Arthdal Chronicles is a beautiful upcoming hybrid combat Cross-Platform MMORPG developed by Netmarble and Studio Dragon.
It features a deep, extensive narrative, while being interconnected with the Korean Drama of the same name.
The game will take place within the same world, expand upon factions, families and entire regions encountered within the TV series, with Netmarble claiming they wanted to turn Arthdal Chronicles into a Global intellectual property. A Korean Game of Thrones, as it were.
And while that is definitely a grandiose goal to set – which will be very difficult to attain – Netmarble released footage from G-Star showing us what the game is going to look like. Footage we’ve never seen before.
And that’s what we’re going to look at today. I’m excited to see what the game looks like.

Arthdal Chronicles seems to feature a hybrid action combat system. When it was announced, Netmarble claimed it was going to run a full action combat system, but judging from what we’ve seen in the trailers, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
You can see your character locked on to an enemy, with a red selection icon encompassing the target.
Movement and actions are both very realistic and incredibly fluid. I actually thought for a cross-platform title this looked pretty good. Definitely a higher quality product than I gave them credit for when I first saw the trailer released a year or two ago.
They didn’t show much in terms of area or world diversity: All we saw were some forests and rocky areas, along with acouple different monster types. Whether they feature deserts or snowy regions remains to be seen.
We also can’t really discern how open the game seems to be at present. What we were shown was very narrative-driven, meaning it was scripted and supported by the story.
But Korean MMOs aren’t known to really impose much of a focus on story, so this is a nice change.

Unfortunately that’s all that was really shown. And from that single video, I can say with 100% certainty that if the game comes out looking AT LEAST as good as this, then it’ll be pleasant to look at and play.
But it might also be a pay to win mess. Highly segregated. Mostly auto-play. We don’t – and cannot know currently until test phases are held. Which I’m eagerly looking forward to.

Finding the right MMO is always a difficult task. The genre is overrun by mediocre trash that tries to dress itself up nicely to give off the illusion it’s a passable game.
Netmarble and Blizzard are two of the largest culprits this year, releasing the auto-play, blockchain MMO Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and the horrendously pay to win Diablo Immortal respectively.
The worst part of all this is that neither game is actually bad at their core. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is gorgeous, fun, and filled with personality. And Diablo Immortal.. is a Diablo game.
These are fun MMOs with a lot of potential – that have been ruined by greed.

Which leads me to today.
Netmarble’s CEO has announced that they are going to be showcasing 4 new games at G-Star 2022.
The Solo Leveling Anime RPG – that is going to be the equivalent to PSO2 or SoulWorker. And honestly looks absolutely incredible from the trailer footage.
Arthdal Chronicles – a gorgeous new seamless open-world MMORPG that is part of a much larger intellectual property, featuring TV series, movies and more planned to take the IP further than any property they currently possess.
Paragon: The Overprime, a third-person shooter with a focus on 5v5 player vs player combat, and Hype Squad, another PC Battle Royale. I swear Korea hasn’t realized yet that the Battle Royale era has already passed. When was the last time we saw a new successful Battle Royale? Or, more specifically, one from Korea?

Arthdal Chronicles is being developed as a seamless open-world MMORPG. There will be no loading screens while traversing the world.
It’s unconfirmed whether there will be dungeons and raids present, and if so, whether there will be loading screens separating them from the open world. One would think so – I couldn’t imagine raid bosses being public.
They’re claiming that this is one of the largest projects they’ve ever undertaken, creating a world that feels like a living, breathing world as opposed to the stagnant, lifeless husks we’re so often presented with.
And honestly, that just sounds like a whole lotta buzz words to me. “Our world is going to be next-generation, it’s going to be incomparable to any other world that exists within the MMO genre.” Right.
Instead of making grandiose claims, just be honest: The game will feature a large world filled with fetch quests and people telling you to kill 30 boars. Because you don’t get more innovative than that.

They further go on to elaborate on how the game will feature changes to the climate, political and economic conflicts and cooperation between factions.
Factions function similarly to Blade & Soul: Each faction has their own unique outfit, and subsequently, style. When you equip a faction outfit, you become a valid target for other factions while out in the world.
Which is how PvP functions in-game. Factions are represented with their own unique aesthetic – they have their own native foods, live in buildings that fit that tribes’ architecture.
Each faction will be vying for control of the land, much like Territory Wars or World v World. Factions will govern the world, and maintain a level of power over regions. And a single faction will no doubt absolutely dominate each server, with everyone vying to join that faction and leaving the world largely uncontested.
You can’t tell me that isn’t going to happen. You know it will.

What’s most interesting about this game, is that it ties into the Arthdal Chronicles TV series. There’s a Korean Drama by the same name, that has since aired its first season.
Before releasing their second season, Netmarble revealed that they wanted to build an entire world around the Arthdal Chronicles property, further expanding its potential. Which is where the MMO comes in.
Instead of opting to release a singleplayer RPG, or a Gacha game, they – for whatever reason, decided to make an MMORPG set within the same world.
It won’t follow the same plot as the TV series, instead, the game will expand on the world, featuring NPCs, featuring unique locations that are mentioned in the TV series. Some characters and locations will be shared, however, bridging the worlds together into one.
The writers for the TV series are also going to be responsible for writing the narrative, along with the lore for the game. Which has never been done before.

G-Star 2022 is going to feature a scenario that will allow thousands of players to fully experience both the narrative, and gameplay ahead of its release in 2023.
They have an entire section of the game available for consumption, including a large-scale battle they refer to as “the Pioneering Battle,” which will have three factions facing off against one another.
I’m looking forward to seeing this in action next month – G-Star 2022 takes place November 17th through November 20th, so I’ll likely have some updated information to discuss, including updated footage to show off. Or end up revolted by, I guess only time will tell.

Either way, this is Arthdal Chronicles. It has the potential to be a solid MMORPG, but also carries with it the potential to be a horrible failure, much like some of Netmarble’s other games.
I wouldn’t write it off yet – but I’m definitely excited to see what they bring come November.

What was your New Year’s Resolution? Mine was to eat less cake. Run 10 miles a day. And to play a stunning, next generation MMORPG released in 2022. Only one of those things are going to be a reality. And no, it isn’t eating less cake.

Today, we’re taking a look at a recently announced MMORPG called “Arthdal Chronicles.” This was apparently a Korean TV series that they’re adapting into a brand new Global IP – with an MMORPG slated for release this year in 2022. Which is fantastic news for us as Western MMO players.
Before we discuss the game, though, let’s take a look at the trailer released earlier this week. That way we can get a rough gauge of the type of game it’s going to be.

I’m aware it was just a trailer for the game, and we should always be cautious of trailers – especially when they lack a UI. But you have to admit.. that got you a little excited, right?
So Arthdal Chronicles was announced alongside the new Solo Leveling and Seven Deadly Sins: Origin games – both of which look absolutely incredible. And are all being developed by Netmarble.

The game is going to utilize a type of action combat system. Or at least, that’s what it seems like we’ll be getting. They haven’t confirmed whether it’ll be a full action system like Black Desert and TERA or something more hybrid like Guild Wars 2 or Swords of Legends Online.

As noted, this is a direct adaptation of the Korean TV series of the same name that aired back in 2019. Interestingly enough, Netmarble are releasing both the second season – after 3 years, and the MMO in 2022 simultaneously, in an attempt to capitalize on each others’ hype and success, bolstering their respective communities.
There are planned differences between the game and the series, though. The game will feature a larger world that isn’t present in the series, with the inclusion of additional regions and tribes.
Tribes act as a sort of faction system, similar to how factions work in Blade & Soul – you wear different outfits specific to each tribe, eat native food, live in buildings with that tribes’ unique architecture.
Their goal with the game is to promote a sense of competition – with different factions maintaining power over regions, causing political alliances, wars and more.
Which means that naturally 1 tribe will ultimately end up dominating the server. This happens all too commonly in MMOs.

The world itself is going to be large and open. It seems as though we’ll be capable of seamlessly exploring the world without any type of loading screens inhibiting us. Which means if there’s an open-world PvP system, there’ll be no escaping your enemies.
But let’s be real for a moment.. they’re going to be running from us. Not the other way around.

There seem to be functional mounts in-game, but it’s unconfirmed whether land mounts are the only form of travel – maybe there are aerial mounts. Maybe you can glide like in Justice Online and Swords of Legends.

The game is going to have a PvP system – you cannot have a game feature politics and faction warfare without it. We just don’t know if that’ll be open-world PvP or instanced guild and territory wars.

We are getting a 100% confirmed English release for the game. Netmarble expressed that they want to turn this into a new “Global IP” launching in 2022. So we can expect this game sometime this year.

And finally, the game will be completely cross-platform compatible between PC and mobile devices, just like Solo Leveling and The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin.

And that’s it. Honestly, this game looks stunning. No lie. It’s genuinely gorgeous. I just hope it lives up to both of the aforementioned titles – as this is quite the selection of games launching in 2022.