A wrap-up of the Paradox Interactive MMO conference in NYC

by Eliot Lefebvre on Jan 23rd 2011 2:00PM

Fantasy, Historical, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, News items, MMORTS

If you're unfamiliar with Paradox Interactive, you could be forgiven -- it's never been a flashy studio. But it does have a very solid track record of producing historical simulations and strategy games, including the critically acclaimed Mount & Blade and the Europa Universalis series. So when the company's New York convention includes two upcoming online games, it's with a background of producing solid games with a strongly simulationist angle. Two titles, Dreamlords Resurrection and Salem, were both on display at the conference, with two very different foci but similar levels of polish.

Dreamlords Resurrection is an MMORTS with an emphasis on player armies rather than on city building. Players take on the role of a newly awakened Dreamlord attempting to work with allied players to claim as much land as possible... with the caveat that the game's regular resets will keep any one group of players from becoming too overpowering. Salem, meanwhile, is a sandbox game that plans to include not only open PvP but the threat of permanent death, forcing players to hopefully band together and police behavior. Both sound like interesting takes on the genre that will give players plenty to mull over as they move through development.

Source: Paradox Interactive NY Convention Wrap-up

Tags: drealord-resurrection, mmorts, new-titles, open-pvp, paradox, paradox-interactive, permadeath, permanent-death, preview, progress-reset, pvp, salem, sandbox, server-resets, social-structures, timed-resets

Reader Comments (3)

I was dubious about the permadeath pvp Salem and now I read that Dreamlords wants players to capture as much territory as possible but that it regularly resets.

A big part of the attraction of any MMO for most players is that of achievement - players accrue levels, gold, equipment etc. and they keep it. I know it's early and we don't have all the details yet but based on what we do know...

... it sounds like these developers have a Sisyphus complex.

I am a huge Europa fan so that alot has me keeping an eye on this, although i am not sure i really like the concept of perma-death

Of note, Paradox is a publisher, most of their titles are made by other companies, including Mount & Blade. Dreamlords has been released several times by several companies, Paradox is the latest to try and turn it into a profitable venture.

Salem sounds interesting and the year's line up looks promising, but we'll have to see how it actually turns out.