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Wurm Online Review: The Official Wurm Review - Edit
7.7
| Pros |
 Accessible in a way similar games aren't Immersive and emergent gameplay True sandbox |
| Cons |
 Doesn't feel completely Looks abhorrent Some glitches, bugs, unpolished aspects |
What did you do with your weekend? Something nice? Pleasant? Relaxing? Not me. I was chased by a bear, clawed by a wolf, and had my ass handed to me by an adolescent pig. I tried to forage for a simple meal, mistakenly stealing into someone else's supplies: I was quickly dispatched by a man standing atop a horse. Yes you read that right. I have been beaten, bruised, taunted, humiliated, and yet I am proud: I have managed to survive the horrors of a virtual world that wants to quite literally murder you. I have founded a safe haven, a small river-side settlement that I call "MMORPG-Ville". It has a fire. An anvil. A shrubbery. It even has a skeletal structure that marks the beginnings of a house. It might not be much, but it is mine, and I have been taunted by woodland creatures far too much not to be proud of it.
Wurm Online is a throwback MMO that harkens to the days of the MUSH and the true sandbox environment. The world is mutable, the experience is entirely player-driven, and it is unashamedly unforgiving. Given the calibre and passion of a number of messages on this website, it might just be the perfect game for a number of you - that is if you can survive a savage butt-whipping by a disgruntled rabbit.
Aesthetics 5/10
Indie-games rarely pack a visual bang comparable to their triple-A cousins, and Wurm Online isn't much different. The world is a mixture of rough textures, blocky environments, and horrific character models – but it doesn't have to look particularly special. Sure there are some nice grass and water effects, and the draw distances can be impressive, but you do not play a game such as this to be blown away by its graphical power, and this will quickly become apparent.
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The UI is also simplistic and decidedly ugly. “F” keys bring up contextual menus, while two text tabs will fill you in on the combat, event, and chat channels. Wurm Online is a continuation of the 3D MUD in almost every aspect, there is no real emphasis on pretty haircuts, sword swings, or brief animations. Everything here is basic, and yet it doesn't ever impinge on enjoyment – it simply highlights the other attractions of this indie title. And what else would you expect from the Java platform?
Perhaps a few sartorial nods towards elegance wouldn't go a miss however. The complete lack of animation in characters makes the game feel stilted and cold, and aspects such as mounts being poorly modelled horses while character stands atop just feels comically lazy. Interestingly though, this is the MMO that Notch of MineCraft fame helped develop, so perhaps a few graphical exceptions in turn for quirky gameplay is acceptable.
Gameplay 9/10
Wurm Online's tutorial might as well license the rights to the Bee Gee's song “Stayin' Alive”. Like 1984's “minute of hate”, instead of showing you the ropes, players should be made to gawk at a monitor, while it flashes with images of mutilated corpses, burnt-out settlements, and stamina-infinite crocodiles; finally finishing with a crescendo of “(YOU WILL DIE) AH AH AH STAYING ALIVE' (YOU WILL DIE) AH AH AH STAYING ALLLIIIVVEE” - because, honestly, the game is that much of bastard.
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The goal of this MMORPG is to simply survive in the wilderness. Every tile of land is mutable, meaning it can be foraged, botanised, dug, or farmed, so there are many ways to hunker down. The best places to settle are usually near a river (for drinking water) and also within distance of a cliff face so that you might mine. After that it is a race of putting up a make-shift hovel so that the bears might not get at you so easily.
Each player begins with an array of tools, and even after death these will remain on your person. Everything within the game can be manipulated with the right contextual tools: A log can be made into kindling with an axe, a carving knife will also make a manner of parts and tools with the same material, and so forth.
Wurm Online's success comes from the idea that everything is simple and easy to grasp. With a wealth of knowledge from its Wiki site, rarely will players find themselves scratching their heads, unsure of what or how to proceed as you might find in Xsyon – and interestingly you aren't forced to group up with others. Advantage comes from numbers, but you can be the lone huntsman if you so wish: just watch out for the giant spiders.
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Aside from building a small village of which you can name yourself "Grand Overlord" there is also all manner of skills to busy yourself with. From blacksmithing to combative abilities, every action will count towards the invisible experience gauge allowing you to create more, and finish tasks faster. Another aspect you will constantly dote upon is that of the stamina gauge. Running will deplete it, as will actions, and once you become too tired you will slow to a crawl - often resulting in drowning, or being mauled by that thing that you were running from in the first place.
You can also expect to die a lot in Wurm Online, and while their is a death penalty, largely it will not put you off of building a vast inventory and stat-built character. The overarching idea of the game is to simply follow your every whim, from creating monuments through terraforming, to even engaging in clan warfare between tribal villages - the choice is yours. One aspect that doesn't seem to quite work yet is a network of trading and supply and demand, but this is perhaps the only real gripe of the entire experience. That and the combat, which is about as engaging as a its MUD forefathers' text scroll.
Innovation 9/10
Considering for a moment that this is the game that MineCraft in effect spring-boarded from, Wurm Online is an achievement in innovation. The idea that every tile is somehow mutable or interactive is one that is a truly groundbreaking concept. From finding seeds, to even foraging for food, the game is immersive and about as clear an image of a sandbox mechanic as you might find.
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Building upon general MMORPG convention, the game is an excitable mix of interesting gameplay, if a little rough at times. Each play session can feel like an adventure, and while it might not be presented in the slickest of packages, this is a truly important thing for any game of the genre to have.
Polish 5/10
The most glaring fault of Wurm Online is its lack of noticeable polish. Although the game has been available in some form since 2006, its tiny dev-team can come across through the slightly unfinished elements of the game. Certain enemies can appear bugged, clipping issues can occur when delving into mining shafts, and the noticeable lack of an animator within the team can start to irk after a while.
The game seems like a real labour of love by those that make it, and ultimately plays like the type of game a sandbox-fan would want. But more time, growth, and perhaps investment is needed. It all feels decidedly indie, and in some cases, a little too much.
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Social 8/10
With several servers, and a handful of different kingdoms which have different play-set rules, Wurm Online gives you plenty of options on how exactly you wish to approach the game. From the PvP centric locations you can experience humanity at its most deprived as you will be stalked and murdered like a prize elk, or alternatively you can opt for the more tranquil PvE hotspots – even if they lack some of that paranoid luster.
The social side to Wurm Online is dependent on your preference for violence, but with a relatively small player base 50-100 per kingdom, the game is never awash with population. Interestingly, this is the type of experience that thrives with a smaller crowd, as it heightens the conflicts between different villages and also discourages elements of the lone bandit, simply hunting down anyone and everyone.
This MMO is by no means busy, but it works well with the players it retains.
Longevity 8/10
As expected of a sandbox game, all goals are essentially self-directed. Skilling to 20 and further to 30 will take a lengthy amount of time, as will constructing a small village or town. Whether or not you wish to play warrior or town planner is your choice however, Wurm Online will engage you as long as you are engulfed by the adventure of it. Setting your own missions is essential to the experience, and in effect you will get as much as you put into a game such as this.
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Value 10/10
Like RuneScape, this sandbox has an interesting subscription model, in that a large majority of the game can be seen without parting with a single dime. Basic accounts will be restricted by server, and skill caps are introduced, but there is a very large slice of the MMO pie available here for absolutely free. If players wish to go above the skin-flint option, there is a premium mode for nine Euros, which will give players some virtual coin (which isn't as advantageous as you might think) and all caps will disappear. It is a fair system, which like Jagex's game happens to be one of the best subscription models out there. Try for a while, and buy if you like – none of this “buy more inventory space” nonsense.
Conclusion
Wurm Online is undeniably unfinished, indie, slightly broken at times, and in equal measures infuriating... but it captures the exact essence of what this genre is all about. From the easy to grasp, complex to master gameplay, to the infinite spirit of adventure that it conjures; not many games will leave you with quite so many stories of woe, success, and humour. And for that it deserves a kind word, and an even gentler eye over some of its slight faults.
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It might be a bit disjointed, and not put together completely right, but for the adventure it is definitely worth it. Go forth, and be slaughtered a thousand times in a multitude of different ways my friend. It can actually be very entertaining - after the fact.
Those cons are enough to make me rate this game as a 1 across the board. I couldn't stand this game past the first 10 minutes of gameplay with consisted of fumbling with my controls, UI and general wonder at what the hell I was supposed to do in this UGLY world in front of my eyes.
For the record, I like sandboxes, IF they have some modicum of direction or pinache.
nice review. If i wasn't so combat oriented I would definitely give it a shot. Maybe I will anyway.
An enjoyable read.
To be open from the outset, I'm a WurmOnline GM and wanted to agree with more or less every point including the negatives - trading does indeed lack a certain polish, and animations are more or less non-existant. Having said that, a new animation system is being brought in as we type, and new character models with visible armour, animations and remakes of all the mobs will be coming in over the course of the next few months. If you run the unstable client with experiemental packs on, and come off the default 'no animations' and you're able to find a hen, you will see the first example of such that was implemented to test the system. Quite a staggering improvement. You can see snippets of what the team has been working on in this thread of the Wurmonline forums.
I also wanted to clarify payment for being a premium member, there are a variety of options, one of which is the 10 Euros for 1 month and 5 silver (the in-game currency) that you mentioned, but if you don't require any silver, you can also purchase 2 months for 10 Euros. Due to paypal charges etc there is not option for anything costing less than 10 Euros.
Hopefully you'll be able to add a postscript about graphics and animations in a few months time!
OMG Ninja Review!
I'm the server developer and I have to say I agree with the review but it's too early:)
We just released a new graphics engine but we still haven't added the new models or character customization ack ack! We were planning on starting to make more noise once we've got the new models and animations in.
Nah, it's great really. Thanks loads. It's a good score and any explanation about what we do is positive.
We've tried to make Wurm have most of what we think an MMO should be.. huge, open, "Massive" compared to single player MMOs, full of personal adventures where even the smallest peasant should have impact on the world. Not to mention real heroes.
So yeah, anyways. Graphics will shape up:) Luckily.
Good read. It makes me want to give it another shot!
I've always enjoyed Wurm and at times it's been a downright blast. There are some things that annoy me and I hope they get atention, but for the most part it's a great sandbox from some great folks.
I'm very thankful that this game exists, it's one of a kind!
The game has a ton of potential, BUT it is NOT worth my money until they put some kind of effort into character models and animations. It is absurd that any gamer would tolerate everyone having the same character model with no differentiation at all.
I've played this in early beta and sometime after it went p2p, but to be honest, I don't see this game ever becoming any more popular any longer.
It's been 5 years since the official release now and it hasn't really changed that much.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great and quite an original game, but it would never appeal to most MMO players today
Also, since the release of Minecraft, Wurm sort of fell into the abyss I think since Minecraft almost overnight success overshadowed any need for the development of Wurm. I'm sure Mohjang made more money in selling Minecraft than they have in years of trying to work on Wurm.
It appeals to a larger crowd too. Why bother building a house for days (Wurm) when it can be done in minutes (Minecraft)
It has the sandbox, but it also appeals to the less patient gamers with a short attention span. Therefore, the huge success.
Wurm on the other hand is a lot more complex, but also requires TONS more commitment and most importantly is not nearly as entertaining.
As for the combat, it's there and it's actually quite fun. Back in the days the Horde used to constantly attack, raid and destroy villages and there were quite a few big battles (less the special effects and the flashy animations hehe), but just in Darkfall, it took months to get to the point where you could kill anything worthy. I remember spending days trying to farm pumpkins so that I could build a training dummy, so that I could then spend weeks hitting said dummy and raise my fighting skill by like 10 points (out of a 100).
All in all, it's a great sandbox game, but if you're anything like me, you'll just play Minecraft/Terraria when you need your sandbox fix hehe
Nice review - great job - the fact that the GM and Server developer popped in and gave us the heads up on the new graphics = sub. I've tried the game a few times, but couldn't really get past the looks. The mechanics are awesome. The whole time I was reading the review, I was thinking - "if only the graphics were better" and "I wonder if it's even possible to add new models while keeping the same mechanics" - great answers and I'm super excited this is getting a make-over!
Thanks for the review and the comments from Wurm's staff. I am an old player and I think am pretty interested in the graphics update.
the game is quite nice altho without the premium you will be treated like someone worse... that was the last nail to the coffin in my case.
+1 to that - what Wurm tries to do, it does better than any other game in the genre at the moment.
True, the game isn't as pretty or as polished as a title from one of the big names but I've played no other game which gives me so much freedom of choice and freedom to alter the game world. Plus the dev team care more about making a good game than maximising profits at the expense of gameplay.
A solid vision of what the sandbox should be, true innovation, opportunities for emergent gameplay, no desire to nickel and dime or mislead the players and masses of freedom of choice. These far outweigh any of the drawbacks in my mind.
Don't forget that you don't have to pay a cent out of your own pocket for premium time if you really don't want to, you can buy premium time WITH IN GAME MONEY. That's right, you go and work for someone, helping them dig their plot or somesuch, they pay you, you pay for premium time, and now you have no skillcap without even touching your credit card. What other game offers that?
People should do more research if they think this is a F2P game, unless you spend REAL money you can't own land and alot of other features are only avaiable to paying members which i get they gotta make money, just pointing out since some think this is a F2P game that it is only to a very small limit. No cash shop so either you pay the monthly fee or you play F2P and are basically like the landscape and trees to paying players.
Eve online.
From my faint memories in the early years of wurm (5 years ago or so) it took *ages* to accomplish even the most basic goals (like crafting a log). This and an extremely sluggish graphic engine was what kept me (edit:) from playing. The graphical quality what so many seem to complain about was never my problem and as a special plus it keeps the tourists and morons away from the game. If it only wouldn't be so slow paced (and I can asure you, if I'm good in anything than it is patience) I would give it another shot. But I'm glad to hear the devs didn't went for the easy dime, something I was predicting from my early impressions.
Great reveiw. I am going to download this game and play it later now
I wouldn't worry too much. The staff here tends to rereview games at regular intervals.
The game is a borefest that requires hours, days, weeks, months, and sometimes years to see progress. Rolf is the only server developer so development is slow not counting the brainless updates he does that break ten other things or impacts years of work that he made useless in just the click of a button. This game is heavily still in development and should be considered a paid beta nothing more, nothing less.
The staff are not paid except for two people he finally did hire after several years of trying to get free work out of volunteers who receive no financial profit all the while Rolf pockets the bulk of profit which he now has to put towards two pay checks for his small crew who still rely on free help. I would steer clear of this game and find more polished mmo sandboxes out there.
The skill set is very basic and requires you to pump months of your free time in to one skill to accomplish another after you've gotten the one high enough to benefit the other with materials. The stuff you make is only useful to you the person making it as everyone else has the same skill and can make their own. Epic has a faster skill curve and people already have max skills in several things but that is a good example of why the game is losing players atm. Rolf even posted saying that he knows he's losing people but continues to blame it on other games and not his own short comings. http://www.wurmonline.com/blog/gamedev/roadmap-for-the-upcoming-weeks/ His failed vision for the game is the major blow that the game has taken recently and he's rushing other things to try and counter his losses like animations which the game does not have.
The game is strictly java based which is very laggy at times but all in all it runs good on a capable machine. Dual core specs even with a decent card will have trouble with framerate at full settings yet you can run games like crysis full settings without a glitch but wurm is a whole different animal, it seems really bloated at times e.g. resource hog.
I would advise people to play the game for free for a month and I think you can make a good assesment that the game is for you or not but do not have hopes for pvp or instant gratification as pvp requires the skill set and gear and those take a ungodly amount of time to acheive. The starting tutorial is a bore and there is no option to bypass it so be warned and prepared to spend 3 hours doing nothing but failing a lot and running through something that will make you want to pull your hair out in short order.
I think you are misreprensting and being harsh to Wurm Online.
I really liked Wurm. I got the past the graphics and animations or lack there of....although when I played, a while ago, it was hard to be solo. There were not many suitable places left to build, unless you wanted to search forever. This was on the free server. You kind of had to join a village, clan or w/e. I think they have added more servers since then so it's probably not the case anymore.
It is a 'hard' game, in the sense that accomplishing the smallest goal can be rewarding. If you are looking for a sandbox/builder MMO and don't feel like plunking down money on Xsyon, I do recommend this game. It is free (most of it as you know) and takes literally seconds to download.
I have been playing this game non-stop for almost a year now, it is the first game since Asheron's Call that I have really been able to get my HEART into.
If you need flashy modern graphics and special effects, or tons of polish, this is not the game for you. Yes, there are rough edges to this indie gem, and it still is not completely finished yet, but even unfinished it has more SOUL than any other game I've played since AC1.
If you want a true immersive sandbox, with room for both PvE and PvP crowds, there is really no other game on the market today even close to Wurm Online.
What would those be?
I'd love to have an alternative, as it is though, discounting Eve which I can't seem to play more than 4 months at a time there aren't any other sandbox mmo's, everything made today is a WoW clone, I've played enough WoW, I have SWTOR now which is more of the same but it's fun while it's new, but as far as sandboxes I only have Salem to look forward to and EVE to play.
I plan to give this a try.
Thanks for the review.
I gave ti a shot years back, and while I am USUALY the last person to grype about graphics(or the lack of) and visuals, in wrum it just was too much... the figures moving around by sliding along the ground, watching combat in a text window, etc, annoyed me. I would have stuck with the game if even the very basic animations were there.
So with the new update coming and the advances you guys are finally starting to do(Took u long enough, would have thought in the 10 years between then and now, at least ONE of you would have taught yourself a little about animation by now :P)
I wish u guys the VERY best of luck and hope u can get the visuals a little closer to 7's :P About all the other points, have to agree, its a very 'intresting' world where you can affect anything you can see. I am guessing, at this time, only wurm can say it does that.
Good job so far guys, and good luck on the 'pretties' and I will give it another try in a while.
Yes this game does have most of what we sandbox people want but unfourtunately it looks like shit. There is no way I am playing a game, on my high end rig, that looks like something from 10 years ago.
Just because we like sandbox MMOs does not mean we will accept archaic visuals.
Mojang have never had anything to do with wurm. Yes Notch did work on wurm but that was before he even created minecraft.
I have been playing wurm for the last couple of months, and I have to say you need to be a certain type of person to play it, Patience is needed. May have picked this up as I also play Eve online. And a couple other people I play with also play eve and use wurm as relaxation.
Great game, and got to say great review
Right now I'm actually playing a game that is even 12 years old now (Asheron's Call) on my high end rig and enjoy it a lot. I don't need opulent graphics but *if* there are any high res textures already, w/o a minimum of animation ("hovering" NPCs as in wurm) it looks so pathetic, I just can't swallow that. Also the visible environment frames are an immersion killer to me (although I guess they probably might be switchable somewhere in the options).
It has indead several things in common with EVE, unfortunately all what I always hated in EVE: A whole *huge* time sink with loads of tiny text boxes looking like spreadsheets. Lack of patience is surely not my problem though...
Actually, Mojang was the company that originally developed Wurm.
When Notch & Rolf went separate ways, Notch got to keep the company name and went on to create Minecraft using it, and Rolf renamed his part (Wurm) to OneTwoFree then to CodeClub:
http://wurmonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mojang
Character models and animations are among the weakest part of the game and are scheduled for an overhaul in coming months, but much of the landscape and environment is actually rather nice if you crank up the settings (not compared to triple-AAA releases of course -- but frankly, I'll take Wurm over any pretty-face triple-AAA game on the market today.)
Personally I think the combat aspects are very weak, but then I am in for the crafting/building aspects so the weak combat doesn't bother me. It's a niche game, it won't appeal to everyone. But for myself, there is no other game on the market today that appeals to me the way this one does.
It's free to try, so up to each person to decide for themselves.
I watched a video of a "Raid" or whatever on a Red Dragon. It was the lamest thing I had ever seen, and I've seen some lame stuff...
Yeah combat is just a staring contest and requires no input really from the player other than clicking shield bash or switching stances which most are useless to use than normal mode. The game is lacking in a lot of departments and there are other terrain modification sand box mmo's out there that have better combat systems already in place. While animation would be a welcome addition after 8 years of the game being in production it is bottom of the list for a lot of people who just want to see a lot of balancing issues fixed along with bugs. People still stand on their mounts while riding around, so I guess everyone is a pro trick rider and the same goes for carts.
There are only 2-3 good boats to use and the much larger versions are useless as they go so slow and getting any number of people to make them go fast or having a gust of wind last long enough to make them viable just isn't happening. Rolf really should play his own game but as Notch once said after playing it for a few hours " This game just isn't for me" and that's coming from one of the founding developers who couldn't even stomach playing his own creation.
I would love to see a live play of Wurm done by Rolf but honestly it would only serve as a sleep aid.
Currently playing WO and EVE as they are really good. That being said, if ya know of anything better now, please advise as I just don't see it.
This game been out since 2006 and this is the only Staff review i can find on mmorpg Dated Jan 26th..No thank you for this game.Sound like there desperate for players.
As the author of the review mentioned, Wurm Online has given me some of the most memorable moments in my 14 years of playing MMORPGs. Sure, the graphics are weak, but once I got into the game, the way the wind moves the trees and grass, the sound of the crickets on a moonlit night, it still has a way of drawing me in.
This game isn't for everyone. It is slow as hell at times, but I can't think of another game that makes me fist pump the air after suriving an ambush by a pack of wolves like Wurm does. Everything you do, everything that happens actually MEANS something to you and your character. Others in this thread have mentioned that it's hard to survive alone. Hard, but not impossible. I was able to build a small house with a farm and a well, build a fence for protection and guard it with my life for about 3 months (as a Free Player).
My only 3 complaints are:
1. Next to no animations.
2. Zero character customization...save for if I want to sport a hang-down or not.
3. Every single action I perform needs to be twice as fast as its current duration. It is a game afterall.
It sounds like they are finally going to do something about #1 and 2, and since they likely aren't changing the speed of the game, I guess I can deal with #3.
Wurm Online has done what so few other games can claim: they have created a WORLD. I'm definitely going to give it another go when those animation and customization options go live. Shit, I may even pay for it.
Not sure what you mean here. Can you explain it any further with an example perhaps? Hope you're not talking about skill progression...
No, not skill progression. I was just referring to how long it takes to perform an action. For Example, nailing up boards on a house frame, or mining a tile out enough to get it to collapse. This is just my opinion of course, but they need to do a better job of balancing out the game with the simulation. In its current state, it's just a tad on too heavy on the simulation side for me.
Skill progression is definitely very slow, by design. That's difficult for a lot of people who are used to games where you progress very fast. Wurm is definitely "old school" in that regard.
The actions themselves are also slow. Everything is on a timer, you can't just take some leather or wood, *clap your hands* and presto you've created something elaborate. Even making nails (one by one) takes time. Making a fence takes time, making the planks and the shafts for the fence takes time, and chopping down the tree takes time. Making the saw and the forge to do all of that before you can even start on the fence, takes time.
Wurm is a game that takes its time.
For many, it's too frustrating for that very reason. The game will ALWAYS be too painful for them, no updates are likely to change that. For a small few, taking the time to do things, and not being able to "rush through content" or be mega powerful in days, weeks, or even months, is actually part of the appeal. In a game where it takes so long to do anything, your focus gets OFF of gaining levels and whizzing through content, and more on the immersion and the process rather than competing for flashy achievements. It really is a niche game that is not going to appeal to very many gamers today. That part is not going to change just by adding animations and character customization, although those are greatly anticipated by its small loyal fanbase. That said, it is the only game out there that I can sit and enjoy day after day, month after month. Most of the modern games out there bore me after a few days at best.
When Skyrim came out, servers were emptier as many Wurm players took a few weeks off Wurm because the open-world sandboxy style of Skyrim holds a lot of appeal for this crowd. Also, sometimes its nice for a while to see some drop-dead-gorgeous triple-AAA polish created with multimillion dollar budgets ^_^ It's like dessert in a fancy french restaurant after you've been chewing on smoked moose for months on end. But after a few weeks, most of them were back in Wurm again. Defeating dragons on your first day in Skyrim seemed oddly ... unappealing after a game where your first day, you were running for your life from rats. It's like a diet of candy, versus a diet of coarse bread you grew and baked yourself. A diet of just candy gets old after a while.
Its hard to explain the appeal, but those who love Wurm, love it fiercely. The fact that the game got 5's in Aesthetics and Polish for this review, are less important to this crowd than the fact it got 9's in innovatioon and gameplay. The review was a very fair one, and if it gave off red flags for some readers, it's probably not their sort of game. But there are lots of other games out there for them. There is really only Wurm, for a few of us.
I can definately again. Another reason why I left was because I couldn't play this game without multi-tasking. For example, when mining, I'll cliick a iron vein, then read something on my other moniter or continue watching a movie while I waited the minute or so to finish. Its not terrible, just not for me.
I've been playing (and paying) wurm for the last ~1.5 years on and off, and i mostly agree with the review.
If you can get past the bad graphics, no animations and no customization - it's a great sandbox game, much better than any sandbox released in this millenium.
I also agree with the posters above in that many things could become faster, mostly on the noob side of things - once you get your skills up and get high QL enchanted tools it becomes a non-issue.
Important question: why on earth is it called WURM online? Wurm? wat.
Airing your dirty laundry on a public forum = not a good idea. I just took him as a troll and nothing more, personally.
@ronsson
What you say about nkitz may be all true but where exactly did he lie in his post you quoted above?
The official reply about DB exploiting money from the game which in any game would get you permabanned...
http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=39920.msg384124#msg384124
But then you have the case of this guy...
http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=60256.0
I hear he got banned for 273 years, for "misbehaving" which amounted to chat violations.
Nice job to not ban a cheater but you ban a guy that was actually good for the game for swearing.
Wurm is a great game and only getting better but once in awhile you get these dumb decisions.
I'd highly recommend giving it a shot though, its an awesome sandbox.
Ya, same here, just took it as troll talk.
Great crafting game.
If they ever add in animations so combat ''might'' be fun Ill definitly play it.
Right now its gets boring quickly.
Yeah I'm afraid replying may be worse than ignoring. I'm tired of these ulteriour motive troll posts whichever game it applies to but of course I react more strongly when I get personally attacked. It's like everyone lets the trolls slip and don't think they do harm. Maybe they don't.
I just thought I would share my view of this game. I've been playing for 8-9 months now and i have 51 days of playtime in wurm. It is the single most addictive game I have ever played. For at least half of this time I have been working on improving my own village, creating homes and farms, terraforming hillsides into terraces, and creating a nice atmosphere for myself and a few strangers (who are becoming fast friends) to enjoy. I don't consider my village to be finished, i can think of a few things that could be improved or expanded or altered in some way, and I fully expect that the village will never be finished. This is not a bad thing for me - it is the sense just like in RL that theres that little project you've been meaning to do for ages.
I also think that the visuals of wurm are not as bad as people make them out to be. You can get stunning views, and not just from the graphics being good - the world itself makes these views spectacular because the world is so large that you can set up a house on a hill and be the only person to have that view: that is your view.
It's also worth mentioning that i do not play pvp. PvP is not something i am or ever was interested in, and with wurm I have the choice of playing on a PvE server with other people that are like-minded, interested in creating your own little kingdom and becoming a master of a trade. Speaking of trades, there are many skills in wurm, not a few like was said earlier: over 100 in fact. And these skills range from the basic (digging, mining) to the useful and valuable (smithing, tailoring, fighting) and to the entirely-useless-yet-still-appealing (yoyo, puppeteering).
So i guess all thats left to do is post some images other people have shared on the wurm forums - these were screenshots taken in-game and show what i would call "pretty good graphics":
I just popped back into the game after 6 months away and had an incredible first night back. I started a new account and went at it from scratch, and really had some awesome moments last night.
I've been playing Wurm for about a year now, with breaks periodically to try other games, but I always come back to Wurm. Why? I love the creativity and the scope of what is possible with the tools that Rolf has given us, and the community, though we have the occasional bad egg, is by and large very mature and decent compared to most MMOs... and they are passionate about the game. The memorable moments you'll have in Wurm aren't going to be during raids or whatnot, but will definitely be focused around your neighbors and the other people that you meet here. The game is surprisingly addicting, more so than any other MMO I've played since WoW.
I won't lie, the game is hard. Not in the way of having difficult raid fights or anything like that, but it requires patience, self-motivation, and resourcefulness to do well in Wurm. If you want instant gratification, you're not going to get it here. If you get frustrated easily, you're probably not going to enjoy the game. That doesn't make it a bad game, it just means that it isn't for everyone.
Considering that Rolf and team are so small, they've done amazing things with Wurm.
seems like a lose/lose situation for everyone, sad to see it happening like this.
[Mod Edit]
Secondly, my review of Wurm Online:
I have played this game for almost 3 years now. I can see myself playing this game as long as Rolf devotes his time to developing and maintaining it and stay true to his ideals.
I enjoy the slow pace, the sense of accomplishment, the complexity and the challenge. I love the small and loyal (mostly...) community, players that are so involved in the game that they spend time and money to help bring new players to the game and teach them the basics. I love that I can do whatever I want to, there is noone holding my hand or forcing me to do anything. It is the ultimate sandbox game.
Admittedly, the pace of development has sometimes been slow and Rolf has probably made a few mistakes over the years, but he is only human afterall. The future of Wurm looks bright, with updated graphics, animations, customizable avatars, visible armour, more crafting options, and hopefully improved pvp for those that enjoy that all soon to come within the next year I am sure.
There is no reason to wait for those improvements though, Wurm has been playable for several years now so just jump right in and don't hesitate to ask for help.
I've been playing this game on and off for a couple of years now, and I have to say I've been playing MMOs since around 1998 or so and haven't ever seen anything as... unique as Wurm.
I'm typically a light PVPer, in any online world that allows it, and one of the things I really enjoyed about Wurm was the fact that while there was PvP, and while it was REALLY a grind to get your character to the point where you could actually be more than just an arrow pincussion in a fight it could really be interesting.
While I don't really PvP any longer when I do play it really hasn't made me like the game any less for what it is an that is an immersive environment.
When you climb a mountain in this game, you are in true fear for your life most of the time since if its a mountain like I like to climb there is a really good chance you could fall off and lose all your gear, or at least it would take you hours if not days to figure out a way to scale down to where your corpse landed.
That's just the least of the dangers ya face if ya live up on a mountain. At the end of the day though when you look out over the terrain and you can see all of your kingdom and your village far below you, it was worth it to run across that narrow ridge leading your prize, irreplaceable war-mount and while carrying that best set of armor and a powerful sword, but knowing that you might lose it all to that that that troll swinging his club at you while you run for your life and pray you don't fall off the sheer drop on either side..... it's worth it, and a risk you rarely have to fear from your natural enviroment as an advanced player in other games.
Its not like some games I've played where escape is a mere teleport away most of the time, but when you are far away out in the wilderness.... you are truly removed from civilization and how well you know that terrain, where a horse can run an where it can't can save ur life when your being chased by an irate enemy on a mount twice as fast as yours and armed with a longbow.
When you call an area home its YOURS, you form it to your specifications, as well as your able to, you build your house, and you pick your destination in the game. My hobby in game has always been making wine, to do that I have to pay attention to the seasons, plant and tend the grape fields and maple forests around my village. It's something that is very slow paced but I really don't do it for the wine, heck its mostly useless.
I do it because I can and it's just enjoyable, relaxing and provides me with an excuse to hike up said mountain and get my blood pumping when I want to add another barrel of wine to my stash to age.
Some people like to build massive monuments, or try to corner the market on prize horses, for everyone it's just that kind of game where you pick one of the hundreds of skills and you just do what you want to do.
I do have to say however, if you have a short temper and are use to eating the rats rather than them eating you, as a new player ur going to have serious issues with this game.
If you like to PvP and pretty much walk over anybody you feel like, and basically have an ever-man for himself attitude ur going to have problems, though it is admittedly possible to play that way once your experienced enough to know how to do it. (just not a good idea)
The biggest reason I play on the PvP servers despite the fact that you can get killed is that you can dispatch ur pesky neighbor if he decides there just HAS to be a highway through your grape field and decides to chop up said prize grape bushes because he claims they were incontinently in their way.
Not everyone will get along, on those servers, as they are really competitive but I've found them to be very polite most of the time, at least between neighbors because you never know when you will need that guy's help to rebuild or access to his tunnel network when your being chased by a horde of enemy players.
I don't always agree with the development staff about all their decisions, but I won't lose faith in the game anytime soon because it has given me a truly unique experience I've never had before in an online game, as infuriating as it can be sometimes there are many moments I've had where I just stand there and say... yea it was worth it.
I can't say that about every game I've played.
Badass post. I'm going to give this game a serious chance because of this post. Wurm might just be what I was looking for all along and I just never saw it before.
Yea, Wurm's Motto: "In wum, you don't eat rat, rat eats you." Heck no mater how mutch woopass you can dish out its all about the situation you manage to get yourself into that can determine how or if you survive. That troll that was chaseing me, on even ground, riding that horse instead of leading it I would have had a very very good chance of killing it or at least getting away from it easily if I had a run of bad luck and it rips my face off. Instead I was depending entirey on my shield skill and sword skill to parry and block every blow, becuase I couldn't actually wear my armor and still run fast enough to get away from the stupid bastard. (I also couldn't ride my horse because of the terrain)
Fights in Wurm are rarely as much about pure stats as the situation and advantages or disadvantages you make for yourself. You somehow can't get on your horse and are being attacked by a relentless pack of deadly scorpions? Climb above them on a sheer cliff for that combat rating bonus you need to kill them and pray you don't run out of stamina before you kill them. You use your enviroment as defence as much as it tries to kill you you can use it to kill others and local wildlife that just loves to find a way to woop ur ass.
In PvP its allways as important to build your fortress and network of defences as it is to build your stats. Many players on those servers rarely just fight. They often derive pleasure from planning out that massive fortress that will take real life weeks if not months to fully realize and then test it against a very clever and relentless foe. You don't allways suceed, many players have lost entire villages to enemies, and watched their creations crumble and fall. Part of the fun is knowing that if you have a good group of friends that one day... it shall rise again.
Looks like I'm slowly about to change my mind about wurm. All negatives I said before are still there exept no performance issues anymore. They either improved it massively or it's my better rack than that from 5 years ago. The game now runs smooth with almost every option on max with 60 fps, just a bit more fan noises. Turning around with mouse is almost a bit too fast now and I wished I could decelerate it somehow.
But all what I called "immersion killers" in my former posts surprisingly sank into insignificance once I let myself drag a little deeper into this world. After a while the environment feels so much more *real* than every other game I played before which is what actually forms the immersion in wurm online.
My first few hours on independence where quite furious: No clue about much but what I've learned from the tutorial (which every noob should do thoroughly unless you don't want to have asking tons of questions afterwards) my first aim was to find some virgin land which was anything else than easy. All over the terrain I saw various corpses from wild animals but also from players that didn't make me feel all too comfortable. When I decided to stray from the surfaced path and climbing up a small hill I was soon attacked by one of those wild cats at a very bad moment where I haven't learned yet that weapons and shields are to be equipped (and not just activated). Soon I realised my health going rapidely down the tube and I ran for my life. At this point I learned that you can't run and turn your head to watch your distance from the attacker and so I ran as long as my stamina would allow me, desperately sneaking into a nearby unknown cave. Phew, I barely survived, hungry, thirsty, with several wounds all over my body and nothing achieved that could aid in surviving the next morning.
But then I was lucky and found an abondoned decaying player corpse with 4 rations of spider meat (yuck) which I roasted an a campfire while licking my wounds.
Needless to say that I almost got too late to work, but who cares. Once wurm gets you it's highly addictive. I'm still safe and sound besides a nasty cut in my stomach from the wild cat that don't want to heal. No time to write anymore, need to fix that...
I have seen a lot of talk about graphics and animations, some talk about gameplay, very little about sense of accompishment, and hardley any about community.
Sonic and Mario did not become cultural icons because of awesome graphics and animations; even WOW would be lackluster compared to some games out now. So I doubt that really has as much impact as others are making of it.
Those games became Icons because they were fun to play. Wurm is not a fast paced game but it is fun to play due to I get a greater sense of accomplishment building a cart or boat in it than I ever did crafting 'purples' in WOW.
The one thing Wurm has better than any other game I have ever seen is a snse of community. The CA help channel is there for anyone to ask those questions that in any other game would be responded to with " L2P you Noob". The questions are not answered strictly by those that have volunteered to be CA's but other regular players as well.
A really good example of the difference in Community of Wurm to other games is thier Christmas event called the ' Impalong'. At this event some of the highest skilled players in the game volunteer thier time and materiels to improve the tools, weapons, and armor of the lower skilled players to nearly maximum QL. This means any new player can drop his 10ql hammer in the forge and pick it up later after it has been imp'd to 70ql! Others even donate some of the best equipment in the game (like drake sets valued at 50 silver) to be used as prizes in games played by everyone with no entry fee.
I have never seen a game with more of a community connection.
"abhorrent" - Inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant.
Extremely harsh, I think it looks nice, the graphics are being updated constantly here and there. Alot of which aren't that different to other games more high budget games. I gotta say the big turn off for Wurm has to be the tutorial, it's long and tedious, but thankfully once you pass it you are a free man/woman!
I've been playing this for a few years in terms of content there's enough to do, working on skills daily whether you mean to or not, slaying foe's, helping villages or just strolling around.
The subscription models kinda cool, even if you can't afford to buy with real money you can work in game to earn your monthly subscription in silvers, although at low levels that incurs alot of hard grinding or a generous player.
Overall it's an amazing community driven game, everyone should try it once. Ever around Exodus server, be sure to pop in to Turani for a hearty meal or two~!
Looks like a sweet game. I am downloading the game now to try it out. I haven't been this excited for a new sand box in quite some time.
Maybe it will hold me over until Archage or GW2
About half way through the tutorial. So far it has been enjoyable. One thing so far that is taking away from the immersion factor is the blue outlines on items that I can interact with, a hover over text would be much better but I might be missing a way to turn that off. No game is perfect and some can be so frustrating that you get no enjoyment out of it. So far I am enjoying this game and thankful for the review here or I would not have found out about it.
That and the missing animations where exactly my concerns at first but trust me, once you realise what the game actually has to offer (and it's so much more than just the basics you learn in the academie), these things won't bother you much anymore. Oh wait, I'm already talking like a fanboi... LOL
On the Launcher settings, first tab is a checkbox called "outline hovered objects" that turns off most outlines. You can also toggle it on/off ingame by Escape-Settings- uncheck the box.
if you get used to them though, they are nice to have on. They are especially handy for spotting "red" outlined hostile animals that you might therwise miss seeing.
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Unquote.
Greetings everybody!
Well, I never thought I would ever post a comment like this, or even any comment at all (although I do read many and find most either entertaining, informative, even provocative, and so on and so forth etcetera blah blah).
Anyhow, would somebody please clarify the first point listed under "Cons"?
Does it mean that the only "feels" a little bit? Or that it starts to "feel" (you, the player), only to pull back and tease you with the anticipation that it was going to "feel"? Or does it mean that it itself has no "feeling", and cannot, therefore, "feel" pain or joy? I could continue, but at this juntuce I shall presume you "get my drift"...
Or, is this simply a matter of, once again, where the editors have failed to proofread an article before letting it loose on the public?
On a more subjective note:
Regarding the "Pros":
All 3 of the "Pros" remind me of Ultima Online "back in the day", and brings back fond memories. If indeed these 3 points are true, then by golly, good job! Based on this premise alone the game is worth checking out! (In my humble opinion).
As for the "Cons":
The first one I mentioned above. What if the game does not seem to be complete? Give the studio/developer some support and time; perhaps this "impression" will then go away as the game gets improved?
And isn't the second "Con" really only superficial? As some say or might say: "Don't judge a book by the cover". I guess that means don't just read/look at the the cover / dust jacket; open the book and dig into the story. Use your imagination, and enjoy!
Finally, the third "Con" is really something that could be considered to be "normal". The same applies here as it does for the first "Con"
So there you have it: my first post. Hope to not have stepped on any toes, or hurt any "feelings" (no pun intended. well, maybe a little^^)
To all the rest of you, writers and forum posters alike, keep on doing what you do. I for one certainly appreciate it. It has often provided me with hours of reading enjoyment.
Thank you kindly!
Ok to me WURM is like a fantacy house that is yet unliveable.
its exactly the game im looking for as soon as some of the fatal flaws are fixed.
terrible nearly non existant tutorial,,, crude rudimentary combat,,, only a single world spawn point (if you die in the wilderness you are screwed as you respawn at this world point reguardless if your 10 feet or 1000 miles from your corpse..
there is effectivly no useable economy they have these great beautiful ships and nothing for them to do!!! you can grow all sorts of crops but so can everyone else so there is very little need for transports/trade except maybe for dirt
you can build homes and walls and equipment but they unexpectadly collapse because there is no visible decay warning built into them so oops down goes a wall and all yourlivestock is gone, or opps your house wall collapses and all your stuff is pillaged.
This game could be a pleasure to play with a slight upgrade in graphics and spend sometime on the stupid anoying crap that ruins the fun and less time tweeking the tree models for the 20th time.
I would love to know when they are going to start a brand new world map it appeals to me to explore a totally unknown untouched world from scrach especially now that ive been out of the world so long everything I own is either stolen or decayed.
Atleast there is a tutorial now, before 2010 there wasnt even that players were simply thrown into the game without anything, much easier for any new players coming into the game now.
The economy is totally player run, players set up the markets and people go to them, you would be suprised. Some people dont want to farm so they buy it off other, or some people cant make the high quality tools so they have to sell those.
And for new maps, well in the last 4 months 5 new servers have opened. Exodus, which now adays is pretty well populated, and the epic trio. And not to mention Wild/Chaos which has recently been finally opened to non premium players.
My wife and I were chomping at the bit for the recent release of a big AAA but for various reasons became disenchanted and shut our computers off with disgust this last weekend. On a whim I decided to visit Wurmonline and check it out. Ya know to be honest, I just to not understand why….but my wife and I have just spent the last weekend “literally” immersed in Wurm.
This game is about as far from “polish” as you can get. For all the reasons mentioned in this fine article that I see no reason to repeat. But we have been sucked right past the “unfinished” and infuriating parts of the game, deep into the undeniable beauty of the game. Maybe we were lucky, but we have found a great village to be part of right off the forums. And now we are off and running loving the game, enjoying the community, and looking right past the clunky animations while we are being sucked into the world waiting to be explored. Exploration, survival, independence, and yanking that “themepark” ring out of my nose have been an amazing treat this weekend. Will it last? To be honest I do not know. But for now, after this weekends experience, we have canceled our sub to the AAA game, and jumped unashamedly into the adventure called Wurm with the modest premium fee. The only reason we put up the fee was in a show of support for the Wurm team. We will see what we can create. :)
I tried Wurm Online before, and while I would say that it is in fact a considerably good game, the biggest turn-off (and the reason for all the criticism in the comments, probably) is that it has a RIDICULOUS learning curve. The tutorial teaches you nothing about actually surviving and finding food and water, and gives you not a drop of advice on combat; the only thing I recall is that it taught you how to make a fire before throwing you out into the wide world. I starved to death, needless to say. So while I like the idea of Wurm Online, it has to either be more user-friendly or, like EVE Online, give some serious tutorials on its more complicated aspects.
It sure doesn't hold your hand and is anything else than beginner friendly but meanwhile there is this at least http://wurmonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page and a lot more to read elsewhere. Wurm isn't easy and don't want it to be but I'm pretty sure dedicated wurm players love it exactly for this (and for a lot of other things that are unique in wurm). Most other modern games are easy and so you are easily spit out again out of sheer boredom. This one is quite the other way around, you have to conquer your life in wurm.
As a side note, in worm chat someone spoke about a huge mass exodus not long ago when skyrim was published. The servers where suddenly alarmingly empty for a while: Anyone apparently wanted to check out this brand new oh so hyped "sandbox" single player. Meanwhile they all (or most of them) are back to wurm again... Think about it! :D
Try Perpetuum, if you like eve and sand box games, you might like it.
I really got into this for the first month of play. The graphics are not that bad to my taste, but the polish is aweful though, I did'nt mind that much tbh. Animation is one of the worse thing about it looks like I am playing a 15 year old game. Anyhow the gameplay depth and things to do is pretty impressive, I would recommend anyone to try. The grinding for skills where you hit a button every 15sec put me off and the aweful market system, (nothing close like eve or Perpetuum) make trading really hard, to get ingame money you probably need to find work from other player. Pay to win mechanics that I dont like either.
A great concept really imersive and sandboxy style, lacks some important features but with a great pontential that really has not shown in all these years in development.
Obviously you have not tried ir in a while as there are now at least 4 PVE servers and 5 PVP servers to explore. Also it sounds as if you played for a very short time as a F2P only. If you had put a little more time or effort into it you would have found even as F2P you can improve the quality of your fences and walls and they last for months IRL time. Although if you do not spend money on a 'Deed' you will have to spend time on maintenance.
The tutorial does not give combat training. the reason for this is combat should not be your first concern. Your first concern is finding a safe place to live wether that be as a part of a village or a 1x1 shack surrounded by a fence. Then you can start hunting, farming, and foraging for food safely.
You could not be more wrong, no offense to your gameplay experience or anything but f2p accounts can own land. They cannot however own a deed which helps protect land more than walls. However you can build a house and some walls and that land is now yours, noone can come along and deed it. It is unequivocally yours.
Also to those who have had bad gameplay experience through crappy player attitudes that is not how we all are. I help as many new players as I can in as many ways as I can and there are a lot more like me. This game deserves a real chance which most people don't give it. Once you get past the "rough parts" the game becomes something very beautiful.
Thanks to the reviewer for capturing the game perfectly in words, it needs work and our devs are hard at it to make the game more visually appealing and less glitchy. But you have to realize that a game on such a scale as this with so few staff to man it is going to be a very slow going process.
In all give the game a real shot(past the tutorial and the player BS) and I garuntee that you will come to appreciate it more and you even might start playing for real, who knows.
I've played WURM off and on for years now. It is by far the most sophisticated, richest, most rewarding MMO out there. It is also the most frustrating and graphically un-inspiring. But I will always say the benefits outweight the drawbacks. It attracts a very specific style of gamer - more patient, more intelligent, more willing to forego short-term oohs and aahs in exchange for more satisfying long-term gameplay. In other words, more mature.
I'll play WURM for a while, then when I need my graphics and action fix I'll swtich over to BF3 or SWTOR for a bit. Eventually, however, I will feel the urge to go back to WURM and check up on my crops, or to repair a section of fence that seems to be crumbling a bit.
Yes, the game has a steep learning curve, and survival is tough at first. But once you have a decent set of skills and stats, with a nice sturdy house built, a fire in the fireplace, and plenty of food in the larder, you will have a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
So I would say, if you are looking for something a bit slower and richer than your standard click-fest MMO , and like the idea of crafting-for-your life, then give WURM a try.
Having recently started playing this I have to say its definately grants a huge sense of accomplishment that you just don't get from recent mainstream games. This is a survival game to its core, the immersion due to the difficulty of being out there in the wild trying to survive surpasses most if not all other mmo's out there.
As others have mentioned, its not super pretty shiny graphics and certain aspects need much improvement (which is in the works) but the gameplay is rich, engaging and challenging.
If your looking for a game to 'live' in wurm online offers that to an extent that no other games do.