Erenshor

great game, great mock mmorpg

Short "turbo" version: Awesome game. Highly recommended. The longer version: I have absolutely enjoyed Erenshor. It's an amazing gaming experience, and this review probably can't do justice to how much fun I've had in 200+ hours so far. At its core, it's a single-player MMO populated by SimPlayers. A server full of hundreds of simplayer doing their thing around you. There are absolutely echoes of EverQuest and WoW, but here you get to experience that kind of world entirely at your own pace. What has impressed me most is how naturally the scope of the game grows around you. There are so many arcs of progression: learning your class, mastering new and existing mechanics, improving your character and equipment, building a team of regular SimPlayer adventurers, managing / improving a group of regulars, and eventually taking responsibility for an entire guild and raid force. The demo/starter island is really just a taste of what's ahead. As you venture out into the larger world, some of those SimPlayer names you initially barely notice start becoming familiar companions. You quickly graduate from solo play to calling on SimPlayers to form groups. They interact, they chat, they grow—but over time it becomes less about simply filling group slots and more about calling on proven and familiar companion names to adventure with you. Zephyrion, Dancer, Vortexius, Lunastra, these became my regulars (the names are assigned differently for every game owner)... in the end most often our merry band consisted of me (a Druid), a Pally, a Windblade, an Arcanist, and a Stormcaller went on so many adventures together. Eventually, you actively invest in their growth. They become extensions of your own character and progression. You're no longer just managing yourself; you're proactively contributing to the strength and success of the entire group. The gameplay mechanics evolve in much the same way. Things that are relatively forgiving at earlier levels become increasingly important as you progress, requiring you to actually understand and master them. Once you leave the starting area, the world really opens up, with quests, zones, equipment and adventures everywhere. Mechanics you may have taken for granted earlier suddenly become important tools that you need to understand and use to your advantage. Over time and across many arcs of adventures, there is a lot of layers to learn about your class, auras, proficiencies, equipment upgrades, strategic loot distribution, group composition and more—but it happens through very natural arcs of progression. The game doesn't just suddenly demand that you understand everything. It gives you reasons to learn and you feel the satisfaction of mastering these mechanics in order overcome the next challenges. It's just like having tools in your toolbox and learning to use them better than you needed to before. And the focus gradually shifts. Early on, you're primarily concerned with making your own character stronger. Later, you're thinking about how to make yourself and your companions stronger. By the time you're tackling high-end bosses, you're thinking about the success of the group as a whole and what you can proactively do to improve it. The recent raid content takes that progression another step further. Now you have a guild hall. You're thinking about strategic group composition, skills and equipment upgrades for 15+ SimPlayers, and figuring out how to turn all of those individual characters into a force capable of taking down raid zones and raid bosses. The pacing of that progression is excellent. Erenshor has become one of my favorite purchases on Steam—and I have a pretty deep library. I also want to thank the developer for having the vision to make something like this a reality. I had a young family back in the days of EverQuest and WoW. I loved grouping and adventuring, but because of the time and scheduling commitments, I could never really participate in raiding and some of the other high-end MMO experiences. Erenshor has given me a nostalgic—and incredibly fun—chance to finally work toward that experience and learn the mechanics and strategies needed to succeed, without having to organize my life around an MMO schedule. My druid and I have been through a lot together. We've conquered everything available so far, and we're looking forward to whatever comes next. Well, again.. It all comes back to the short version of my review. Awesome game. Highly recommended. Thank you for a fantastic gaming experience.