Richard Garriott, aka Lord British, used to be first. First, he created one of the first computer role-playing games in history (Akalabeth 1979), which marked the beginning of the world's first long-playing series (Ultima), then in the fourth Ultima, he was the first to offer players a non-trivial plot, different from the simple "go and kill the main bastard!”, The system of moral values ​​and the possibility of moral choice. Finally, it was he who coined the term MMORPG and created one of the first truly massive and high-quality games in this genre, which is still alive. This is, of course, about Ultima Online.

Unsurprisingly, it is Lord British who is now set to create the first RPG that combines rich storytelling, moral choices, and full online play. And which, unlike Star Wars: The Old Republic , won't require a monthly subscription from the get-go for all that joy. All this will be offered by Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues , which the StopGame.ru correspondent talked about with the executive producer of the project, former project director of Ultima Online Starr Long.

Project Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues started in March this year with a campaign on Kickstarter, where the authors of Ultimaalmost doubled the plan and raised $ 1.9 million. Then they received almost 600 thousand more dollars through their own website and started active development. When asked why Lord British decided to return to the genre, from which he seemed to have already left and even managed to fly into space, his friend and closest partner simply replies: “Because he always relied on a deep plot and detailed simulation of the world around him. And now there are still few such games. Most of them focus on action. At the same time, the genre is experiencing a real renaissance, thanks in part to Kickstarter and the activity of indie developers. And this is a great chance for us to come back and show a master class."

That is why the authors themselves call Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues the spiritual heir to the games of the Ultima series created by Friv5Online Games Studio “Those who know them will feel at home here. And the new ones will get an RPG that features a detailed simulation of the surrounding world and a fascinating story that tells more than just killing the bad guys, ”says Starr Long.

So, first of all, we are promised a deep, interesting plot. It is already known that he would write his Tracy Hickman, the famous author of Dragonlance series. “The story will be very similar to what you saw in our classic games. Characters that initially seem bad may well turn out to be good, and the line between good and evil is often vague, ”says our interlocutor.

Accordingly, the plot, as usual inGarriott , will offer various ethical paradoxes, moral dilemmas and choices that directly affect the plot. In this case, the scriptwriters will not lead the player by the hand. On the contrary, there are basically no quest logs, question marks over their heads and other similar instructions. The authors want players to first of all explore the world and look for plot paths themselves.

Fortunately, the action of Shroud of the Avatar will unfold on a separate continent, most of the territory of which, according to the executive producer, will be available for research from the very beginning. And only a few, the most important areas will open as you progress.

As with many Ultima games, we will have to drive in the texts of remarks and questions ourselves, communicating with the NPC in order to get some important information and, for example, to find out that recently a couple of villagers disappeared in a nearby cave. That is, a good knowledge of English for Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues will be critical. Also, "by typing" will have to find out how dangerous this or that enemy is - they do not have any visually indicated levels of development.

The second distinctive "ultimatum" feature of the new project of Lord British will be almost complete freedom of the player in a detailed simulated virtual world. First, there won't be any classes here. “Instead of a class system, we offer a wide range of skills to choose from to create a truly unique character based on your playstyle. The simplest example: you can choose and use only combat skills in a specific situation if you want to play like a traditional warrior, or you can mix them with some magical skills if you want to develop as a hybrid of a warrior and a magician", says Long.

Second, in Shroud of the Avatarthere will be no clear guidelines on what to do or how to live. You can fight, look for exploits and adventures, or you can learn different crafts, cut trees, buy houses and make them with your own hand-made furniture. Or sell these tables and chairs in your local market.

Yes, the game promises a full-fledged real estate market, well-developed "crafting" and its own trading system. So, to make the same chair, it is not enough just to chop wood: you need a recipe, a workshop, a machine, a list of ingredients and the required level of the corresponding skill. And in order to build your own house, you will first have to purchase a "deed of purchase" for the land. And even if you later demolish or sell the building, the land will remain your property. True, you will have to pay tax for housing. But in the house it will be possible to put a trader ("vendor") selling your goods.

Virtual houses, detailed "crafting", the ability to trade your products on the market, the study of peaceful crafts - all this is primarily characteristic of online projects. Indeed, as we said, Shroud of the Avatar will be a full-fledged multiplayer game combining single and online. True, this is all much more interesting than, for example, in the same Star Wars: The Old Republic.

There are 4 game modes in total. The first is a regular "single" that does not require an Internet connection and does not allow you to use the character that is stored on your computer anywhere else. The second mode is "single player on the web". You will be able to connect to the server and see the results of the impact and stay of other people in the worldShroud of the Avatar . But the players do not see each other.

In addition, the promised online mode for friends: here, of course, you can play with your friends, see them and invite them to the “party”. Finally, there will be a full-fledged online section - if you choose it, you will be able to see almost everyone who is on the server, although in this case a certain filter is provided. "We ourselves will sort the participants by their friendlists, play styles and other factors, and, accordingly, the server shows what it considers necessary to show this particular gamer," says Starr.

However, chaotic PvP is not provided in the open network mode either. Instead, we will receive special quests that allow you to fight with other adventurers and participate with them in full-fledged wall-to-wall battles.

Now Shroud of the Avatar looks very tempting: the project offers a truly unique concept that allows both solo adventurers and virtual hostel lovers to enjoy the game. Another question is how successfully all this will be realized. We all remember that Lord British's last project, Tabula Rasa, virtually failed. And yet there is a feeling that this time everything will work out. After all, here the level of responsibility is much higher: Richard and his team work directly for the players who trust them, donate money and who, according to our interlocutor, are much smarter than most heads of game publishers.