For how treacherous the path of creating a solo-dev MMORPG is, this is a shining example of success. Especially for vanilla WoW in 2D!


While the initial cost might seem like a barrier to entry for some, I am glad - and we all should be! - that the game has an entry price. It is a "buy once and keep forever" deal! There is no need to worry about cosmetics that break immersion or the predatory P2W tactics found in nearly every other indie MMORPG.

Many modern MMOs suffer from a mindset where you must "grind to max level ASAP" to finally start playing the "real" game. Trolddom embraces the leveling, it IS the main content. And it shines by questing system, going for the spirit of early WoW (as explained what it is in this great interview) and rewarding exploration, boosting your progress. Bringing back the feeling that the journey > destination, that I deeply value in the classic fantasy titles (like Hobbit, fantasy movies from 60s/80s or fantasy tv shows from early 2000s).

There is no tutorial nor minimap (but there is a map-map, showing you your location). Game relies on your game literacy and curiosity -- the game is an homage to the classics, after all. While we should hold game designers accountable for how it introduces players to it's systems and mechanics, Trolddom does not rely on the player built wiki (it exists and is being documented rn), the community in-game is always eager to help. What I also noticed is the quests are interlinked nicely, even those that are not quest chained together, often lead you to other quest givers and encourage exploration (there are no quest markers, where your target is, except when you return in the quest). Very neat. Sure, there is that MMO classic "kill 6 deer" type of tasks, but from time to time you will stumble upon a gnome trying to scam you, or tracking down a farmer's runaway pig (she settled down with a new family).

Gameplay is heavily inspired by World of Warcraft, meaning old and tested tab targeting and standing in place when channeling the spell. You pick one of three starter classes (five total) and manage cooldowns and rotations. As you level, this rotation gains complexity, allowing for diverse builds via talent trees, like a fist-fighting Priest, a Mage fighting in meele, or a Rogue-ish Fighter (Stealth is not existent per se, but you can, kind of, do the Skyrim vanishing middle combat).

You will need help sometimes. World bosses and Dungeons require grouping, and this is where the social aspect steps up. While the player charts[steamdb.info] might not show massive numbers, the population is dedicated. It is not hard to find a party with the in-game chat. I highly recommend joining the Discord[discord.gg] to coordinate with others.

Crafting, again, similar to World of Warcraft, you choose two out of 6 main professions (you know, either making equipment or potions or gathering resources) and 3 additional (cooking, bandage crafting and FISHING! Fishing mini games = quality RPG). But fortunately game does not fall into same but reskinned professions (like what people imagine they would put in the game for their first ever game, being MMORPG). They all have their small but distinct nuance but at the end of the day it's math scratching your brain, hah. There are also guilds, there are no raids to my knowledge, as of know.

The graphics are serviceable pixel art that fits the moody mood. I wish there were more special/particle effects or more animations of spells or similar effects. Fortunately the dev allows you to PR quality changes on GitHub, so who knows :)

There is a free Demo, more hidden than usually on Steam.
https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3643368626
It gives you access to a lot of content, whole starting area that you can spend at least 8 hours in, all 3 starting classes and first dungeon. Your progress also carries on, if you decide to upgrade to full version!

I would always choose human writing, even for non-interactive dialogue NPCs as it's the case here (and think the dev could have crowdsourced this to the community). But I can forgive it here given the solo-dev scope and the lack of AI slop in any other aspect of the game.