This has become an absolute sensation in my group of friends, even managing to draw in a number of sceptical non-gamers. There’s a group of 10 or so now who drop in on the dedicated server semi-regularly and it’s just such great fun.
We’re making pretty slow progress because we’re trying to only do the bosses together in a big group so no one gets left behind (which basically limits us to Sunday afternoons). But there’s still something for everyone. The deer hunting in particular is so well realised and everyone enjoys that, but otherwise there are people who love sailing about uncovering the map, others who are all about grinding in the dungeons, one guy who loves the architecture and is all about messing around with crossbeams and building ever more elaborate long halls.
Some really fun emergent game play - a particular highlight was a big siege on our first base built within the Black Forest which happened to occur while all 10 players were online, so the numbers / toughness of the enemies scaled up really nicely. Lots of firing bows from balconies and parapets, trolls destroying the camp, a few heroic deaths.
Another time where we rafted across to another landmass in the very early game, two guys promptly got killed and the raft got destroyed, leaving the one survivor to sneak desperately alone behind enemy lines carrying everyone’s valuable gear before eventually arriving safely home after building his own raft. Watching him sail out of the mist on his raft with his torch held aloft as we all waited on the coast for him was a great moment.
The mining is admittedly a bit of a tedious grind but you can’t have it all.
Great game!!
― Windsor Davies, Tuesday, 9 March 2021 17:01 (three years ago) link