MMORPGs - A Return to the Classics

There has been a rapidly growing trend over the last year or so that’s been pushing video games in general to ‘return’ to the classics – the days of old. I guess the entire video game industry goes through this phase every once in a while, usually when the industry is running low on good ideas. The shift towards ‘returning to the old ways’ is best observed just by looking at the most recent game releases. Perfect World Co just released a single player action RPG called Torchlight which was designed to resemble Blizzard’s Diablo games. Torchlight is currently a singleplayer game but an MMORPG version is expected to launch in the coming year. TorchLight though isn’t the only game trying to copy Diablo though – Esteria Mythos was released recently in North America and it looks and plays a lot like the original Diablo game and also a bit like Mu Online.

Both Dungeon Fighter Online and Battle of Destiny are fine examples of relatively new MMORPGs that are trying to ‘return to the classics’. Both of these games were designed to look and play like retro arcade beat em’ ups like Gauntlet Legends and Streets of Rage. I don’t know about you – but I loved these games as a kid, so I don’t mind the sudden interest in returning to the classics. I’m not sure though if ‘new age’ gamers who never played the Diablo games will appreciate these side scrolling beat’ em ups. I mean – why would a new age gamer want to play these kinds of games when they could be playing much better looking 3D MMORPGs like Runes of Magic and Dungeons and Dragons Online, as after all – most of the gamers that play Dungeon Fighter Online / Battle of Destiny – play those games almost purely for nostalgic value. It’s like getting a 10 year old today to play the original Donkey Kong arcade game – he’s going to think it ‘sucks’ and go back to his Call of Duty game.

Even on the non MMORPG front – games seem to be going through the ‘return to the classics’ phase. Bioware just released their epic RPG – Dragon Age: Origins which was designed from the bottom up to be a spiritual successor to the classic Baldur’s Gate 2. Btw – for those of you who haven’t played Dragon Age: Origins yet – do check it out. It’s one of the best single player RPGs…. ever.