ArcheAge Chronicles Launched to Mixed Reviews. Steam Reviewers Compare It to New World, the Same Risk Riot Named When It Reset Its Own MMO.

What Happened

XLGAMES opened ArcheAge Chronicles in paid Early Access on Steam on November 3, and by the next morning its reviews were mixed.

The launch

• Date and price. Chronicles entered Early Access, Steam's label for a paid game still in development, on November 3 at 3 p.m. PT, for $29.99 in North America.
• What is in it. Early Access opens with three regions, four classes and eight weapons, two per class, plus dungeons, raids, PvP, housing, crafting and trading.
• Nine to 12 months. XLGAMES expects Early Access to run nine to 12 months, and executive producer Yongjin Ham said the team plans "regular updates throughout Early Access."
• The October demo. A free demo during Steam Next Fest, Steam's demo festival, let anyone try four classes in open-world fights against other players through October 26.

The reviews

• Mixed by morning. Steam rated Chronicles Mixed, 53% positive of 1,460 reviews, on the morning of November 4, the gaming site Gamerfuzion reported; Mein-MMO had it at 54%.
• Peak players. The tracker SteamDB recorded a peak of 26,244 players in the game at the same time, Mein-MMO reported on November 4.
• Four days later. Steam counted 4,087 reviews on November 8.
• A bad copy. In German reviews quoted by Mein-MMO, one reviewer says the game feels like a bad copy of New World, and another calls it a Korean New World.
• Black Desert too. A third reviewer says New World and Black Desert, Pearl Abyss's MMO, had a baby.

The bugs

• An apology. XLGAMES' launch-day notice, "Key Issues on Early Access Launch Day and Our Response Plan," apologized to players who could not progress.
• Fixes waiting. The notice said fixes for stuck tutorial quests and bosses that do not spawn were finished and waiting to deploy, per Gamerfuzion and the site MetaForge.
• Party problems. A party leader who leaves mid-dungeon can stall the group's progress, and key items are not shared between party members, Gamerfuzion reported.
• No rebinding. Movement keys cannot be rebound, per the same report.

Price and platforms

• No cash shop. XLGAMES "will not operate an in-game cash shop at the start of Early Access" and keeps its "No P2W (Pay-to-Win) principle," the gaming outlet Inven Global reported.
• No subscription. Early Access carries no subscription either, as we reported before it opened.
• Female Warrior in December. The first update, in December, adds a female Warrior, and gender choice is meant to open for every class by full launch, per Inven Global.
• No console date. Revealed at Sony's State of Play showcase in September 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series and PC in 2025, the game reached Early Access on PC only.

What This Means for the Riot MMO

Riot reset its MMO in March 2024 over the risk Chronicles' reviews raised within a day: being too close to a game players already have.

• The 2024 reset. Riot co-founder Marc Merrill announced the reset of Riot's MMO on March 20, 2024, and Riot has shown nothing of the game since.
• Day one. XLGAMES' apology notice and the mixed Steam rating both came inside the first 24 hours of a $29.99 Early Access.
• No shop, still mixed. Aion 2, NCSoft's MMO, split its Steam reviews over a cash shop; Chronicles launched with no shop and its reviews were mixed anyway.
• Nothing on record. Riot has named no business model, platform, date or launch format for its MMO, so none of XLGAMES' promises has a Riot equivalent.

Our read. Merrill's reason holds up against this launch. Chronicles opened with raids, PvP, housing and trading and no store, and within a day the reviews Mein-MMO quoted were comparing it to New World. A list of systems did not make it read as new. This checks Riot's stated reason, not a design Riot hasn't shown.

The Early Access label did not hold off the rating. Steam's score counted from day one, while the tutorial bugs were still live. If Riot ever opens its MMO early, our view is that the first day has to hold up like a full launch.

What's Next

XLGAMES' first Early Access update is due in December.

Your Take

Reported from Massively OP and corroborating coverage. The MMO read is ours and clearly speculative. Analysis by RuneGrove.