Nexon Announces 2 New Games – 1 New Upcoming MMORPG

Everyone knows Nexon, right? They shut down their Calirofnia studio earlier this year, shut down MapleStory 2, shut down Peria Chronicles, gave up publishing rights to Dragon Nest, Riders of Icarus and Dungeon Fighter Online.
Yeah, that Nexon. The Nexon that outside of MapleStory, Mabinogi and Vindictus, have shut down pretty much every title they’ve released up until this point.
Well, boy do I have exciting news for you guys! They just announced we’re getting a brand new MMORPG – yup, they’re working on another new title to release after their recent V4 launch onto PC.

And no, the new MMO isn’t Project BBQ. They’re still supposedly working on Project BBQ with devCat apparently still hard at work on getting the game ready for a 2020 test phase.
This is an entirely new project. Well, one of two upcoming projects.

This project in specific, which let me preface this entire conversation with the fact that it actually has no confirmed title yet, not even the common “Project random letter” that South Korean MMO developers seem so fond of, is being built using Unreal Engine 4.
Gone are the days when we were forced to play games using Unreal Engine 3 – wait, no, nevermind. The upcoming Elyon MMORPG is being built with Unreal Engine 3, still. Whoops!

Nexon’s goal with this is to develop a “AAA-class masterpiece that can satisfy users in all aspects such as content and visuals.”
Alright, now hear me out. Peria Chronicles was the best looking upcoming Anime MMO I’d ever seen, and it provided the opportunity for almost endless content. However one thing that players complained about during the test phase was its combat.
Combat is an integral part of what makes an MMORPG playable for a lot of players. If the combat isn’t engaging, if it doesn’t hold your attention, you’re going to rapidly grow tired of it and stop playing.
This happens quite often during the early leveling periods in Final Fantasy XIV and The Elder Scrolls Online. Combat is slow, and people get bored, so they come to the false conclusion that the combat is going to remain that way indefinitely, and cease their progression through the game.
Nexon have noted that they aren’t at all focused on combat, and are instead working on creating a “pretty game.” If there’s one thing we know about South Korean MMOs, it’s that they’re always damn good to look at. But that’s about as far as they ever make it, right?
I think Black Desert might be the last MMO that actually had a good combat system from a South Korean developer.

Another example of this is both the upcoming Elyon and New World MMOs.
Elyon’s tab-target was so poorly received that KRAFTON, the developers, had to completely overhaul the combat system and make it complete action-oriented, allowing players to freely aim without the need for a target.
And New World is considered by many – not all, but quite a few players to have a terribly slow, clunky and ultimately poor combat system for an action MMORPG.
Combat matters, Nexon. Gameplay is an important facet of every game so you might not wanna ignore it.

We know a bit about the upcoming MMO thus far, as they’ve released small bits of information. For starters, the game is going to be set in a medieval fantasy world with magic, castles, forts and other building types.
It’s going to have a completely seamless open world just like Black Desert, which means that there won’t be a single loading screen found anywhere throughout the game world, with everywhere being easily accessible and interconnected.
There is going to be cross-compatibility between PC and mobile – however, before you guys jump to the conclusion that this is going to be a mobile game, do note that they are creating this with PC players in mind.
This means that yes, you’ll definitely be capable of playing the game on your mobile device as well, but mobile devices are hopefully going to be a secondary thought as opposed to their main focus.
And let’s be honest, if they want this to be successful – to start a brand new MMORPG IP that PC players will be interested in, they’re going to need to cater to us a little more.

Finally, the upcoming game is going to have an isometric point of view, meaning it’s going to play like Lost Ark, TL: Origin, Path of Exile and Diablo if what I gathered is to be believed.
This is an interesting route to take as I don’t see many successful MMOs utilizing that graphical style, honestly. Maybe there’s a reason for that!

Regardless, they’re working on another title, “Project HP” as well, but nothing is currently known about that game other than it has the same medieval fantasy setting.
I’m always excited to hear that new MMORPGs are being developed – the market always needs new titles to compete with one another, but considering this is Nexon… I dunno. I guess we’ll need to wait and see.