By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley



Graphics

Aside from the few seconds it took for the Java console to render all
of the graphics when Wurm
Online
first loaded, I was pretty impressed with the look
of the game. Landscapes are probably its best feature, especially when
looking out at the horizon. Once I got out of the starting village, I
saw a solitary mountain covered with trees that looked very much like
one that is a few miles from where I live.


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The city of Kyara was
built entirely by players.

Everything in the game has the feel of a photograph--albeit a slightly
pixelated one. from a distance, forests look good. Up close, the
illusion breaks down a little and pixels and jaggies show up. Character
models are somewhat the same. At the edge of your screen, they almost
look like photos, but they look rougher up close. All in all, I found
it impressive for a Java game that installed at 100MB.



Game Play

Wurm Online
is like the old multi-user dungeons (MUDs) of yore. There was no
non-player character (NPC) with a shiny symbol over his head waiting
for me when I popped into the world. The adventure was out in the wild.
I just needed to go find it. Just a few yards from the village I
spawned in, I found a "pile of key." What was that key for? Why was it
lying on the ground? All I had to do was explore.



Furthermore, everything in the world was interactable: fence posts,
doors, trees. You name it, you could inspect it and (presumably) alter
it. That's the real draw of a game like style="font-style: italic;">Wurm Online;
players are invited to go create their own adventures and forge their
own paths through a wilderness land filled with the unknown. The
official Wurm Online
Wiki, called WurmPedia, relates the story of Kyara, a town created
entirely by players.



Also like the MUDs of years ago, combat in Wurm Online is very
text-heavy. The monster has a graphical representation on-screen, but
players need to look at the special text-based combat screen and the
system text window to really follow the action.


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Combat is very
text-heavy.

style="font-weight: bold;">Parting Thoughts

Having noted that Wurm
Online
is a very open game that encourages exploring and
imagination, I have to confess that I have already uninstalled the game.
I don't know if I have grown lazy because of graphical masterpieces
like Vanguard
and Age of Conan.
Maybe I am spoiled because of the hand-holding NPCs from games like style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft
and EverQuest 2.
It could be the simple fact that the days of MUDs has come and gone.



I can't honestly say if Wurm

Online is a great game or a horrible game. I only can say
that it failed to hold my attention. I still think it could appeal
highly to the crowd of gamers 30+ who wear their MUD experience like
badges in forum signatures.



F12

Are you sure you want to
do this?


Yes.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Wurm Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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