I really like MOBA games. I love finding the balance between attacking the other players and heading off into the wilderness to level up or gain buffs. I like the ways players can work together to overcome things by kiting enemies along and mucking around with them, and the gradual progressing and power ramp over the course of a match. What I don’t love is the sheer amount of time you’re expected to spend in these games to master characters and try and figure out the best combos. Then there’s the in-game communities, which can be, let’s say… colourful.
EverSiege: Untold Ages is, in essence, a PvE MOBA. You and up to two other friends get to slowly progress towards an end goal, usually a big old monster, and have to get stronger as you go. You can capture crystals to get stat boosts, work with different skills and characters, and you have to build your base up as well. Each match balances that amazing feeling of having a hundred things to do, and all of them being the right choice. You just need to figure out what order you’d like to progress in.
Outside of the in-match progression, which sees you buying new buildings, taking on mini-dungeons, and just generally throwing down with anyone and anything that wants to, you get to unlock new characters, as well as new elements, skills, and get some fairly standard meta-progression stat boosters alongside. There’s always something to upgrade both in and outside of matches, which is a dopamine farm for people that like to see numbers in games getting bigger.
The co-op can be a lot of fun, but is also where it shows some frustrating flaws. You don’t share progression, which is a pain to say the least, but the core match-to-match experience is a lot of fun to share with a friend or two. It’s not perfect, but it can be very satisfying. I’m hoping they work on this a bit as time goes on, and the developers have already stated that they’re looking at this following the first post-launch update.
The single player experience is also fun and, weirdly, it’s ended up being my preferred way to play, despite usually being someone who borderline demands co-op in games. It just means you can zone out a bit and perfect your strategies throughout the course of a match, and not have to share upgrades with anyone so you can become stronger. It also feels more like you’re playing an action strategy game at that point as well, which is novel.
Visually, it’s fine. It’s not a groundbreaking graphical feast, but it’s not really a genre that needs to be super shiny. It gets the job done, and you can always see what’s going on, so that’s not really a problem. The sound design is fairly solid too, although some of the voice acting comes across a little bit jilted. These are the things that come lowest down on my list, generally speaking, but they’re worth noting.
