Online game "Realm of the Mad God Exalt"

This is one of the most unusual MMORPGs. Looking at the pixelated graphics in the style of old 8-bit consoles, it is hard to believe that Realm of the Mad God Exalt is one of the ten best massively multiplayer games on Steam, it has tens of thousands of positive reviews, and the number of familiar with it platform users is about four million. At the same time, the project can be written down in the ranks of venerable classics, because it came out in 2012, and before that there were several stages of testing. Today the game is available for free - let's get to know it better.

It all starts with the choice of character. Although there are 18 classes in the game, the newcomer is offered only five: warrior, rebel, archer, mage and priest. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Mage, for example, has poor health - in a crowd of enemies, he quickly dies. But he has decent ranged attack and special skill that deals area damage, so it's better to choose him for the first attempt. After the short training, where you have to pass the maze with enemies and rescue the prisoner, you are sent to the free floating. And here you are on your own. There are no hints, no friendly characters to help you find your way around and no road signs.

All server inhabitants begin their adventure in the Nexus, a safe location from which portals lead to all corners of the virtual universe and to which you can return at any time by pressing the R key. You can't die here. But it doesn't hurt to see the actual quests, buy something useful and make acquaintances. From the Nexus paved the way into the so-called worlds - large locations with monsters, named after the main monster. For example, once you enter the Kraken world, you'll fight hundreds of enemies commanded by the Kraken. Unlike small creatures, it is extremely difficult to defeat him alone, so gamers must unite in units and act together for the final battle on the level.

Each map is allocated quest monsters - orders for them are given in the Nexus. These enemies are led by a red marker flashing on the side of the screen, where you have to go for the loot. For the carnage of such monsters, as well as over the bosses, you get a special prize, and ordinary enemies are a source of experience points and not the rarest of items. For example, one defeated monster can give you a better magic staff than the one you have, and another will leave behind a vial of energy replenishing potion.

Energy and health are restored as it is, but since the battles here are very dynamic, drinking elixirs restores heroes much faster. It is noteworthy that trophies are dropped for all types of characters - playing as a mage, you will come across things for a warrior or a priest, that do not fit your hero. You can take them with you and put them in the vault in case you change classes.

In Realm of the Mad God Exalt there are two rules that you should always keep in mind. First - your hero can be killed at any moment and by anyone, whether it's pirates, scorpions, laser-shooting butterflies, goblins with bows, angels with boomerangs or just flying green cubes. You never know what's around the corner, and visibility is always limited because of the "fog of war. By the way, that's why the game has what in boxing is called a "sighted shot": you can hit the enemy if he is clearly visible, and shooting into the darkness, where "like someone should be", will not give the desired result. The second obligatory point is that the hero's death is permanent. If you lose him, you lose everything, including the accumulated experience and collected items. So it is better to keep your finger close to the R button to escape to the Nexus in time.

And if the villains do get their way, start from scratch. Choose a new character and accumulate in battles the power you need to fight the boss of this or that world. The maximum level of the hero is the twentieth. After that the progression stops, but you can still get glory points and gold for completing tasks. These allow you to buy useful items and approach the final point of the game - the fight with the mad god named Oryx mentioned in the title. This is a complex fight, taking place in several stages, and should be initiated as part of a squad. There's nothing to do here for a single player.

However, not all activities in Realm of the Mad God Exalt are just battles. The game is much more diverse than it seems at first glance. You can even breed animals in it to make a profit. To do this, you have to go from the Nexus to your personal refuge, and from there to the Pet Yard, where you'll find a pen for the animals. Cattle, of course, you have to buy, but otherwise the mechanics are familiar from other MMORPGs. A lot of time gamers spend in the Grand Bazaar location, where they sell and buy everything you can imagine - from temporary boosters to rare equipment. And that's in addition to the internal store, where purchases are paid with real currency, as well as the Key Store, Clothing Store and other shops.

The combat part of the game is simple: all you need are the WASD keys, two mouse buttons and at least some reaction to dodge enemy attacks. But the universe of the project is surprisingly diverse and contains nested levels, some of which are randomly generated. The central place in this system is taken by the already mentioned Nexus, where, like in Rome, all roads lead. Within the Nexus there are portals to your personal sanctuary, the quest reward room of the day, the Grand Bazaar and various worlds. If you have enough glory points to establish a guild, a separate room for your faction will also become available.

There can be up to 300 players in total on a single server, i.e. the Nexus, and any one of the worlds can hold up to 85. Under the portals you can see special counters showing how many people are inside - for example, "Jellyfish 35/85" means that there are now 35 people in the world with the main boss Medusa. But the interesting thing is that even getting there unlocks additional levels. After all, in place of some defeated enemies, there are gates that lead to randomly generated mazes with monsters. Such a portal is available for a short time - only a minute. However, from the inside it is a full-fledged location with corridors, secret rooms and unique rewards for passing.

Notably, the stronger the monster killed, the bigger the prize for clearing the dungeon, which he opens with his death. Therefore, there is a real hunt for rare labyrinths and their treasures - hundreds of keys are sold on the market that allow you to open such dungeons without killing the bosses.

Realm of the Mad God Exalt has as many as 18 character classes. This is more than the usual MMORPG offers. But it should be borne in mind that the development of the hero is not provided manually - the order of adding characteristics for each received level is prescribed in the algorithm. That is, a warrior will automatically receive health points, attack and defense, and a magician - to pump the power of spells and the amount of energy available to them. In this simple way the developers managed to make the development of each class unique. Equipment can also change the characteristics of your heroes. You start with the starter kit, but as you explore the worlds you get better things.

The strength of items can be judged by their level. Say, a T2 sword, i.e. Tier 2, will clearly be better than a T1. The same goes for clothes, armor, and rings - the character has a total of four equipment slots. There are also things marked as Untiered - they have one powerful property that changes even the fighting style of your hero, and are extremely rare. If a piece of equipment belongs to the set, which must be collected to get a certain bonus in battle, it is called Set Tiered. The value of prey can be determined by the color of the bag falling from the killed monster. Pink and purple ones are more common - you won't find anything but the usual items and consumables there. But red or white ones may contain prey that you would not be ashamed to sell or exchange for something.

As for player interaction, it is based on cooperation - trade and joint raids. Chat lets you call for help or ask, for example, where the goods you need are for sale. If you want to establish connections and get real friends in the guild you can join or form a guild. Such a grouping accommodates up to 50 members, but you have to spend 1000 points of glory to establish it.

Realm of the Mad God Exalt, to put it bluntly, is not the most spectacular entertainment. The game was created by a couple of people, and with the beauty of graphics they obviously did not bother. But it is a very unusual combination of MMORPG and rogue-like mechanics with dungeon exploration and a diverse universe, and the tension adds permanent deaths of the characters. So that captivates the project seriously, and it is available on Steam for free - nothing prevents you from trying at least out of interest.

Zarium. December 2022