Is City of Titans the Superhero MMORPG We’ve Been Waiting for?

I’ve been following an MMO for years now. An MMO that has been of significant interest to me being that it’s a game centered entirely around superheroes.
And as of October 2021, the only superhero MMOs we actually have legal access to are… DC Universe Online and Champions Online? I think City of Heroes has a private server that is still available, I’m not entirely certain.
I love superhero MMOs but I’m not gonna lie here… I haven’t been keeping up to date with them because… well, they barely update.

And that’s where City of Titans comes in.

City of Titans is a brand new indie-developed superhero-themed MMORPG. And let me stop you right there – I already know exactly what you’re thinking. “Wait, indie-developed? .. Like DreamWorld or Chronicles of Elyria?” Yes, just like those. But unlike the aforementioned titles, I actually have some hope for this one.
Like.. a teeny tiny bit of hope. Like Ant-Man. After he shrinks. Or The Atom. Or.. well you get the point. I am aware it has been in active development for years, but it actually has progress to show for it.
I know, I know. “Wait, an indie MMO actually has progress to show?” Yeah, color me surprised as well.

So, City of Titans is being developed by a brand new team of developers: “Missing Worlds Media.” Strange, potentially foreboding name, by the way. Let’s hope it isn’t an indication of what’s to come.
They are, in their words, “taking the principles of what made City of Heroes special and using them as a springboard to create a brand new game that learns from City of Heroes’ successes and failures, and takes full advantage of all the advances technology has made since City of Heroes’ release.”
Honestly, that’s a very grandiose claim to make. One I’m not sure they should have as the type of expectations players will no doubt have may go.. unrealized.

City of Titans has plenty of videos uploaded to their official Youtube channel, with some of the newest videos being from as recent as a week ago. Thus while the game may look far from being complete, they’re not making any attempts to hide their progress.
Some of these videos go on to showcase the city, some of them detail the combat, the super powers like super speed and flight. Some even go on to address the customization options available when creating your character, as that is going to be an integral part of the game for many players.
I mean if I’m being entirely honest with you all, while yeah, there are, what, currently 3 or 4 superhero MMOs in development, this is by far the most promising. Not that that’s really saying too much given their competition.
To me, the game looks and feels like an amalgamation of Ashes of Creation and League of Maidens. As if Intrepid Studio were developing a superhero game as opposed to someone like Zenimax or Square. It just has kind of an “indie” feel to it but there have been plenty of indie games I’ve enjoyed so I’m not complaining.

As this is a still currently “in-development” title, you’re probably wondering to yourself if it’s possible to get into an Alpha or Beta test phase, and.. your guess is as good as mine.
They posted an FAQ pertaining to test phases on their website, where they go on to note that they’re not in any way close to nearing a state with which the game is ready for a large number of players to test.
That many AAA titles push back test phases, release dates, and are typically announced once the game is in a mostly finished state. Unless you’re Cyberpunk.
We all know what happened with that. Indie games – and especially indie MMOs have to announce their games in their early stages, otherwise players won’t be capable of supporting their ideas via crowdfunding.
So this leaves developers, and their teams – which are noticeably smaller than AAA budget companies with endless work to push through to attempt to meet the deadlines that players want set. To release in a timely manner.

Now interestingly enough, City of Titans is going the “buy to play” route. You’ll be required to purchase the base edition of the game for an upfront fee, which will provide you lifelong access to the game and three months of VIP status.
I haven’t seen specifically what the VIP membership is going to necessarily provide in terms of items or advantage, and I’m sure they’re contemplating what to add themselves, but they noted there won’t be any type of “pay to win” within it.
And while I would love to – honestly, I would – I would love to give them the benefit of the doubt, I.. well, I have my doubts.
I fear that the game is going to not only suffer from a buy to play business model, and from the developers buckling under the pressure after seeing how poorly sales will likely look, forcing pay to win and pay to advance down our throats.
Even Elyon, which is developed by Bluehole, the devs behind TERA and published by Kakao, both companies with established presences online converted from a buy to play business model to a free to play one as a direct response to poor sales.
How do you honestly expect an MMO with no marketing and no presence to do? I think this is a death sentence for the game, maybe they’ll go free to play after the game fails to garner much attention as a premium title, I’m not sure.
I still think the game has a lot of potential, I just think they’re inhibiting its success significantly by going this route.
And I’ve never been a fan of VIP memberships. They might start off benign, but trust me, even The Elder Scrolls Online is guilty of providing quality of life benefits that are a necessity for players gated behind a purchase.

Unfortunately for fans of the superhero genre that might want this on console, they did confirm that the game is currently going to remain a PC exclusive. That isn’t their stance permanently – but they did state that it will not be available on any other platform at launch.

Yes, City of Titans is very likely still years off from being a complete MMORPG. But the more this community is made aware of it, the more resources they’ll gain access to and the more support they’ll receive.
I can’t say with any certainty that this is an MMO that will fully launch. Indie games – and much more commonly, indie MMOs fail all the time. Investing in games like this is always a gamble, so if you have any intention of supporting the game, do so with that notion in mind.
I genuinely think this has the potential to release. With the lack of superhero-themed MMOs on the market, it would definitely go a ways to filling a niche that needs filling.

From the graphical style, to the character animations, to the super powers, to the… world itself. Everything looks highly promising, and even if I’m forced to wait years to be able to play it, I would much rather they take their time to perfect and complete it as opposed to rushing it and having another Cyberpunk debacle.