To date, I’ve chipped in for only three MMO Kickstarters, and one of those is Ashes of Creation. At the time of its initial 2016 announcement and campaign, I found the general concept appealing and the enthusiasm of this team infectious. We sorely needed — and continue to need — next-gen MMOs on the market, and this one looked to take ideas from the past and step forward with them into a fascinating future.
However, it hasn’t been the long passage of development time that’s severely cooled my attitude toward Ashes of Creation but the gradual realization that this would be a very cutthroat world more akin to EVE Online or Albion Online than EverQuest II. And I’m worried that’s going to bite the long-term prospects of this MMO pretty hard if Intrepid Studios doesn’t change its course.
I want to be fair here and point out that there’s so much going for this MMO project, starting with a team packed full of veteran devs who are being given a lot of leeway to create the kind of game that they would like to play themselves. Ashes of Creation is brimming with thoughtful touches, such as seasons that affect certain plants.
From what I’ve seen, the graphics look vibrant and beautiful, and the combat is getting a huge amount of attention and fine-tuning. And in principle, I do like the node system where players can work together to build up settlements into large, thriving cities.
So what’s the issue here, other than the fact that this game’s been in the making for nearly a decade now and is only in alpha testing? Why is it no longer one of the first games that comes to mind when players talk about being hyped for future MMOs?
What I keep hearing and seeing is a combination of deal-breakers: That Ashes of Creation is focusing a lot of “player friction” for many of its systems, an undue emphasis on PvP over PvE content, and edgelord-style attitudes in forums and social media.
This does not appear to be a world where you can slip into the role of a bright-eyed adventurer and enjoy a journey free from human hassles. On the contrary, this MMO seems to relish the prospect of people scrabbling over each other’s corpses for advancement, fame, and power.
Let’s not forget that Amazon initially positioned New World as this great territory control PvP game, only to realize that most people really didn’t want that — and pivoted hard toward PvE in its final year of pre-launch. There’s a lesson to be learned there.
And remember how Intrepid tried to spin the game off into a battle royale fighter several years ago? To me, that told me that the devs had less confidence in their ability to make an MMO and more of a desire to leap on any PvP bandwagon that came along. It was a short-lived thing, but it eroded confidence in the overall product.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for MMOs to create an umbrella as wide as possible for its future playerbases. We see far too many upcoming titles limit themselves by deliberately appealing to only a certain audience inside an already-niche genre, and that doesn’t bode well. PvPers and raiders and casuals and crafters and roleplayers alike should be looking at a game like Ashes of Creation and thinking, “Hey, there’s a lot here that appeals to me and my playstyle!” I don’t think that this is anywhere near that right now.
From surveying threads of people alpha testing this game, I think it’s not nearly as full-featured as Intrepid would like you to believe. You’ve got some open-world PvP if that’s your thing, or you can go out and grind mobs on the map like it’s Lineage II back in the mid-2000s. Obviously, it has a long way to go in development.
So is it doomed right now? I absolutely would not say that. Ashes of Creation is still a hefty contender with its pedigree, resources, and invested development. Some testers report that they absolutely love the crap out of this game and see great potential for it.
But if it’s going to be a contender for real, this MMO needs to accelerate development and testing, broaden its appeal, and take steps to tamp down on a growing toxic element within its community that could drive away many potential players.
How are you feeling about Ashes of Creation right now in 2025? Is there anything here that gets you excited about what it could be if and when it launches?
Do you love spectating and speculating about upcoming MMOs? We do too! Every week, Justin tackles another upcoming title on the MMO Hype Train with opinions, analysis, and blind fervent hope. Choo choo all aboard!