What’s this? Hmm…
Salem MMO = Minecraft + Colonial America + Lovecraft + Permadeath.
Okay. You have my attention.
The video interview from PC Gamer has all the details, but there’s a good overview of the project at Worlds in Motion:
Publisher Paradox Interactive announced Salem (tentative title), an upcoming free-to-play MMORPG that will feature Minecraft-like sandbox elements and permanent death for characters, releasing this year.
…As its tentative title suggests, Salem is set in colonial New England, or at least a fictional fantasy version of the region inspired by gothic authors like H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville. Gamers will be able to use craft items, help build settlements, and learn magic (witchcraft being one of two primary paths) in Salem’s player-driven world.
Yes, there’s a good chance this might turn into unplayable gank-fest — especially as a F2P game. And it might very well be vapor (it’s due out in the next 12 months, but they’ve got no visuals to show us?). But still the very idea of the game warms the MMO cockles of my heart for all the obvious reasons… and a few others that will be worth their own blog post, maybe later this week.
