Shards Online Steam Greenlight Campaign Launches

Described as “Ultima Online meets Neverwinter Nights”, the team at Citadel Entertainment is hard at work on a new game entitled Shards Online that will feature a persistent world, skill-based character progression, an extensive crafting system, and much more. The MMORPG actually had a successful Kickstarter campaign last year that flew under our radar at the time, but now it’s up on Steam Greenlight and making some additional waves as it edges closer to a release.  The accompanying trailer is impressive, too: 

And here’s a summary of what to expect from the game:

Experience limitless content. Each server, both official and community run, has different rules and content, allowing you to find a game universe that fits your exact play style.

Become a creator of worlds. It’s the first game that legitimately allows you to host and moderate not just a single game world, but an entire universe of connected game worlds. Customize every aspect of your servers’ gameplay experience from character development, to combat, to items and equipment, to monsters and AI.

Shards Online is breaking away from the modern MMO conventions of levels, classes and quest grinds. Instead, we are returning to living virtual worlds where stories emerge naturally as players explore the worlds laid out before them. The game will launch with a complete game containing several official rule-sets. Our current plans include one with a well-balanced set of gameplay, a hardcore PvP battle-royale, and even one featuring permanent character death: the ultimate game of risk versus reward.

We are initially targeting the PC platform, and plans for a Mac and Linux launch are in the works. When you purchase the game, you will be able to play on official or player run servers and run a single ‘shard’ with no additional cost or subscription fees. Players will be able to form massive servers by connecting their self-hosted worlds together using a ‘cluster server’ hosted by Citadel Studios. These servers, when marked public, are listed in-game for all players to see and join.

Shards Online is the first game that legitimately allows you to run and moderate your own game worlds with the potential to support thousands of users at one time. Customize every aspect of your servers’ gameplay experience from character development, to combat, to items and equipment, to monsters and AI. You can even add completely custom game worlds! Ultimately, Citadel Studios isn’t just creating game that fosters a player community, instead, they are giving our players the tools to create their own in-game communities.

Player Housing – Claim you house plot anywhere in the world by obtaining one of the 13 housing blueprints currently available in the game. You have complete control over the items placed in and around your house including furniture, crafting tools, and lockable storage containers.

Skill Based Character Development – Your skills gain naturally as you use them. With over 20 skills already in the game and more being added each release.

Deep Storylines and Lore – The inhabitants of the worlds in Shards Online are full of knowledge and stories of the struggles between mortals and the many races of gods.

Crafting – Metalsmithing, Woodsmithing, Fabrication and Alchemy are functionally complete. A grand total of 144 recipes are available for crafters to use to create items!

Animal Taming – We currently have 20+ tameable creatures that not only respond to your commands but also age and gain skill the longer you keep them.

Combat – We have a completely tactical and skill based combat system with 15+ combat abilities, 20+ spells, and 10+ skill based abilities.

PvP – Outside of the guard protected areas of the world, PvP is completely unrestricted and players must stick together to protect each other from the forces of evil. The penalty for death ranges by server rules from a slap on the wrist to full loot.

Catacombs Dungeon – Catacombs is a massive 3 level dungeon that changes configurations every few hours. The dungeon is filled with traps, terrors and epic loot for players to explore and hunt.

Boss Battles – Test your mettle against one of our many nasty bosses: Forest Ogres, The Cultist King, The Spider Queen, The Greater Demon of Kho, The Greater Dragon, The Guardian of the Void, and Death.

Titles – In addition to the title you earn from your pledge level, players can also earn in-game titles. There are currently 150+ titles available including titles like “Leader of the Revolution” and “Bane of the Dragon Age”.

Faction System – There are two factions struggling for control of Celador, The Villagers and The Cultists, by completing tasks for them you can gain faction which gives you access to titles, additional tasks and access to special areas of the map.

Guilds – Players can come together to form guilds that can claim their own lands and even go to war with other guilds.

Character Customization – The first pass on character customization is complete which allows you to choose from several skin types and hair styles for both male and female. You can also change your hair color.

Community Servers and Modding – 24/7 community servers running with custom created content. (NOTE: Some aspects of modding will not be available until after Early Access release)