Dune Awakening officially launched this week, bringing to an end a long development cycle and a short headstart that actually culminated in a not-trainwreck and some decent player numbers.
Meanwhile, we took a long look at Chrono Odyssey and Vindictus Defying Fate, and you’ll be surprised which one of those actually came up with a glowing preview. Plus, Jagex leadership earned jeers, LOTRO and DDO announced they’re closing down the old 32-bit servers now that we’re all moved to the 64-bits, and MOP’s Chris demo’d eight games from Steam Next Fest you may want to keep an eye on. And hey, Nightingale’s not dead!
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
The spice must flow: Dune Awakening officially launches this morning - As of right now for fans of Dune Awakening, the spice must flow. Also the crafting must achieve a flow state, the ornithopters must fly, and the fear must not be…
First Impressions: Chrono Odyssey feels like a jankier New World - Ahead of its publicly available beta on June 20th, MassivelyOP was granted an early peak at Chrono Odyssey's current by the folks Kakao Games, and I got to take it…
Not So Massively: Vindictus Defying Fate’s alpha promises a highly polished Soulslike - Right now, Nexon is offering a free Steam demo of its upcoming solo/co-op action RPG Vindictus: Defying Fate, but before the devs opened the doors to the public, they were…
Perfect Ten: Awful things I don’t miss about 2000s-era MMO gaming - Nostalgia is a tricky beast to ride. It can unlock all sorts of blissful memories, bring us back to old favorites, and reclaim a past that was once lost to…
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape reel back on official in-game Pride events to protect from ‘controversy’ - If you're a player of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, you may have noticed that the Pride Month events in-game were reeled back pretty significantly. That, unfortunately, was by design,…
Lord of the Rings Online announces the full closure of its old 32-bit worlds at the end of August - When Standing Stone Games revealed its plans for Lord of the Rings Online's new 64-bit servers, it left a little bit of leeway in regard to the status of the…
Dune Awakening tackles backend stability and bugs as Steam concurrency crests 140K - Yep, we're checking in on Dune: Awakening's first couple of days of life again, only this time it's for the actual real launch instead of the high-dollar headstart. Not only…
Progress Bar: We demo’d eight Steam Next Fest games that multiplayer fans should check out - Ah, Steam Next Fest. A smorgasbord of sketchy titles and hentai games. I kid (mostly), it's also a great way to experience some all-new, new-to-you, or developing titles. Which means…
Gachapwned: How gacha MMOs drown us in progression and randomness - Over the past three weeks of the Gachapwned column, we've talked about the three main prongs that keep people invested in gacha games in the longer term - and how…
LOTRO Legendarium: How music binds the LOTRO community together - Whenever I'm reading through JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth novels, one thing that absolutely pops out at me is the Professor's love of song. Music isn't just a passive exercise in head-bobbing;…
Dungeons and Dragons Online heralds a trio of new 64-bit servers this July – but is closing all old worlds - The game master has returned from furiously planning a new campaign, and now the full truth is revealed: Dungeons and Dragons Online is saying farewell to all of its old…
Lionhearts is an upcoming strategy MMO that spun out of a popular Roblox game - Over six million people playing Roblox decided to take on the Lionhearts game within the title as a big large-scale strategy game set against the background of the Crusades. That was enough…
MMO Hype Train: What’s the ideal path to promoting and hyping an MMO? - As much as there's a great deal to master when creating an MMORPG, there's also quite the learning experience when it comes to promoting an upcoming title. In the fairy…
Not So Massively: Immortal Gates of Pyre’s latest demo adds new immortal and more PvE content - The recent Steam Next Fest included the latest demo from StarCraft II inspired multiplayer RTS Immortal: Gates of Pyre. This demo included several pieces of new content, and notably, the…
Project Ghost’s Greg Street defends building an MMO: ‘When they work, it’s magic’ - It's slightly sad that in this day and age, a game studio feels that it needs to defend why it's pouring efforts into crafting an MMORPG. But perhaps that's also…
Whatever happened to Victorian gaslamp survivalbox Nightingale? - Nightingale has always been an odd duck of a game in the survival sandbox sub-genre, with a pleasing Victorian transrealmic aesthetic but a troubling update history that has only seen…
World of Warcraft posts update notes for next week’s Legacy of Arathor - World of Warcraft players looking for a summer vacation from The War Within will soon get their wish thanks to next week's update. Patch notes are already up with a…
Palia’s Radiant Rising update arrived with a ton of new quest content – and the Free Realms minipet - As promised, Palia's Radiant Rising update dropped for beta players yesterday afternoon, with a whole raft of content and quality-of-life revisions. Let's tackle the content first: For players who haven't purchased…
Throne and Liberty moves into the next phase of its Road to Raid gear-up event - Boy does Throne & Liberty want you to raid these days. In fact, it wants you to raid so much that it's created a special gear-up Road to Raid event…
GTA Online will introduce money laundering mechanics in the Money Fronts update June 17 - Gamers now have a very long wait until Rockstar Games finishes its next big open world crime caper, so what are they to do in the meantime? Why not a…
Massively on the Go: Mario Kart World is too big for mobile - It's with heavy heart that I note the recently released Switch 2's Mario Kart World just feels too big to be experienced on the portable screen. Admittedly, I found the…
Ahoy is a new Age of Sail MMO that’s just funded on Kickstarter with ‘historical accuracy’ on tap - Age of Sail MMOs aren't entirely uncommon around here - indeed, Sea of Thieves and Skull and Bones are two rather prominent multiplayer sandboxes vibing with that era. But if…
Vague Patch Notes: MMORPG development is a guessing game - So the next update for Warframe is a couple of weeks away, and I have to say, the promise of Duviri but with my Warframe instead of the current system is…
Pax Dei’s Verse 3 has arrived with a world reset and major revamps for the world and crafting - Early access sandbox Pax Dei has officially delivered its Verse 3 update this week as promised. Servers were offline most of yesterday for the update, but it should be smooth…
Fans of The Secret World classic plan 13th anniversary celebration with new ARG - The 13th anniversary of the launch of the original incarnation of The Secret World is a few weeks away, and die-hard fans are planning another in-game event to celebrate. The…
MindsEye’s release is marked by bugs, mixed reviews, and allegations of bankrolled negative remarks - It's not often that we cover single-player games, but MindsEye has been on our radar for its association with developer Build a Rocket Boy's other project, the multiplayer UGC platform…
EverQuest II’s Dozekar PvP progression server officially opens its doors – and stabs you in the face - In the lore of the MMORPG, Dozekar is a dragon who is condemned to die at the hands of mortals and be resurrected over and over again in the Hall…
Splatoon 3 gets 30 new weapons, Nintendo reveals Splatoon Raiders spinoff - For a game in maintenance mode, Splatoon 3's getting a meaty update on June 12th. While the main news was the announcement of the Switch 2 spinoff title called Splatoon Raiders, Nintendo's presentation…
Farever is an upcoming co-op action RPG that looks like a fun ride - Do you want to team up with your friends, smash your way through some dungeons, and then gear up to go do it again? The creators of Farever are certainly hoping…
Lord of the Rings Online players still report missing and delayed transfer escrow, sometimes weeks later - Lord of the Rings Online's studio might claim that the title is in the "home stretch" of its months-long server transfer effort, but for some players, that stretch is more…
MMO Business Roundup: SAG-AFTRA’s victory, Ubisoft’s shame, Embracer’s leadership - Welcome back to another quick roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news! Voice actor strike: The voice actor union SAG-AFTRA, whose strike against the major players in the video game…
Choose My Adventure: Some quick co-op refreshment in Elite Dangerous - Aaaah yes, it is good to be back in this saddle again. Now any of you fine readers who also watch my streams on OPTV (thanks for that by the…
ARC Raiders apologizes for ‘mismanaging the hype’ by using a countdown timer for its new trailer - Apparently there were a lot of fans of the PvPvE extraction shooter ARC Raiders who were banking on a countdown timer to June 6th as a countdown to release instead…
Pantheon Rise of the Fallen’s perception system expands with the Ashbreather zone this week - Apparently, characters in Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will not be very perceptive until they're at around level 35 or so. That's the conclusion being leaped to when the Ashbreathers…
SGF 2025: The First Descendant’s big Breakthrough update gets an August 7 release date - In just a couple of months' time, players of The First Descendant will get to tear around on sweet hoverbikes while shooting lots and lots of baddies. That's the promise…
Horse mystery MMO Equinox Homecoming releases roadmap, addresses placeholder cinematics - Back in May, we noted that Equinox Homecoming's early access was both rough and smol, but studio Blue Scarab was adamant that "[t]here is still a road ahead and lots…
Wisdom of Nym: The Final Fantasy V references in Final Fantasy XIV’s Occult Crescent - There are interesting things to be said about every Final Fantasy game, and Final Fantasy V is no different. A lot of that comes from the fact that for a long time…
Blockchain MMO EVE Frontier opens up to the public as it moves out of closed alpha - Hey look at that: EVE Frontier, the reddest of all of the EVE spin-offs, is emerging from its protective shield of closed testing to allow the public into its blockchain-powered…
Project Ghost’s Greg Street shares frustrations with the pace and priorities of ‘big American game studios’ - It's no secret that Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street has some Opinions™ about the gaming industry, especially since his years of experience has led him to found Fantastic Pixel Castle and begin…
Fallout 76 embraces cozy lifeskilling and invites you to fish in its toxic waters – but should you? - While it doesn't strike us as wise to take up fishing in an environment polluted with toxic waste and nuclear residue, that's not going to stop the residents of Fallout…
Nightingale dev studio resurfaces with word of dedicated servers and ‘finding the right path forward’ - Just yesterday morning, we wondered aloud whatever happened to Nightingale, finding that there had been complete radio silence from developer Inflexion Games across social media, Discord, and Steam, while the…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 521: Switching it up
The Stream Team: Checking out the community farms of cozy co-op Farm Together 2
The Stream Team: Tracking The Offshore Account in Dungeons & Dragons Online
The Stream Team: Crystal of Atlan lights up the Backseat Streaming screen
The Stream Team: Turning up the difficulty in the Jump Ship demo
The Stream Team: Finding Absolution by barging into Guild Wars 2’s Bava Nisos
The Stream Team: All That Matter in Star Trek Online
The Stream Team: Warframe teaches chemistry in the ’90s
The Stream Team: Looking for a luck in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Visiting V Rising’s spirited horseman
The Stream Team: Seeking a rematch against the Brute Abombinator in Final Fantasy XIV
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
