is an exciting prospect. A"social sandbox" MMO from Mainframe Industries, a developer that includes many EVE Online alumni, it eschews concepts like levels, classes and heroic journeys, instead promising players a medieval life where they can find a niche and live in it. You can become a simple tailor in a small, player-run village; an architect designing an elaborate castle for your clan; or a knight serving in a barony, upholding its laws and duking it out in PvP battles.
Even without all the planned pillars, however, there's still a hint of the social sandbox. Where Pax Dei differs from Valheim and other popular survival games is the focus on multiplayer. Rather than a co-op game you'll play with a small group of friends, you share the world with lots of other players, who can choose to work together in clans, or compete in PvP zones.
"So you can walk into the village, you can buy and sell, you can see what's worth it, and that kind of creates a quest for you," says Hardarson."It also gives you a soft incentive to start to know these people, if they're wandering around the village. We want to build this player-driven community without forcing anyone into being highly social.
"So the knights and barons have to be very socially active," says Hardarson,"to maintain the structure, because it really all comes from the power of the social hierarchies." Expect a lot of politics and campaigning, then. And this goes for lower positions. Players beneath barons and knights can be appointed positions of power, some of them petty, but some with special abilities, so there will be a lot of competition.
It all sounds impressive, but right now these are ambitious plans rather than tangible features. It remains to be seen how it all comes together during early access. But I still saw some impressive things in the last alpha: particularly the architectural wonders erected by diligent players. Pax Dei's low-fantasy realm is an incredibly striking place—a wilderness full of azure lakes, imposing mountains and moody forests tempting you to get lost inside them.
On the subject of early access, Mainframe is going down the"one-time buy-in" model for early access, says Gunnarsson, while the full version will likely have a subscription.