Erenshor

when i first picked up erenshor, i expected a chill false-mmo environment where i didnt need to worry so much about FOMO, falling behind, and the terrors of MMO global chats. then i met friends club. and i found out (on discord, they don't tell you this ingame) that every time i logoff, the game simulates 6 hours of progress for all bots, INCLUDING guild ranking. and it'll be a cold day in hell before i ever let those bastards have the #1 spot on my server again. --- i think this game has a lot of potential and a very sought-after niche as a faux-MMO with bots that are charming, if occasionally frustrating (and thankfully: not driven by some LLM). at only version 0.3 there's plenty of time to work out the few issues I have and add more content. the everquest references fly over my head but i'm sure some old fart will appreciate them

My actual playtime is well over 100 hours. I've unlocked every achievement (including the new ones) and seen everything this game has to offer. I also put a lot of effort into drafting this review, so regardless of your expectations, I would really appreciate it if you'll consider my following words. Other reviews for this game will highlight how Erenshor skillfully recreates the experience of playing old-school MMOs, especially with its simulated players providing a comfortable illusion of joining a community of other players that you get to know and grow alongside as you play the game. Erenshor is too big to be described with just that feature. I'd like to point out how, as of tomorrow, this game will also be an incredibly engaging and immersive RPG that not only respects, but reciprocates the time that you invest into it. When you first log in, make your first character, and enter Stowaway's Step, you'll have next to nothing as you figure out the controls and systems that make Erenshor work. On the default settings, it will be a tough experience: XPing might take a while, mobs soon become too tough to fight solo, and quests require exploration and critical thinking skills to discover and complete. Less than half of all players make it out of the tutorial island, and less than 1% can be considered to have reached the endgame. The game expects much from its players because of how much it has to give in return. After learning how to be a part of Erenshor - knowing your class' responsibilities, meeting some friends to accompany you on a long journey, and figuring out how to navigate perilous dungeons without wiping - players will soon discover just what kind of world they entered. Erenshor is a place created by gods, for humans, and even a little bit of attention to the game's story will convey how small the player is in relation to the events that shaped the lands around them. But just as a single spark can start a raging fire, so too can you become someone of genuine importance in Erenshor. Eventually, after investing much of your own time and love into this game, you'll notice that you're a very different person than you were when you started playing. Before, you'd be a stranger to all; after, like 1/4th of the server wants to quest with you, join your guild, and beg you for loot. Before, depending on your class, you'd only have a few small spells like "magic bolt" or "weak poison" to use on enemies; after, you'll command powers such as "aetherstorm" or "extinction bloom" to destroy your foes with. Before, much of the areas in the game would just be words on a map; after, you'll come to understand the histories and cultures of the people and gods that allowed these zones to exist, and know how to navigate them all as if you'd been born there. Before, you'll learn about various "lore" characters as just words from an NPC or a book; after, you'll find that you can meet almost every single one of them and play a hand in their fates. You'll go from having nothing to having friends, power, influence, a place to call home, and a sureness of what being a player in Erenshor is. And that's all before the upcoming Planar March patch. If you buy the game now, you'll be able to fight the GODS themselves in the world's first ever singleplayer MMO raiding experience. Command the players you've bonded with over dozens of hours to surmount the greatest and most epic challenges you'll ever face in this game. When I started playing, I was unsure if I'd be hooked enough after trying the demo to buy it for real. Now I'm all of the things that I listed above, as well as an important member of the game's actual community in their Discord, over the course of a month. One last thing I'd like to mention in this review is the incredible passion and kindness the developer has for his game and his players. He's done so much to fix this game's bugs and listen to feedback in order to prepare this work of art to break its limits every single day. Any rough patches that remain further cement that this game, unlike "real" MMORPGs, is more than just an IP designed to milk as much money from their players as possible - this is an authentic labor of love. The progression from being a fresh player in this simulated MMO to an awe-inspiring hero is done better in this game than anything else I've tried. You will get exactly what you put into Erenshor. How far will you take this game? How great, how wonderful, will your own legend become?

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Erenshor is a single player MMO where you play as an adventurer in a world filled with simulated players that grow as you do, each with a personality of their own who are going about fighting mobs, doing quests, and completing dungeons just like you. It's an idea I was not expecting to like as much as I do but it brings back feelings of yesteryear when I was still playing games like Everquest. The game does so many thing that I enjoy such as having a "server admin" panel that lets you adjust parts of the game to your liking such as adding or decreasing things like EXP gain, loot drops, or turn on features such as the map or quest markers which allows you to tailor the game to your preferred experience. Having Simplayers running around so the world feels populated, having them randomly comment or send you tells such as complimenting your gear or asking you to group gives them personality so it helps the world feel "lived in" as it were. While the game doesn't have everything I want, such as a true pet class or a martial arts class, at the time of this writing the dev is very responsive on Discord and open to feedback, the community is very welcoming, and the development itself of the game is at a nice, steady pace so I can't wait to see where it goes.

Having played Everquest off and on for over 20 years, this game touches on all the things I loved about early MMO gaming without any of the hours long LFG sessions. With Raid Content just about to be released it will have everything I want in an MMO but in a single player game!

First time I got wrecked by a train from another group at zone in I almost fell of my chair laughing. The EQ1 deja vu is unlike anything i've played. This game is amazing, but the nostalgia alone is worth it, 10/10.

I know what you're thinking. This shouldn't work. A simulated MMO. Isn't the fun of MMOs the people? The answer is yes, that's part of it, and somehow Erenshor nails this, despite the players being simulated. I love jumping on and seeing sim'd players I grouped with are around, looking for a group, and have progressed since I played last. Guilds are in. Raids were just released (haven't tried those yet but I can't wait). This game nails the nostalgia of what made MMOs a blast in the early days. And hey, not up for a huge grind? You can adjust XP rates, pretty much everything in your "server settings". This game nails the EQ era feel, and I've had a ridiculous amount of fun playing it. I'm currently chasing the "friends" guild, I want number 1 with my guild, the Coven, dammit! If you enjoyed playing games like EQ, and just want to step back in time for a bit? This game nails it. The world is full of lore, the classes are fun, and playing in groups gives that familiar feel of victory when you clear a dungeon. It's great. And with every update it just gets exponentially better. Can't wait to see what the dev(s) has in store next.

I discovered this game accidentally online a few days back. The concept was intriguing, so I tried the demo. I played the demo for around 4 hours (in one session) and decided to buy the game after. So this review is based off of 8-10 hours of playing it. This game reminds me ALOT of the days I grew up playing games like RuneScape. I know it's been heavily compared to EverQuest, but I never played that. But it still covers the same idea, early 2000s MMORPGs. The world is a good size from what I can tell (I've only been to a few zones and done two "Dungeons" after about 10 hours). The biggest draw is the SimPlayers I think. In many ways, they DO act like real players. They will talk in general chat about random stuff, run around playing like you are, and progress on their own. They're easy enough to group up with and assign roles to so the group functions well. I do hope a little more is done to even further make them seem lifelike. For example, trading with them could be expanded. They do participate in the auction house, so that's really cool. Also, having them respond a bit more when I say something in party chat would also be cool. But they do have their own banter when things happen. These are small things and I know its in early access, so it's not a complaint. As far as questing, leveling, music, gear, etc goes, the game really does feel like the old school MMOs and I love how no matter what, I can always feel like I'm in a game world with hundreds of other players doing what I'm doing. Being able to customize your game too as far as how many players, XP rate, rate loot drop rate, etc is really cool as well. This game is a gem, and I hope to see the developer get all the support he needs for it, high recommend people trying it out and supporting the game.

Mainly writing this review in hopes the dev sees it and atleast takes note. If you're looking at the reviews, the game is absolutely incredible and 100% worth the price point, there is SO much content and stuff to be explored. Now, for my gripes; - It feels really bad having to rely on the wiki/discord, itd be so much better if the quests were just a little bit more linear. Im not saying this should apply to ALL quests, but atleast a majority of them so the player has an idea on where to go and what to do next (basically easier, less headache inducing progression). - Interactive map PLEASE. It is so hard to see where I am on the map sometimes, asking in chat does nothing because the AI thinks ur looking for spoilers. Im almost certain there are mods for both of these issues but that also just feels kind of bad? I dont want to install a QOL Mod to enjoy the game more. EDIT: All the negativity and gripes I had for this game are gone, im apparently very blind AND stupid. There is ALREADY QOL changes regarding my issues IN GAME with NO MODS. I am so unbelievably happy.

This was an excellent use of 200 hours and I look forward to the raid release soon. It feels very much like an old school MMO and certainly scratches that itch in a unique way. The early game is great and very active, levels come fairly quickly. As you level up. around 15, you can start to feel the grind a bit, which becomes honestly somewhat excessively grindy in later levels. While there are 'server admin' tools built into the game where you can increase the XP, I wanted to give my first go-through as the dev presumably intended. What is important to realize is that there's built-in mechanics to allow for passive/afk play, with pretty smart Sim player AI, autopulling, and various mana/level thresholds to control it. So it becomes like two games for a while - an active one where you're hunting down named mobs and gearing up yourself and your guild Sims. Then there's an inactive one where you find a good spot to park your group away from anything too dangerous and let them afk farm xp while you're sleeping or at work. Honestly it's not a negative, but something that people should be aware of. The zones are themed well and you don't feel like you're fighting the same mob all of the time. The lore is solid and there's lots of optional books and lore drops to read to find out more. Equipment looks wonderfully dorky and mismatched in a way that is endearing to old school MMO players. For old EQ players, yes, there are clicky effects also that you keep using into the endgame! And your sim players use them also! Classes feel distinct and have interesting kits - there's multiple ways to play and gear up almost every class. The dev is responsive and the community is very active on their discord, I highly recommend joining that as well. Their wiki is well fleshed out also, which is good because there's quite a few long quests and attunement chains for end game dungeons/raids - which I really enjoyed completing. Special shoutout to Bellwain Island, which honestly blew me away that a solo dev put so much time and love into one special zone that doesn't have anything to kill on it! Speaking of solo dev, I encountered exactly zero bugs or issues while playing. Very impressive. While you can see some of the rougher design seams around the edges at max level or near max level (sim gearing choice micromanagement, sims specing attributes oddly, low drop rates of upgrade materials), in the end it is manageable and future updates to the game seem to hint at addressing those things. Overall, I strongly recommend this game to anyone who read the game description and was even slightly interested. It is well worth your time.

Overview: Erenshore is a solo, single player MMO (Massively Multiplayer "Offline") game where the every "Player" is a bot, and surprisingly the game does a serviceable job at creating the illusion of a world populated by real people. I'll talk more about the social aspects in my review, that combat is mostly generic MMO stuff, not as interesting as the simulated social aspects. The bots will post ads in the global chat to buy/sell goods. They will ask questions in the guild chat and answer each other. They will even try discussing off-topic things, such as complaining about going to work the next day, or asking for movie recommendations. Some of them will moan and complain and demand you give them loot that drops (Looking at you Jethro) like some indignant turd. They even post items on a simulated auction house, and the items seem to be drastically overpriced like a real MMO. The downside is, these are all canned / hard-coded responses, so it's difficult to actually engage with the bots socially, outside very simple thing like "Hi" or "Hello" or "Mew!" (The bots will start meowing at you). Though saying "Hello" in guild chat and having 150 or bots say hello back felt special. You can ask them where to level and they might respond. Anything more complex than that, the bots wont answer, for example they sometimes talk about the games Discord, so I asked for the Discord link in chat, no response, it's not something that they're programmed to respond with. Bots you have previously grouped with will occasionally hit you up with a whisper asking to group up again. You don't have to do what they want either. As far as I can tell you can form a group and drag them to wherever or whatever content you want to do, and they don't complain (yet!). I have not had a bot reject a party invite, though I did have one invite me to a guild after I replied yes if I wanted to join, that was neat!. Finally for the social aspect, whether this was just coincidence or not I cannot tell. I had a weak under-preforming bot in my party, a guild mate, I kicked him from the group and subsequently he / it left the guild Immediately after. It's almost a convincing human-like behavior.