There are over 340 games on Steam which are tagged as MMORPG. The thing about massively multiplayer games is that the

more massively multiplayer they are, the more fun they tend to be. The genre was built on playing with other people, so

what happens is 99% of the total MMO player base is mainly playing the top 10 or 20 games. So what about the other 320

MMOs on Steam? Well, the point of this series is to dive into some of those lesser-known, lesser-populated,

sometimes even unpopulated, and overall more obscure MMOs. Today we have one goal, and that is to find a diamond in the

rough; something that stands out despite its lackluster or non-existent player base. Along the way, we may encounter some

really bad game design, or some downright unplayable issues, or even just absurdity. But really quickly, I have to tell you

guys about today's sponsor. You might have heard of them before: DOFUS Touch, the ultimate mobile MMO, is having a

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along with thousands of items, monsters, and quests. DOFUS features 15 different playable classes and a genuinely unique

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iOS and Android. If you've been looking for the PC MMO experience but on mobile, with these new servers and a relaunch, I

can't recommend Doofus enough. Use the QR code on the screen or my link in the description to not only help me out as a

creator, but to get playing as soon as possible. Thanks again to Doofus for sponsoring today's video. Now let's talk

about the games that don't have any players. All right, first up: Time Raiders, a mobile MMORPG that was ported to PC in

2023. Judging by some of the pictures, it looks like a mix between Bless and Lost Ark, and every other generic Eastern MMO, with

only 19 reviews, scoring mostly negative. I figured I was in for quite the treat. After opening the game, you're met with

an update and a really nice cutscene that plays in the background. The update actually takes a decent amount of time,

and while you're waiting, the cutscene just loops over and over again. I finally finished the updates and made it into

the game. I was greeted with a notice about server maintenance from the day prior, so it seems that this game is

still being actively worked on, or at least maintained. Moving into character creation, I could not believe how eerily

similar this looks to Black Desert's character creator. You're given a couple of preset looks which you can choose

from. Is that the Joker? Okay, well you guys know the drill. I'm going to attempt to use whatever means possible to make

the ugliest character the game will allow me to. As it turns out, Time Raiders has a fantastic amount of customization

options. I mean seriously, there are five different options just for changing the shape of your cheekbones. We're going to

have some fun with this. Okay, we're getting somewhere. Oh my God, this went from comical to almost scary. What have I

Whoa, what is this abomination? I thought we were playing an MMO, not a horror game! This is grotesque. Well, let's get into it.

Unfortunately, when I tried to log into the game, it crashed. After a quick restart, it told me that my account had

been logged in elsewhere and cannot be forced online. Well, I decided to wait a bit and try again; maybe it will work

this time. This seems promising! Perfect! You're met with another pretty nicely done cutscene. I'm genuinely always

impressed by some of the graphical work put into these otherwise not-so-great and not-so-popular MMOs.

I was met with a couple of different camera options: 2.5D and 3D. Interesting. I

chose 3D. Now, the user interface is so similar to *Lost Ark*, even down to the font being used, that if you had shown me

a screenshot of the game for a really brief second, I probably would have guessed that it actually was *Lost Ark*. I

followed the main story prompts and used an action key to cross this thin ledge. Movement felt really bad; you can click

and hold to walk in a direction, or you can use WASD, but it seems like neither of them really work properly, and I was

constantly readjusting just to get where I wanted to go. The game prompted me to this chest where you can choose a weapon,

but really it's how you choose your class. There are three archetypes: Blademaster, Gunslinger, and Sage, which

each have two subclasses to choose from. I chose the Sharpshooter class and was met with this ridiculously badass

cutscene. Then I accidentally clicked through the tutorial screen showing me how to participate in combat and then tried everything in my power to fight

these beats, but I couldn't figure out how to attack. Right-click didn't work; I probably attempted to press half the

buttons on my keyboard and I still couldn't figure out how to retaliate. I was getting absolutely smacked by these

beetles, and there was nothing I could do. Eventually, for some reason, right-clicking then started to work, and the

beetles dropped me some new gloves. I got two new abilities: shift, which is supposed to jump me to the chosen area,

but the animation is broken, so you kind of just teleport. And also my number one, which is an AOE effect.  No, like the shift

jump animation is really broken, though. Afterwards, I was faced against the giant blood beetle boss fight, but first I had

to fend off some of these smaller beetles here. After making quick work of the smaller beetles, I tried to get over

to the beetle boss, but the game wouldn't let me. Using my shift jump ability, I kind of managed to glitch into the area.

I made quick work of the beetle boss, but it appeared it wouldn't let me progress. According to my quest tracker, I still

had a small beetle to kill, and now I'm stuck over here and can't make it back

to the small beetle. Oh, okay, there we go. But now the game wants me to kill the beetle boss that I already killed, and

you can't progress any further without slaying the beetle boss. So I decided to wait; maybe he respawns. So I waited and I

waited some more. Okay, maybe I'll try logging out and back in. There we go. And after a few cutscenes, I was taken to

the main game and introduced to this palace. Wait, is that couch over there not loading in? Yeah, no, that couch's textures

are definitely not loading in. All right, I think I've seen enough of *Time Raiders*. All in all, I'm giving *Time

Raiders* a D. My reasoning is the detailed character creation screen is actually honestly deserving of a B or an A, but

The gameplay is a definite F, so right in the middle. D. All right, next up we have Blade Mistress. This was an MMO that was

recommended in some of the comments on my last video. Originally released in 2002, the game looks exceptionally old.

The graphics are really reminiscent of the original EverQuest, and the description says it's an old-school skilling and crafting-styled game with

18 mixed reviews. Someone mentioned it had nostalgic charm. Let's find out. There are quite a few character creation slots,

interestingly enough, and in theme with the title of the game, Blade Mistress, you cannot choose to be a male character; you

can only be a female. I've seen gender-locked classes before, but this takes gender locking to a new level. Your face,

shirt, and pants all have a few different styles you can choose from, and each of them has an RGB slider to change

around the colors. I had some fun dancing to some techno beats while switching through the facial presets. Listen, this still looks better

than my character in Time Raiders. Okay, after I was satisfied with the customization of my Blade Mistress, I

took a look at some of the attribute points you can spec into: physical, magical, creative, or beast. I decided to

go with a healthy mix of physical and magical. Now let's get into the actual game. What in the world am I looking at?

What is this noise? Are those other players? Why is this thing named 'Punching Bag'? Is it a demon? You know, sometimes in

these older games, I can at least understand what the developers were shooting for; I can see the intention

behind some of the decisions here. I'm lost. I'm completely and utterly lost. I tried speaking to some of these other

players, if that's what they actually were, but no one responded to me. It appears the game works on a grid system, as you

You can see those black lines on the ground indicate which section you're standing in, and using WASD, you can just press one

of those buttons in the direction you want to go, and your character will begin walking into the next section of the

grid. Some sections had merchants, and some appeared to have little shacks, though I couldn't figure out how to

interact with them, so I explored a bit. I got into a fight with a sthus, and it

seemed like I was winning, but apparently he one-shot me, and then I was teleported back to the home square. I tried to trade

with some of the other players in the area. Tess here appeared to be AFK, and so did all of the people who were fighting

the demon known as Punching Bag. This was beginning to feel like some sort of lucid dream where I know my intentions,

but the world around me just doesn't react the way you would expect it to. This felt like if a primitive version of

AI were to attempt to make an MMO RPG. I decided to really explore this time and just see how far I could go. I saw some

minotaurs and some tigers; there were some giant spiders as well, and I came across a beach which had a giant purple

dragon. At some point, I found this giant rock sticking out of the ground, and upon closer inspection, it appeared to be some

sort of dungeon. The Everest-one vibes were out of control at this point. I tried to fight this Spirit Golem, but

once again, I was no match for this NPC, and I was teleported back home beside our good friend Punching Bag. Afterwards,

I fought some minotaurs, which I was actually able to defeat and managed to get some loot. After selling the loot to

a merchant, I still really had no idea what the point of this game was, or how to progress, or how to get weapons, or how

to craft, but it's a cool relic of the past. I'm actually pretty happy I was able to experience this game. There's

something special about stepping into such an old game and then comparing that to the games that exist now, to see how

far they've come. Overall, I'm going to have to give *Blade Mistress* a D+. It's not a good game by any stretch of

today's standards, but at the same time, it's a historical relic that we still have the privilege to look back on

and it really does have that nostalgic late 90s, early 2000s feel. Next up, we have

*Ethereal Echo of Y*. This is a game that actually received a fair amount of attention at launch, but according to

some of the reviews, the launch might have been so catastrophically bad that everyone actually quit. The game has over

900 reviews on Steam, scoring mostly negative, but these days it averages around six players online at any given time. Bear in mind it was released in

2023. The actual aesthetic of the game, judging from the store page, actually looks fantastic, so let's find out. All

right, we're in. Let's take a look at character creation. I'm quite partial to the blocky, sort of cartoony 3D graphics

Exploring Dead MMORPGs (#2)

Exploring Dead MMORPGs (#2)