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By Anna "Morvelaira" Dotson, News Editor

When diving into a game for the first time, I always try to understand the world in which it's set.  Just like a sentence gives context to a word, so does this little bit of research give context and meaning to

Combat in NeoSteam is flashy.

may adventures.  In the world of NeoSteam, there was once a great civilization whose wonders were powered by the technological breakthrough of NeoSteam.  In time a disaster befell the kingdom (as often happens to utopian societies) and chaos took over.

Eventually, the three remaining continents in the world coalesced into separate kingdoms.  A supply of NeoSteam still exists, but it is a limited resource because no one knows how to make it anymore.  This appears to be the set up for the game's PvP, or rather nation vs nation.  The remaining source of NeoSteam is on a neutral island which must be controlled by a single nation to supply it with the valuable resource.

The Nations
Of the three Nations, only two of them were playable at the time I played.  While which nation you choose will not affect your character's base stats, it will limit your appearance options one way or another.  The Republic of Rogwel is a Technique nation, meaning its culture relies heavily on machinery.  The Mysterious nation of Elerd Kingdom seems to be a much more magic based area, though I did not see much that would differentiate itself because technology is still very present.  The third nation seems to be nature power based and also does not seem to be playable at this time.

The Characters
There are several races to play, each with abilities that would lean them towards a particular class.  One striking thing is that each race only has one gender available to play.  I have not heard a rationale for this – I hope it is a beta thing.  The other thing I hope is beta only is the lack of customization.  There were only a few faces/hairstyles to choose from.

The Classes
NeoSteam has a tiered class system.  This means that you start out as one of five basic classes, then you branch out to a specialty class at level ten.  I admit I don't know what max level is in

Monsters in NeoSteam can be huge.

NeoSteam, but if it's something huge around 100+, then I think specialization at level 10 a little early.  I only played a Craftor and I did not make it to level ten.  This class has some buffing abilities to start, but mostly seems focused on hard-hitting melee combat.  The class also seems to be a pet class, but that is an aspect I was unable to explore.  Overall, I'd have to say the class was misnamed because I see no advantage to crafting with this class as opposed to the others.

The Game
Seriously, the right-click to do everything mechanic has got to be the most annoying thing in this game.  It's compounded by the fact that while the tutorial quests tries to teach you to use left-click to move, (and in fact says that's the only way to do it) you can still move with right-click.  Want to talk to someone? Right-click.  Want to loot? Right-click.  Want use an ability? Right-click.  Where are you going?  Oh, you just missed clicking an icon on screen so now you're running 500m away from the monster you need to kill?  I think you see the problem.

Other than that, my only complaint is that you seem to be on your own in this game.  I'm the questing and linear storyline type.  While the first few tutorial quests are very nice, and you have a new newbie tip flashing in your screen every minute or so, it is still difficult to find quests or event to know what you should be working towards.  It doesn't help that most of the quests are in the neighborhood of “Kill Ten Rats”.

Parting Thoughts
Overall, I'd say NeoSteam needs improvement, but it seems to have a great core concept, executes that concept well, and is off to a good start.  I look forward to later versions of the game. After all, improvement is what betas are for.

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