Wizardry Online Preview

There doesn’t seem to be any particular interest in Wizardry Online from the press, seeing how few articles about it have been written so far, with one of the few exceptions being this brief E3 preview piece from WorthPlaying. Apparently the game is going to be rather difficult:

The core gameplay of Wizardry Online is standard MMO, with Phantasy Star Online-style, click-based, timed attacks in addition to the traditional skill library. There’s an array of classic monsters from across the Wizardry series’ history, but the biggest monster is when not if they bite you.

The game doesn’t just simply go for permadeath, a word that has drawn fear from many a player. Although many MMOs have threatened to implement permadeath, all have persistently backed away from it, aside from optional modes. Instead, Wizardry Online gives you a percentage chance of this death becoming permanent, including the loss of all gear and purchased items. The more often you die, the higher the chance gets, though one of the items resets the chance to zero, and you can sacrifice items to improve your odds of returning. Yes, the game’s risk is exceptionally high.