Online game "Ravendawn Online"

Everyone loves the classics. That's why recently there have been so many imitations of old MMORPGs. But not every attempt leads to the desired results. Ravendawn Online, inspired by the familiar to all fans of the genre "Ultima", for a long time remained in the shadows because of the lack of advertising and loud announcements. Nevertheless, during the beta test it became clear that the game is worthy of a high evaluation, even if it does not make an impression. Tavernlight Games employees combined in one project the strengths of Tibia, World of Warcraft and ArcheAge, not to mention old works like Ultima. The public appreciated their efforts - the number of users since the release in January 2024 has passed 300,000 and continues to grow.

Let's join the beautiful and we will. Although at first glance Ravendawn doesn't seem so beautiful: the rough "pixel" style and the scanty palette of the scenery, and the camera looking at the heroes from above and to the right, as in Tibia, don't look like the more familiar Diablo perspective. But give the game a chance and it will impress you in a different, less technological way. First, you need to create an account on the official website and download the client from there. Don't forget to write down your login and password somewhere, because if you miss a small checkbox in the start window, you will have to enter these data again at the next launch. There are no other problems - the project is available for free, and you don't need to buy a new video card for it.

The prologue takes us to the kingdom of Lideria, where the hero starts his odyssey from a younger age, according to the tradition of old RPGs. We learn that the world of the game is beautiful, but if we carry weapons, it will also become safe. On the occasion of the main character's birthday, parents give him (or her) the first equipment, familiarize him (or her) with the basics of using skills and show how to perform quests. One of the initial quests is to find a dog named Bandit - he will later become the hero's companion. Then the action jumps forward in time and we learn that Lideria is in trouble: earthquakes and floods have struck the country, there are many bandits around, and the rulers of the lands have drowned their domains in blood because of strife.

Both parents were gone too - before saying goodbye to the homeland we should lay flowers on their graves. By the way, a very touching moment. Have you often seen something like this in games? From the dying Lideria you have to sail to the newly discovered continent of Ravendon, where all brave men are promised fair rewards for their deeds and a decent life. But there are plenty of dangers there too - a monster will come out from under the ground, or old magic will awaken in the ruins. In some ways it reminds of the pilgrimage from the movie "Kingdom of Heaven": who in Europe was a nobody, can become in Jerusalem anyone.

On our way to the happy land we continue to familiarize ourselves with the basics. The controls here, for example, are very old-fashioned. You can not walk with the mouse - for this you need arrows and WASD keys. Forget about initiating the battle by left click too: first you need to select your opponent using Tab, and then use the right mouse button to switch on the attack mode. And the repeated clicking cancels everything - you can't "shout" your opponents, as many people are used to. Moreover, a melee specialist starts a fight only when approaching the target closely - unlike an archer or a mage with their ranged attack.

In Ravendon you will find all the activities imaginable in an MMORPG. Hunting, fishing, raids on bosses, ten crafts with their own branches of pumping, walking on the seas and building a personal estate with weeding the garden, treasure hunting, participation in the life of guilds and PvP-battles, partners, pets, trade, all sorts of quests - there is nothing here. Such a variety is not found in any large MMORPG with much more modern graphics. But Ravendawn also has some annoying moments. Firstly, it is not always clear what the game wants from you - sometimes you have to find the answer by trial and error. Secondly, there are technical errors, like the one when one soundtrack overlaps with another, creating a terrible cacophony.

Although the game has a full-fledged role-playing system, it is organized in a peculiar way. There are a lot of classes here, but to get any of them you need to spend time. And the basic characteristic of the character is an archetype, or skill, chosen at the very beginning. There are eight archetypes in total. The first is archery, which gives a ranged attack and the Wind Arrow technique, which amplifies the shot by 85%. The second is Witchcraft, which is related to the ability to gain power by weakening the enemy. The third is magic, the application of which is related to the elements. The initial spell, for example, is a fireball, but there are ice, wind and water attacks. The fourth is Spiritualism, which allows you to summon otherworldly entities (this is essentially the equivalent of a druid).

The fifth skill is called "Shadow" and is related to the use of poisons in combination with paired weapons. The sixth is defense. Here everything is clear: the tank initiates the battle and protects his comrades from damage. Seventh - holiness, consisting of all kinds of support: if you need to heal someone, strengthen or inspire, such a hero will come in handy. Finally, belligerence is an archetype based on brute strength. All of these eight skills are separate branches of pumping, but at the start of the adventure you can choose only one. It will determine in what style you debut: whether to defeat enemies with charms, cunning or just chop them into cabbage, like a savage. Or savage, because for each archetype there is also a choice of gender.

Any of the skills supports both active and passive techniques, the use of which is assigned to buttons with numbers. But you can use only twelve skills at a time, so you need to figure out what you need in this or that situation. In addition, later other archetypes become available - it is allowed to have a total of three per hero. And this combination gives you a class. For example, if you combine the skills of archery, witchcraft and shadow art, you get the Trickster class. Since he has three branches with different skills at once, it will not be a problem to collect a unique hero. This is an original and at the same time understandable system inspired by MMORPG classics.

And that's not all, because there are cards that can enhance or change the effect of any skill. And they are available for virtual, not real currency. Finally, the hero's properties are influenced by his equipment. There are 12 cells in it: two are allocated for amulets, another pair is allocated for craft items, four for armor, two for weapons and two more for accessories. As a result, the window of role-playing characteristics is decorated with a whole table of numbers: it takes several hours to build a unique build in the game. But what if you want to try a different character? Ravendawn allows you to perform such manipulations. First of all, you can reset your character's progression by going to the hero's role-playing menu and clicking Reset Archetypes. Secondly, nothing prevents you from creating four protagonists on one account to log in to the server with any of them.

For completing quests and winning battles, the character receives a level increase. This gives not only a boost to attack and defense, but also two points to increase the characteristics of your choice - health, power, intelligence, wisdom and dexterity. The latter is responsible for both physical damage reduction and spell defense. In addition, each next level allows you to open or improve any skill, or even add to one branch of development another. If you want, you can focus on one thing - let's say pumping to the end of archery (and get a bonus for the fully revealed archetype). But nothing prevents you from moving along three paths at once and assigning a class to your hero so that you don't have to be a rookie and use more effective combinations of skills. It's up to you to decide what's best for your playstyle.

The second way to upgrade is related to equipment. Some things can be obtained as trophies, but the peculiarity of Ravendawn is that the heroes are able to supply themselves with everything they need through crafting. The way it works is that the more often you craft, the better you get at it. One of the specialties allows you to create clothes - if you develop it properly, you can make rare items of "purple" quality. And all you'll need for upgrades are materials obtained in battle or received as a reward. Fans of fair rules will appreciate the fact that you do not need to invest money in pumping. Payment, of course, allows you to register premium, but it does not accelerate progression, but just gives some conveniences - like free teleport or quick collection of resources.

Ravendon is a large continent, where you can always do something. Even the trivial gathering of resources is designed as a mini-game: for example, to cut down trees you need to press F in time, following the slider in the rectangular panel. Doors to all buildings are open - from the basement of some buildings you can easily get to the dungeons inhabited by monsters. And you can explore not only the land, but also the sea, sailing on your ship. In personal possession each player gets a plot of land, where he grows everything from carrots and pigs to riding birds (they are called moa here). If you're not in the mood to dig in the garden, go fishing or pick up a pickaxe and try to extract precious cobalt from a rock. There are no unnecessary activities here, because all of them eventually come down to improving and equipping the hero.

Trade in the game is organized in such a way that any user can feel like a real merchant. Having extracted, created, traded or fished something valuable from the ocean, you, of course, get the right to sell it at a favorable price. But the cost of goods in different locations differs: if you sell it in the near lands, the profit will be much less than when making deals in remote territories. In this case, understandably, there is a high risk of running into brigands who will take away all your goods. So it's better to travel around Ravendon with your friends. PvP-mode is unusual here: any location occasionally becomes an arena for fights between heroes, but the general rule is that you can't kill characters who haven't reached level 20 yet.

However, you shouldn't get carried away by fighting with every person you meet, because the game penalizes inveterate brawlers. For each killing of another character you get points of infamy - if you kill several thousand of them, your character will be negatively affected. You've made a mess of things? Then whiten your reputation with special scrolls. Multiplayer offers activities traditional for all MMORPGs: guilds, dungeons, joint adventures within events, trading at auctions and even wars. At the same time, bots are forbidden in the game. If you are caught mining or exchanging resources with the help of programs, the developers will ban your account.

Ravendawn Online is a very ambitious project, which is good and bad for gamers at the same time. Good - because rare game will give you as many opportunities and such a varied role-playing system as this one. If at first you perceive Tavernlight Games' work as just another free-to-play RPG, then you will discover a depth here that even MMOs of ArcheAge caliber don't have. On the other hand, you should realize that the studio had a limited budget, and it affected both the graphics and the technical state of the product. Every now and then the mood is spoiled by bugs like loss of character control or crashes to the desktop. The diamond certainly lacks cut, but genre fans should not pass by it.

Zarium. June 2024