8Realms Press Preview

Most people who think of online game publisher Jagex think of the classic MMORPG RuneScape. Others may think of War of Legends, Jagex’s first browser-based strategy game, developed by Ultizen. In a colorful corner of the web, Jagex has also been developing its own twist on the MMORTS: 8Realms. MMOHut were among the few to get early access to this newcomer to the market.

8Realms began our rule with a challenge: overturning a barbarian invasion of your village. We’re greeted by Gary, a dusty looking villager with a bright yellow ‘Here to Help’ sign pinned to his chest. That’s reassuring. After putting out the fires – what appears to be a one-time task – we begin expanding our little territory in earnest.

Like many other strategy games, resource management and production is key. Some of our first tasks (instructed by Gary and a helpful “task board” that points the way on our development) are straightforward: build a farm, a logging camp, a quarry, and get resources rolling in. On certain “first time” achievements, we’re also rewarded with a special scroll, often with a comical animation, that teaches us a little more about the game’s mechanics.

We’re also directed to begin research, once we’ve built a Library. Like classic strategy games, the thinkers of our society are waiting to research new technology for us. Some of these technologies unlock new buildings or military unit types; others increase our production, town happiness, and more.

Looking at the Library pane, we’d noticed that research is divided into ages. Indeed, each little empire may evolve, Civilization style, from the rudimentary technology of “Ancient” civilization, all the way into the speculative technology of the “Future” civilization. An hourglass in the top-middle of the screen keeps track of our civilization’s progress through each stage. Once full, we can choose from among seven wonders to build around our capital.

What is noticeable about each civilization change isn’t just new technologies. The game’s user interface shifts to reflect the civilization’s new knowledge, from changing the appearance of the buildings in the village to shifting the user interface to match the period. Even the map, we noticed, changed from the rudimentary and simple map of the Ancient World, to a grid-based map, simply from our first civilization upgrade.

Shifting up through the stages, however, we also found the challenge level began to increase. By the time we shifted into the Classical era, Gary was gone and our only guide to what to do next was in our task list. However, we ran into a few snags along the way: our gold coffers ran dry (with no clear indication of what was costing us money, or how to tip the scale back in our favor), we ran out of construction slots while our tasks asked us to build more; and we discovered some things on our own, such as how to go settle a new piece of land.

Still, for a strategy game in closed beta, 8Realms already shows a lot of polish. It combines a unique, playful environment with the classic elements of a browser-based strategy game. There’s little to complain about besides a lack of guidance, which we’re positive will come around as the game emerges further from development. With an interesting twist of realm choice, trading, and resource capturing, 8Realms is a title definitely worth keeping an eye on.