world, a guild system, an in-depth crafting system, social activities, instanced dungeons, raids, world events and various other types of content you’ve grown to love about MMOs.

Zenith looks really good to me. I know there are going to be some people that complain about the graphics, the world, the combat. How “VR MMOs aren’t ready yet” because they don’t look how you expected them to look, but this is a great step in the right direction.
I think this game has a lot of potential to be something really great, and I look forward to seeing how the game continues to come together over the next year leading up to its release.

As of September 2020, there is no confirmed release date for the upcoming Alpha test. However, the official Zenith release date for both VR and PC is 2021. Yes, the upcoming VR MMO will be launching in 2021 as long as there aren’t any issues that prevent them from doing so.