E3 2012: Grimlands Impressions
Post-apocalypse, Go!
06.07.12 - 3:08 PM

Grimlands is a post-apocalyptic, open-world MMORPG published by gamigo. As with any post-apocalyptic game, the fight is one for resources and survival. The world is open for the taking, and players can go anywhere they want to from the get-go. Just be careful where you go, because you don't want to accidentally wander into dangerous territory if you're a lowbie. Even if you are a lowbie, though, any weapon in the game can be used from the get-go as well. Each weapon has a suggested skill level, though, so a high-level weapon probably won't be too effective with a low skilled character.

This game is purely based on player skill, so there are no classes and no base levels. Skills are what level up, and along with basic skills like attack and evade, an important one we were told about is scavenging. Scavenging is key in a post-apocalyptic world and is similar to what we're familiar with from Fallout. A good scavenger can find parts to make good weapons. Tinkerers will love that weapon building is involved, and there are sliders where players can choose level of recoil, firing rate, and other such traits. Although there are melee weapons in the game, it's really all about guns here, especially since customizing guns can really make them your own.

There are also vehicles in the game that can be commandeered and customized with weapons and armaments. There are storage points for vehicles (such as gas stations), and if a vehicle is destroyed on a mission, it can be recovered at the gas station where it was stored. There are also helicopter tokens to be found in the game that allow players to call a helicopter from anywhere for a ride.

The world features a day-night system, and a weather system is in the works. Day-night is important because the game has a robust stealth monitoring system that gauges your character's visibility, the amount of noise he's making, how well he's covered, etc. The enemies have good AI, and if one spots you, they will all pounce on you. Various PvP and PvE systems are in the works for this game too, and they promise to be fun.

Grimlands will be in closed beta mid June this year, open beta mid July, and aims for a fall release.