What is TL: Origin? 2022’s Best Free Action MMORPG?

TL: Origin is a top-down isometric action MMORPG that shares quite a few similarities to Lost Ark that has been in active development since November 2011.
Yes, as of this very minute, the game, which originally went under the name “Lineage Eternal” has been in development for an entire decade, suffering repeated delays over the course of its development cycle.
TL: Origin shares a direct connection to the first Lineage MMO, as it was intended to be a direct sequel to its predecessor.

TL: Origin, which stands for “The Lineage: Origin” just so everyone’s on the same page was originally a very different game.
To distance their game from their main competition, Lost Ark, they had opted to make a game that shared similar aesthetics, but at the same time differ substantially in terms of core gameplay mechanics and functionality.
Lineage: Eternal was built around multi-character play. What this meant was that while you had your own character to create–to control, you could recruit up to 2 additional characters and engage in much larger-scale encounters, controlling all 3 characters simultaneously.
This would make for some very complex encounters and deep customization options, as you could essentially make your own tank/healer/DPS team without the need of a single other player.
A few years into the development process, NCSoft decided they didn’t want to proceed with this type of gameplay, and instead, opted to change to a much more traditional action combat system, controlling a single character.
While not nearly as complex, while not offering the same freedom to build a team that could overcome any encounter, it definitely left players more pleased with the direction the game was going. This felt more traditional to them, and therefore more comfortable.
And that is, in essence, where we are today.

Initially, TL: Origin was being built for a South Korean audience. NCSoft had shown no interest in releasing the game overseas to an international audience.
However, towards the end of 2020, it was revealed that not only were they aiming for a Closed Beta release date within 2021, but also that they had intentions in releasing the game to a global audience.
While it doesn’t look like they’ll be capable of following through with their goal of releasing into Closed Beta testing this year, and it makes sense as to why that is, I do want to note their quote about a Western release.
In a press release last year, it was revealed that they’ve “found it to be quite difficult launching games that are successful and well known within South Korea to the overseas market.
Players just aren’t very receptive, and part of this reason is due to the fact that these games are built for Korean players in mind, not Western players.”
Under this logic, TL: Origin looks to be targeting Western players, as the developers believe for the game to be successful to a larger audience, they’re all but required to appeal to an audience they don’t typically attempt to appeal to.
They further go on to state that “TL: Origin is being built for the global audience with technologies and visuals they are familiar with.”
Whether that means that they’re going to be developing the game with an aesthetic look and feel of Western MMOs, or instead something that more closely resembles the older Lineage games players are more familiar with remains to be seen, but I believe it’s a step in the right direction developing MMOs with us Western players in mind.

TL: Origin was being built as a PC exclusive MMO. They had absolutely no intentions of making the game cross-platform compatible with neither consoles, nor mobile devices.
Fast forward to the end of 2020, and it was revealed to appeal to an even wider audience of players, the game would be including console cross-platform functionality.
They have yet to confirm anything pertaining to the mobile platform – so you guys can take a moment to relax, but at the same time they never directly confirmed specifically which consoles the game would be launching onto.
While we have a confirmed console release in the works, they have yet to shed any light regarding the cross-play between platforms.
It might be something like Bless Unleashed: Having two entirely separate games coexisting alongside one another, but with different teams working on them, or they might allow you to use the same character across both console and PC like Genshin Impact. Only time will tell.

TL: Origin has been in active development for an entire decade at the time of this going live. And after a decade, we have barely any information available to really get excited for.
We only have a single gameplay trailer released years ago. We have no confirmation as to whether the MMO will be available in 2022 or 2023. We don’t know if the team has expanded or filtered members to other sub-divisions of the company.
We know barely any more than we did back in 2017, other than the type of combat, the world, the graphical style and their plans for a global release.

TL: Origin is an MMORPG with a large, open world for players to explore.

The combat from the trailer looks incredibly high quality.

As a South Korean MMO, there’s no doubt the customization options will blow our minds.

Graphically, the game looks fantastic for a top-down isometric title.

The game is being built for a Western audience – which might be the first South Korean MMO of its kind to do so.

TL: Origin is being developed by NCSoft.

The game has been delayed for 10 years now.

It’s almost guaranteed to feature gender locked locked classes and races.

It’s a top-down isometric MMO. Players aren’t too fond of those types of games.

It’s South Korean, so we can expect heavy pay-to-win.

It’s NCSoft.

Ultimately, TL: Origin looks like it could be a really good looking new MMO. Will it become the best MMO of whatever year it releases in? Highly doubtful. This is a South Korean MMO being developed and published by NCSoft, but at the same time it is going to tie in to the main Lineage IP, so there’s definitely potential.
Whether they can live up to the potential the franchise has is another thing all together, though, as they’ve shown repeatedly over the last decade.