Posts tagged permadeath 
Leaderboard: Permadeath vs. no permadeath
Permadeath is one of those game mechanics that seems destined to forever be nibbling away at the fringe of the MMO genre than invited to the cool kids' table. Many players find themselves aghast at the notion of losing all their hard-earned progress with one untimely demise, and it seems like ...
Some Assembly Required: I saw the wilds of Salem (and lived to tell about it)
I spent an hour romping through the woods of Salem last Friday with Seatribe head honcho Bjorn Johannessen. The tiny indie company (current dev population: two) is hard at work on its followup to Haven and Hearth, an acquired taste of a sandbox game notable for its no-holds barred approach that ...
Massively Speaking Episode 201: No more secrets
Massively Speaking Episode 201 gets into all of your dirty little secrets -- not to mention Funcom's, as well! We're joined by Jef, who gives us the full scoop on The Secret World now that the NDA's come tumbling down. Will this be another Failcom or possibly a Fabulouscom? Only Jef knows, and ...
Salem sandbox MMO not for the faint of heart
Twenty minutes of gameplay doesn't seem like a lot when it comes to previewing an MMO, but PC Gamer is giving it the ol' college try with a look at Seatribe's new Salem sandbox. You know the Salem we mean. The one with... permadeath. Ooooh. Scary. Anyhow, the piece offers up a few interesting ...
The Daily Grind: What outdated game mechanic should be retired from MMOs?
Returning to an old game is like hopping in a time machine and surveying the horrible mistakes made by MMO studios a decade ago. Forget those five guys who still murmur the word "permadeath" wistfully; we're talking corpse runs, vitae penalty, corpse looting, tank mages, experience loss, holy ...
Colonize the New World: Salem opens beta sign-ups
It's time to set sail for the New World with Paradox Interactive's upcoming free-to-play sandbox title, Salem. The studio announced today that beta sign-ups for the title have opened up, and anyone and everyone is welcome to jump in and give the team feedback. But remember, folks, the ...
Crime and punishment in Salem, New World-style
With all of the open world sandboxy goodness going on in Salem, one might wonder if Paradox Interactive is prepared for the level of griefing that can come with such games. Interestingly enough, the team has given this some serious thought and come up with an elegant system of crime and ...
Some Assembly Required: Salem dev talks permadeath, griefing, and skill-based gameplay
Hello, sandbox faithful, and welcome to a special interview edition of Some Assembly Required. We recently had a chance to pitch some questions to the team behind Seatribe's upcoming Salem title, and creative director Björn Johannessen was kind enough to answer them. Salem is being ...
Wings Over Atreia: Happy Newb Year!
Oh, that feeling when a game is new and everything is an adventure! Say what you will, but I cherish those moments of still being a newb and getting to experience things for the first time while exploring a new world (mind you, that is newb as in "new person," not n00b meaning "hopelessly ...
The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode?
The permadeath-in-MMOs issue has been debated to death. Most of us have probably either played in a Diablo-esque hardcore mode or gaped at the stones required to publish a true MMORPG with permadeath (hi, Salem). But who says you need game mechanics to make permadeath a reality? I've gamed ...
