

My Trickster Rogue’s Cloud of Steel power, in particular, was always fun to fire off once enemies came bumbling into range. The game does a pretty good job of making each power feel weighty and fun to use, too. It’s a simple but effective arrangement that I got the hang of quickly. Non-combat functions like healing can be easily reached on the d-pad. The left and right triggers instantly fire out your ‘anytime’ powers, while those which require a cooldown reside on the face buttons, and another set are easily toggled using the bumpers.

There are nowhere near the sheer quantity of active powers you’d find in World of Warcraft or another similarly complex MMO, but Neverwinter is all the better for it, as every power is neatly mapped onto the controller. Using a controller with console version I tested was a joy compared to practically every other console MMO out there (with perhaps the exception of The Elder Scrolls Online, which makes use of a similar system). Combat is very firmly in the vein of action RPGs like the Darksiders or God Of War series, and its here where developers Cryptic Studios have managed to tailor their game to a console audience.

Thus begins a suitably epic tale of heroism and sacrifice that is largely irrelevant, because this is an action-MMORPG, so every scrap of a story is in service of taking down swathes of enemies and leveling up in the process. An NPC tells you the city is being laid to siege by the evil elven lich Valindra Shadowmantle (because that’s the sort of thing people are called in Faerûn), and its down to you to stop her. That familiarity extends to the opening, which has your character wash up on the shore near the city of Neverwinter after your ship is destroyed. Everything you’d expect to find is here, from powerful mages to muscular warriors and arcane dragons. Neverwinter’s goal seems to be to recreate the archetypal fantasy MMO world in a free-to-play game. At the beginning of April, Neverwinter received its latest in its long line of updates, The Cloaked Ascendancy, which is the game’s eleventh expansion. The game has maintained a loyal following over the years, receiving an Xbox One port in 2015, and a version for Playstation 4 in 2016.
#Best mmo 2017 to play Pc
Originally released on PC in 2013, Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMORPG set on the continent of Faerûn, in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Worlds universe.
#Best mmo 2017 to play update
So with it’s latest update adding new areas and quests, is now the perfect time to jump into this perennially popular world? What is it, exactly? The game has a reputation for being one of the better examples of a free-to-play MMO, especially on consoles. This time it’s the turn of long-running MMO experience Neverwinter. Constantly hearing about a particular game, wondering what exactly is the big deal? In our regular series, we delve into the hottest community games and ask the important questions: Why do they generate such a devoted following? Is all this fuss warranted? And if so…are they worth your time?
