Citadel Studios had set out a plan back in 2017 to create the best and biggest sandbox style MMORPG. Where the entire world was completely inhabited by players with every single choice based on their own personal preferences. At the time of announcement it was called Shards Online, and has been deemed the spiritual successor to Ultima Online. But after some time, as in 31 months of time, Citadel Studios focused their vision and renamed it to be Legends of Aria. And that long time process is finally showing off as the upcoming MMORPG is heading to Early Access in early August:

One of the main switched that Citadel Studios had done for the game was it’s focus. The developers had originally planned for the world to be separate smaller worlds, known as “shards”, but had retconned that whole idea to make it out to be one vastly open world that players can explore. And since then, Citadel Studios has been working hard in making sure everything was set up for this early access release.

The entire game of Legends of Aria is player-run. The game promises to have player communities and servers that can be built up from the ground that allows for entirely new sets of rules, spaces, and more. Each player can do this for not only the server, but for their character as well. Each character can have their own unique set of skills in how they want to live in the world– as a fighter, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a defender, and more. Depending on the skills that the player practices in will develop how their character can be. And from their, they can create their own home or workplace and add to the community that they’re in.

Along with the base set of how the game runs, there are some new content being added into the game with the early access release. This being that there will be a new Bard skill-lined class with buffs and abilities, a new enchanting system for armor and weapons, new housing types, new mount types (specifically llamas and bears), new cosmetic items, and a lot more for both quality of life improvements as well as some PvP systems.

Legends of Aria will be headed into Early Access on August 6, and can be signed up for on either their official website, or on their Steam page. No price has been listed yet. However, Citadel Studios is hosting a livestream Q&A for the initial launch and what’s to come for this game.