Brad McQuaid makes his return to MMORPG development by founding the now named Visionary Realms, Inc. and revealing more about his mysterious project, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, an MMORPG that targets the challenge-seeking gamer with a return to group-focused combat and classic the “risk vs reward” mantra.

As for the setting, Pantheon is an open world fantasy-based MMORPG set in the world of Terminus. The Kickstarter page boasts that the MMORPG will include a focus on teamwork gameplay, challenging combat, a complex backstory, and expanding your characters through acquired skills, bonding with the spirits of fallen warriors, and obtaining powerful loot. There's even limited class-based teleports ala early EverQuest.

Like McQuaid’s previous titles, it has a specific target of players in mind and will, admittedly, not be all things for everyone.

"I receive emails almost every day asking for this type of game," said Visionary Realms' Chief Creative Officer, Brad McQuaid, who is best known for his critical and early involvement in the forming and influence of the MMORPG genre. "No one else seems to be answering this call. It's the kind of game we've been wanting to play for so long and we're finally getting a chance to make it, thanks to major advances in game development technology and crowdfunding."

Development of Pantheon began back in October 2013 and utilizes the Unity engine. Other veteran developers such as former Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Lead Designer Salim Grant, who serves as the game’s director of development, have signed onto the project along with former EverQuest II team members Tony Garcia, Noel Walling, Lenny Gullo II, and several others.

Pantheon’s Kickstarter campaign kicked off today with the goal of raising $800k. Several stretch goals have already been posted and you can head over and read all about it yourself on the Pantheon Kickstarter page.

If you’re still itching to learn more, be sure visit the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen website and check out Brad McQuaid’s recent interview at PC Gamer. Just a few tidbits revealed in the PC Gamer interview is that Pantheon could take a horizontal progression approach over traditional levels, a possible regional marketplace instead of global, and how the team is approaching combat design.

Source: Visionary Realms Press Release