On The Radar For 2020

Here’s my annual summary of PC MMORPGs that are on my radar for the new year 2020. (Here is 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014). I’ll warn you up front it’s bleak, just like last year.

I am only considering “traditional” style MMORPGs in this list, not things like MOBAs or brawlers or Diablo-clones or whatever else people call MMOs these days. Actually, since I find out about these from MMO sites, and most MMO sites now cover things that aren’t traditional MMORPGs, some of these might in fact not be traditional MMORPGs. Actually, even MMORPGs these days aren’t much like old school traditional MMORPGs anymore, but that’s another topic. The point is I try to weed out things that are obviously not traditional MMORPGs, like, say, Anthem or Fallout 76 or Rend or Cyberpunk 2077.

Note that when I say a game is “new” on the list below, I mean it’s new to me, and new to this yearly post. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was newly announced in 2019, but some were.

I’m excluding all mobile titles from this list, by the way, because I haven’t yet seen one worth playing.

Games I’m Excited About

These are games that I’m genuinely looking forward to sinking my teeth into and playing long-term (which is roughly a month, for me).

Just like last year, nothing. The future still looks pretty bleak to me.

Games I’ll Try

These are games that I’m interesting in seeing just to see what all the talk is about, and might buy just to be part of the “in crowd,” but for whatever reason I don’t think they will be a good long-term fit for me. Ideally, I would only want to try them for free.

Crowfall. No change from last year. [Literally: This text is exactly the same as last year, nothing has changed in one entire year.] Still sick of hearing about it, still don’t think I will like it, still think it will be “old” by the time it launches, but am still interested in trying it out. I actually won a month of free playing time so I will definitely be checking it out if it ever deigns to launch.

Camelot Unchained. No change from last year. Same as above. Don’t think I will like it, but I’m interesting in trying it out.

Mortal Online 2 (new). The most interesting new MMO announcement in 2019 for me personally, as I’ve always thought Mortal Online was one of the most underrated “virtual world” sandbox MMOs out there. I’m definitely interested in trying a new one.

Games I’m Undecided About

These are games that I just don’t know enough yet to make any commitments, and/or nothing particularly jumps out at me as interesting or innovative.

Ascent: Infinite Realm. No change from last year. Don’t know much about it.

Ashes of Creation. No change from last year. I remain skeptical about this game, and have no desire to spend money on it without playing it first, but I expect it to be popular, at least briefly, when it launches, so it might someday move up to “Games I’ll Try.”

Book of Travels (new). Successfully Kickstarted, probably the most talked-about new MMO of 2019, though I don’t know anything about it.

Chronicles of Elyria. No change from last year. I don’t know anything about this game but I keep hearing people talk about it, both positively and negatively.

Crimson Desert (new). Spin-off of Black Desert by Pearl Abyss, an “open-world MMORPG set in an epic-fantasy world.” Probably the most well-funded MMO announcement from the biggest company in 2019.

Dual Universe. No change from last year. I don’t know much about it, but people seem to think it’s got something going for it. It doesn’t sound like a game I would like long-term, though. “Sandbox game” usually means “don’t bother playing this unless you bring friends you enjoy hanging out with.”

Lost Ark. No change from last year. The screenshots look beautiful. That’s about all I know about it.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. No change from last year. Honestly I have no idea what the status of this game is anymore.

Phantasy Star Online 2 (English) (new). Popular Eastern game coming to the west apparently.

Saga of Lucimia. No change from last year. I know nothing.

Seconds From Silence (new). “Moddable action-based [MMORPG].” Shrug. Whatever that means.

Twilight Spirits (English). No change from last year. Eastern import, I know nothing.

Games I’m Not Interested In

These are games that I’m not planning to spend any money on without considerably more convincing.

Age of Wushu 2. No change from last year. No idea what the status of this game is. Martial arts games aren’t for me.

Eternal Magic (new). “A free-to-play MMORPG that sounds far too good to be true.” Controversial. Too much negative buzz to touch.

Moonlight Blade (English). No change from last year for this Tencent game. This doesn’t strike me as a game that would have much substance.

New World. After getting a chance to play in the alpha, I moved this down to “not interested” because I’m not expecting much, and I won’t be pre-ordering it. I don’t know what anyone else saw in it. It’s a test bed for the Lumberyard game engine, which is the real product Amazon wants to sell. If it takes off into a huge success, maybe I’ll get it, just to have it available, like Guild Wars 2. At least it’ll be fairly cheap.

Project TL. Formerly Lineage Eternal. No change from last year, and apparently no news about this game in 2019.

Ship of Heroes, Valiance Online, City of Titans, Heroes and Villians. I never played City of Heroes and I don’t care for the superhero genre, so none of these “spiritual successors” appeal to me.

Star Citizen. No change from last year or the year before or the year before or the year before… I didn’t back it and I still don’t care. If it ever comes out, I might buy it, but you can safely bet that I won’t be spending a dime on this until after some reviews from non-backers start coming in that rigorously critique the game from the perspective of a non-backer arriving late.

Torchlight Frontiers. Was supposed to be launched in 2019, but delayed to 2020. Another in a long line of frustrating isometric view games that bug me because I can’t see past the edge of the screen. If there’s a free version I might try it but I doubt I’d play long-term.

Removed Games

These games were removed from the radar this year:

Legends of Aria. I think this launched in 2019 but I can’t tell for sure and maybe it’s free-to-play but frankly I just don’t care anymore whether games are Early Access or not.

Kingdom Under Fire 2. Released in 2019. No interest.

KurtzPel. Released into Early Access in 2019. No interest.

Peria Chronicles. Nexon cancelled this game in 2019.

WoW Classic. Released in 2019. Played for a couple of weeks.