Ryzom Review

Ryzom is a fantasy sandbox MMORPG published by Winch Gate in 2004. The game features a vast sandbox world and a unique progression system since it has no classes. There are four major schools though that you can get into to upgrade your character: Magic, Combat, Harvesting and Gathering.

You can’t name Ryzom as a dated MMMORPG rather an antique of this genre. It’s graphics may be dated and it’s UI clunky and sometimes confusing but that’s part of its charm. The characters can be customized through aa basic character creation that is nothing to sneeze at but still offers some options.

Comab-wise, Ryzom is really complex to the part that you start wondering if this was really needed. Even though the combat is cool and offer some unique mechanics it feels like it has no impact whatever you do. Your character just does some SFX and the mob is gone.

What’s different in this game than any other is that skills are craftable and that lets you create a completely customizable build that fits your appetite. We all have that one class in an MMO that love play with but don’t use all the skills, just imagine being able to craft other skills to replace them. Wouldn’t that be perfect?

Ryzom though is heavily based on pay-to-win elements. Even though it is tagged as a free-to-play MMORPG it has a subscription fee that not only allows you to carry more stuff, buy gear or have more stamina but it also unlocks almost half of the game. This is a huge minus for new players since not paying for subscribing completely locks them out in half of the game’s levels. The fee is not small either, reaching 100$ for a yearly subscription.

Overall, Ryzom is a pylon for MMORPG titles to learn from but it is stuck somewhere between bugs and pay-to-win. There are people, mostly french that are still dedicated, even though 14 years passed since its release. It is also based on 100% open source so that you can create your own server if you want. Would you join the community and see what it’s all about or will you pass up on this one?