Project Gorgon: It doesn't suck.

[rusty_shackleford]

It's on sale until later this month.


My small summary from 2 years ago when I stopped playing:

If you're curious of if there's enough content in EA to be worth buying: I put over 450 hours into it.
And I didn't run out of content, just shelving it for a bit from playing the same game too much.

...Surprisingly, I have very few complaints. The only major one is the diablo-tier itemization BUT it's not as bad due to how gear works with it directly affecting abilities(no flat +n stat gear) and there being so many different treasure mods you can roll. Still not a fan, but it is what it is.
OTOH, there is equipment as you get higher level that have innate builtin effects that make them much stronger than a comparable item of the same slot without those effects. Things like weapons that have a different damage type(which potentially opens a completely new playstyle e.g., there's a staff that does slash damage) to weapons that have completely unique ability sets that unlock while equipped.

I barely touched the faery realm and gazluk, btw, to give an idea of how much content I still have left. Those zones are both massive.

/
Easily one of the best MMOs available right now, and the best 'fresh' MMO you can play. I don't use this phrase often, but it's definitely a hidden gem.

The slow feeling of you getting more powerful/experienced -- in multiple areas -- and noticing it through the gameplay itself is something that other MMOs did away with completely. Hell, most cRPGs have nothing on Gorgon in this department.

Played and enjoyed by a few other HQ members like @Gregz, @Kalarion, and @Ranselknulf.

[Emphyrio]

Its been in early access for 5 years?

[Decline]

Its been in early access for 5 years?

Thats short for MMORPG/Vaporware.
Also can't hold a candle to Grindion Online

[GhostCow]

It has that rhythm game combat that I hate, thus it is ****.

[krokodil]

"it doesn't suck"
"i stopped playing it two years ago"

curious

[Ranselknulf]

I enjoyed it for a bit, but I stopped playing a while back because of the grind and my school cycle. I never picked it back up again because the lead developer's wife got cancer and I'm not sure the game will ever be complete.

It's probably a good thing to not pick it up again because it's way too much of a time sink. Right before I quit, people were getting mad at me because I was buying so much wood it was affecting the global economy and they accused me of breaking the game or some ****. Idk, the game is interesting, but the small community really makes the mentally ill stand out. Some people have really strong opinions of how a game should be played and if you don't play it in their style, then you are just wrong I suppose.

I'm sure you all know this from being veterans of the codex though.

[Ranselknulf]

Most recent review of the game from the steam link Rusty posted:

Vicar Tagnia - "Was fun for a good 200 hours. Went into a PvP zone. Killed someone who was fighting in the PvP zone. That person was a member of the admin team and got upset that he died, so my account was administratively punished. Seems kinda BS, so I put in a ticket in March. 2 months later and no response, so I stopped caring and stopped playing. "


The same sorta thing applies to non-pvp stuff as well.

GoreLord - "Hadn't played in a few months. Jumped in, ask a question in general, and got flamed by multiple people. Seems a lot of the cheery helpful folks have bailed. I'll gladly go back to OSRS."

The mentally ill people I was speaking of.

[Decline]

I enjoyed it for a bit, but I stopped playing a while back because of the grind and my school cycle. I never picked it back up again because the lead developer's wife got cancer and I'm not sure the game will ever be complete.

The game is generally developed in a very... inexperienced way. The studio has some good ideas but not enough budget and manpower to pull off an MMO.

[Ranselknulf]

I enjoyed it for a bit, but I stopped playing a while back because of the grind and my school cycle. I never picked it back up again because the lead developer's wife got cancer and I'm not sure the game will ever be complete.

The game is generally developed in a very... inexperienced way. The studio has some good ideas but not enough budget and manpower to pull off an MMO.

That was part of the charm of the game. I like mmo's that aren't necessarily massive, but still large enough to interact with people every day. It's why I like private server games with a 100-200 active players.

The issue with this game is their intense focus on their design and what gameplay "should" be and since the developers play the game, as soon as you do something they don't like, you get the axe. A small scale mmo works if the developers aren't leading guilds and stuff like that, but you'd be better of recreating this experience in a private mmo server somewhere and then donating if you enjoy the experience.

[rusty_shackleford]

Looks like the developer's wife, who was diagnosed with cancer, doesn't have much time left.
Community raised a bunch of money for them.

[Kalarion]

I played for a couple months. When I realized itemization followed Diablo II sensibilities I lost interest. Hilariously, my wife got hooked and is still playing, so now I get to see guild drama etc secondhand

For this kind of game, it's really really good. There are tons of ways to develop your character, and lots of exploring and crawling to do. Good/great game, just not for me (at least not as it is right now).

[Rand]

I played in the early, early beta years ago.
I wasn't impressed.

[Anon]

Fun game at start, but falls off at midgame when you don't have much to do and figured out the things. There are also some annoying bugs like the camera often doing a 180º once enemy comes in melee range (don't know if they fixed it already). Also heard a lot of bad stories about devs being kinda arrogant pricks and abusive towards critical players.

Saddened to hear the dev's wife having cancer though, nobody deserves to go through that.

[rusty_shackleford]

Looks like the developer's wife, who was diagnosed with cancer, doesn't have much time left.

She died on Jan 28th, 2025. It seems the lead developer took a short break then continued to work on the game, as a major update released in Feb 20th.

[WaterMage]

I liked a bit the game, except by the gear dependency.

[rusty_shackleford]

I think I'm going to give this another go.

Anyone play it by chance?

[Classix]

I think I'm going to give this another go.

Anyone play it by chance?

Played years ago... as noted in the pic when it was new. Have it on the backburner to try again at some point. When you play last, what role/playstyle?

project_gorg_1.png

[rusty_shackleford]

I think I'm going to give this another go.

Anyone play it by chance?

Played years ago... as noted in the pic when it was new. Have it on the backburner to try again at some point. When you play last, what role/playstyle?

Last played it probably half a decade ago. Just remember being a werewolf.

Don't know if I'm going to play it again, think I've just outgrown my interest in MMOs

[Tweed]

It costs money.

[DagothGeas5]

That is still says it is in Early Access though so much time passed doesn't inspire confidence in me, but it does look like a nice game to play thus far that I saw so I myself will keep an eye on it at the least and possibly buy it to try it for myself in the future

[Rienen]

That is still says it is in Early Access though so much time passed doesn't inspire confidence in me, but it does look like a nice game to play thus far that I saw so I myself will keep an eye on it at the least and possibly buy it to try it for myself in the future

Honestly, I've just come to expect most indie games, especially MMOs, will simply live forever under the "Early Access" title. It's essentially a shield the dev team, and their "defenders", can use when anyone criticizes the game. We know this. They know this. It just is what it is. The only real reasons they'd have to "release" into 1.0 would be as a "in case of emergency", one-time use, marketing push for a bump in cash or the team wants to publically acknowledge they are done working on the game so they can move onto their next project. Then again, maybe I'm just an old, jaded, cynic.

That said, PG's graphics never really bothered me. Although, I can acknowledge this is a hurdle most people. I genuinely like the gameplay, most of the systems, and sense of discovery the game has. My only real main complaints center around the game environments being pretty barren and the inventory and banking systems being restrictive.

[DagothGeas5]

That is still says it is in Early Access though so much time passed doesn't inspire confidence in me, but it does look like a nice game to play thus far that I saw so I myself will keep an eye on it at the least and possibly buy it to try it for myself in the future

Honestly, I've just come to expect most indie games, especially MMOs, will simply live forever under the "Early Access" title. It's essentially a shield the dev team, and their "defenders", can use when anyone criticizes the game. We know this. They know this. It just is what it is. The only real reasons they'd have to "release" into 1.0 would be as a "in case of emergency", one-time use, marketing push for a bump in cash or the team wants to publically acknowledge they are done working on the game so they can move onto their next project. Then again, maybe I'm just an old, jaded, cynic.

That said, PG's graphics never really bothered me. Although, I can acknowledge this is a hurdle most people. I genuinely like the gameplay, most of the systems, and sense of discovery the game has. My only real main complaints center around the game environments being pretty barren and the inventory and banking systems being restrictive.

I don't see what you said as being an old, jaded, cynic myself and I quite agree on all points I do not have enough experience with dealing with these games, but I had heard there are memes or similar about how there are "early accesses" that are actually just how the game will be as a sort of front, like you said.
As for graphics, I find them quite charming myself though I much more prefer pixelated 2D and similar, or those types of graphics of the likes of Icewind Dale II which have a sort of realistic feel to them, in a way.
Thank you for sharing about the inventory things and the landscape also! It reminds me then of many MMOs I played in the past, but of which I recall the names of only a few. One that comes to mind with the type of barren, flat landscape reminiscent of a PSP game would be Metin 2, whereas the UI that I saw from snippets of a gameplay video reminded me of Wolf Quest or something like Rimworld somewhat.

[Finarfin]

I'm a bit less harsh on the PG devs since it is a married couple. Though the wife died of cancer.

[mynameismortis]

Right now on tutorial island and the game feels DOPE. How is this game not more popular?

[Maledict]

Right now on tutorial island and the game feels DOPE. How is this game not more popular?

B2P

[rusty_shackleford]

What server we playing on?

[rusty_shackleford]

rather hate the idea of servers don't even feel like playing now

literally no reason for a game with 2k active players to have 5 servers

[Rienen]

I tend to believe the game was designed and developed specifically with the expectations that the population would be low and that players would trickle in slowly. This becomes pretty apparent just by looking at how they designed their starting area/island. Even a few dozen people can ruin the experience through server lag, and there being so few mobs to fight over. Once you get past the starter island, things do open up and that becomes less of an issue. Towns/hubs still suffer from poor optimization, but that never did anything to sour me on things.

[Xenich]

I played for a couple months. When I realized itemization followed Diablo II sensibilities I lost interest. Hilariously, my wife got hooked and is still playing, so now I get to see guild drama etc secondhand

For this kind of game, it's really really good. There are tons of ways to develop your character, and lots of exploring and crawling to do. Good/great game, just not for me (at least not as it is right now).

I read the creators comments on how he tried to deal with death penalties. I will say that they are creative, thoughtful and interesting, but... not the type of system I care for. I played a beta (early trial) version of it near its release time, too early to tell, but I liked its feel. You are right though, the game has tons of features for character development and the like, but like you certain things turned me off.

I don't think it is a bad game, just not something I would gravitate to. I check on the rules and progression of play from time to time and it just seems to be focused on a style of game play that doesn't quite interest me.

[rusty_shackleford]

I tend to believe the game was designed and developed specifically with the expectations that the population would be low and that players would trickle in slowly. This becomes pretty apparent just by looking at how they designed their starting area/island. Even a few dozen people can ruin the experience through server lag, and there being so few mobs to fight over. Once you get past the starter island, things do open up and that becomes less of an issue. Towns/hubs still suffer from poor optimization, but that never did anything to sour me on things.

runescape did it 27 years ago
runescape