Best Online MMORPGs for PC

When it comes to pure world immersion few games come as close as an MMORPG. They’ve become titans of the gaming industry for a reason. But it can be illuminating to really take a look at why they’re played by so many people all over the world.

MMORPGs take you on an easily identified and very satisfying character arc. You begin as a low level vagabond barely able to defeat a solitary goblin to this titanic force of nature capable of slaying gods. There’s a real sense of progression with MMOs which enhances the sense of growth. You’re getting better gear, better weapons and facing off against stronger enemies. But even more than that you’re achieving a better sense of the world you’re inhabiting and your role inside of it.

Another area that MMORPGs have excelled in have been in the technological realm. And this means more than just better graphics and more detailed game worlds. In recent years browser based free MMOs have become more and more prevalent. With browser MMOs you don’t need a powerhouse PC to get the most out of your gaming experience. Any PC with an internet connection can connect you to any number of fantastic free-to-play games.

It was also common for MMOs to only be accessible through a monthly subscription fee or, at the very least, a pricey upfront purchase. While many of these games can justify these costs that doesn’t mean that everyone’s willing or able to pay them. This is another area where browser based MMOs excel. They’re free to play which means there is zero financial commitment. So if you don’t like a game you don’t have to play and you’re not missing out on a dime. And thanks to recent advancements in browser based games you don’t have to sacrifice quality either. These games can be just as enthralling and impressive as their more established brethren. But don’t take our word for it, you’ll find dozens of free-to-play browser based MMORPGs on this page alone, including standouts such as League of Angels II and Dragon of Legends. Give one of them a try and see for yourself what all the excitement is about.

Velvet Sundown

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Velvet Sundown

Velvet Sundown is a brand new free to play dramagame from Tribe Studios. In the game, you are aboard a luxury yacht, where you will play through hundreds of different experiences, based on how you interact with others. The game is all about social reactions between all the players.

The game is a little bit like the board game clue, in the way that you will have to interact with others to find out different things about them, and ultimately whether or not you want to pursue different avenues. Velvet Sundown is as much of a role-playing game that you can get. There is no combat, no raiding and no loot. But for those of you with a strong imagination, that can put yourself into the scenarios laid out for you, you will love this dramagame.

Valhyre

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Valhyre

Valhyre is a fantasy MMORPG currently under development by Duck’s Den Productions. It takes place in the world of Denia, where players will be able to lose themselves in a magical world. The game will feature a complex combat system with styles and chain attacks, swimming, many duneons, PvP, and a very detailed crafting system.

Unturned

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Unturned

Unturned can best be described as a sandbox styled massively multiplayer apocalypse survival game. Unlike many other survival MMOs, where players turn on each other for sport, in Unturned you focus more on working with other players to survive the zombie infestation. In the game you will form a group and fortify locations, scavenge for supplies and try to live off the land while keeping everyone alive. Unturned is constantly taking player feedback into consideration, and much of the game is being built by what you have to say to the developer in making the game a better place.

While Unturned is still in the first public release of the game, new features will continue to be added constantly. Community feedback has helped, and will continue to drive the developer to adding new features and graphics, as is evident from the first prototype of the game, to the version that you see today.

Uncharted Waters

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Uncharted Waters

Uncharted Waters Online is a free-to-play historic nautical MMORPG developed by Tecmo Koei. The game is set within its own romanticized version of the Age of Exploration and involves the player conquering a number of neutral nations in the name of their own chosen nation.  Uncharted Waters Online essentially lets players live, work and play during the 15th century while they re-write history.  Players will buy and build their own ships, allowing for a multitude of customization options, and can participate in PvP with dozens of players online. The game features 6 nationalities, 3 base classes, and several occupations as they chart their own path on and off the high seas.

The game is unique because it does away with the drudgery of many hack and slash games.  Players will channel their inner traveler to explore the world and take on their own unique path.  In Uncharted Waters Online there are hundred and thousands of places and items and people to discover, explore and meet.  There are countless hours of gameplay that will keep you coming back again and again.

Features:

Hundreds of game objectives with more than 75 professions and 100 skills to master

Historical Ships to choose from or buy.  A wide selection, such as the Hansa cog, Baltic galleon, Spanish carrack, Turkish galley, and English frigate.

Conquer the world with hundreds of neutral cities waiting to be defeated and governed, spreading your influence across the globe.

Naval PvP with colossal 100 vs 100 PvP battles!

Player land & housing with the ability to own your own house in a city, or find an island of your own and build a farm to grow crops and raise livestock.

Trials of Ascension

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Trials of Ascension

Trials of Ascension (ToA) is a sandbox MMORPG currently under development by Forged Chaos. Set in the fantasy world of TerVarus, Trials of Ascension is geared to provide players with hundreds of hours of adventure.

Trials of Ascension will feature a skill system, meaning players will not be limited to classes and instead turn their character into their own creation. The crafting system is highlighted by an “Innovations” feature that gives your avatar a chance to receive an “innovation” only available to your character, allowing you to enhance or create new items, skills, or abilities. There will also be player-made settlements and kingdoms, as well as many different types of structures available for crafting. In PvP, ToA will focus on open world PvP and the possibility of perma-death.

The Secret World

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The Secret World

The Secret World from Funcom takes players into a different reality from their own. This MMORPG represents the world of today with a different view. As the world around players breaks down from plagues, zombies and other world ending disasters players join one of three different factions; the Dragon, the Illuminati and the Templars. These three factions have different stories, pasts and futures that molds the world around them.

The three different factions leads to a perfect system for PvP. There are three different modes that allow for different types of multiplayer experiences. If small skirmishes are what you’re looking for, fight clubs offer a small scale battle ring that can be done quickly with battles being as small as 2v2 or as big as 10v10. If larger scale battles sound better, the Battlefields and War Zones may be more appropriate. The Battlefield is a capture the flag like game that gives factions special upgrades and bonuses for winning. The Warzone is a 24/7 persistent PvP that changes as the three different factions fight over facilities. No matter which place you choose there is some form of PvP for any MMORPG fan.

One of the most interesting mechanics of The Secret World is character progression. Instead of focusing on levels and locking people into a specific classes, The Secret World does something different. Using certain weapons, skills and other moves gives players proficiency which unlocks new skills. Players can change their skills and proficiencies at any time.

The Secret World sets a very dark mood in an alternate reality from our own. The gameplay mechanics matched with the real world setting provide a fiction that is fun to be a part of. There is a ton of good stories in all three factions that are worth exploring. Check out this game because it is very unique. 

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

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The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is an action-RPG and tower defense game rolled into one. Developed by Ubisoft, The Mighty Quest takes players on two completely different paths as your main goal of collecting treasure and experience plays out. The game takes a light-hearted approach while players construct castles with deadly traps and monsters to protect your castle from deadly looters, while letting you take on other players castles in search for you own fortunes.

The game is split into two parts. On the offensive side you will venture into other players castles and try to get to the end by blasting through enemies and traps that they have laid out for you. This part of the game is more a traditional hack ‘n slash style like Diablo. Your character will gain experience and loot once, and if, you complete the castle, where you can then rate the experience.

On the defensive side you will create your own castle much like a tower defense game. Choose traps and monsters along with the areas that they roam as you try to build an impenetrable fortress. Your goal is to protect the loot at the end of your castle, you do this by trying to lay out castle out as difficult as possible.

The Exiled

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The-Exiled-Game

The Exiled is the world’s first Open World Survival Arena – we’re bringing together MOBA tactics and Sandbox MMO strategy. Our goal is to make MMOs fun again for PvP fans. No more grind. No more pay-to-win. No more tab-targeting. We are creating a game designed to be compatible with the busy life of an adult gamer. The Exiled rests on the three defining pillars; Meaningful Conflict, Skill-Based Combat, and Constantly Changing Worlds.

We will throw you into a dark fantasy prison valley. You start each game with nothing but your wits and your PvP skills. Over the course of weeks and months you will explore this world, grow stronger and learn to survive.

Hundreds of players will join you in the valley. Amongst them you will find friends and allies to form a clan. Start building your own settlement and empire whilst competing with rival clans.

In a completely player-driven economy, your influence and income will grow through diplomacy and warfare. You will strive to break free of your chains, defeat your captors and emerge victorious from your exile.

The Division

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The Division

Tom Clancy’s The Division is a third person shooter MMO currently under development by Ubisoft Massive for the Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Based in modern day USA, a plague suddenly spreads throughout the entire country on Black Friday. Within 5 days America is ruined. Cue the “Strategic Homeland Division”, aka The Division, to come in and clean up the mess.

The Division will have an RPG element mixed with an open world environment. The gameplay will be more of a traditional tactical third person shooter, with a heavy cover/peek-and-shoot type of fighting. There will also be a supplemental app that allows you to play with your friends as a flying drone.

Tera: Rising

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TERA Rising takes the fight beyond whack-a-mole monotony with enhanced aiming, dodging and tactical timing to create intense and rewarding combat. The recipient of multiple industry accolades, including Best PC Game at E3 and Best Combat at PAX, TERA Rising gives players the best of both worlds: MMO depth with visceral action combat.

TERA Rising delivers pulse-pounding action, stunning Unreal visuals, and an immense immersive world so jumps in and find out what true action combat is all about.

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Swordsman Online

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Swordsman Online

Swordsman Online (also known as just Swordsman) is a free-to-play MMORPG from Perfect World Entertainment. Swordsman Online is based on the popular novel, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Louis Cha, with Chinese martial arts being central to the game’s visuals and combat style. The game has seen massive success in the Chinese market for a number of years and is finally being localized for a western audience thanks to efforts from PWE.

Players will take on the role of a wandering warrior whose journey leads him/her on an unexpected adventure to avenge their destroyed village and become a great hero. Player and guild actions will dynamically alter the world, changing the environment according to user decisions. Towns can be saved or demolished, unique NPCs and quests can become available and secrets may reveal themselves, all based on the elaborate branching narrative of player choice.

There are ten different schools of martial arts available in Swordsman Online, of which players will choose one to follow. Combat is heavily action-based and relies less on character stats and more on player skills. Quick reflexes and mastering your character’s movement and abilities will give players a distinct upper hand in both PvE and PvP combat. For more details on all of Swordsman Online’s classes, check out our Swordsman Character Classes Guide.

One unique feature of Swordsman Online is that publisher Perfect World Entertainment chose to preserve the essence and culture of the Chinese version by adding subtitles to the Chinese cutscenes rather than dubbing over with English voice actors. Potentially a polarizing decision, it allows the player to experience the game as it was originally intended.

Swordsman Online saw full release in July of 2014 (Release Date: July 29th) and is, of course, free-to-play for all users.

Survive The Nights

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Survive The Nights

Survive The Nights is an upcoming zombie survival MMO from a2z Interactive. Survive The Nights is a first-person multiplayer shooter with heavy emphasis on community and realistic survival techniques. The game debuted on Kickstarter with an initial funding goal of £12,000 but, thanks to good messaging and a promising premise, managed to smash that number and close out at a total of over £108,000. Stretch goals include the expansion of the development team, additional servers, a professional composer and a PS4 build.

Players will be thrown into Survive The Night’s post-apocalyptic world, filthy with deadly zombies and scarce of many of life’s necessities. In order to stand a chance, you will need to scavenge during the day: finding food, weapons, tools and shelter. Seek out shelter and fortify yourself in at night to protect yourself from the aggressive zombies that thrive in the darkness.

Survive The Nights promises a lot of features, many unique, others refining and enhancing already established tropes of the genre. Take, for example, food consumption. For many survival MMOs, players must consume food and water on a regular basis to avoid death: the player’s state of existence being totally white and black. Survive The Nights takes a more realistic approach and incorporates the diminishing physical condition of a human body lacking food. If a player hasn’t eaten for hours on end, their character starts to become sluggish. Slower movement speeds and a lower equipment load will be indications of a player slowly withering towards death.

Perhaps most importantly, a2z Interactive is attempting to tackle the hostile player community that comes with games of the survival MMO genre. ‘Kill on sight’ is being addressed with an affectable character mental state. Killing other players will lead to a breakdown, of sorts, causing the player to suffer from blurred vision, shaking hands and voices in the head. Take murdering to an inexcusable extent and it will result in automatic player suicide. PvP will remain an important feature of Survive The Night but with these unique features, it should exist as a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Survive The Night promises a world that is immersive beyond what we have seen yet in a survival MMO. Every structure found on the game’s island is enterable, unique and inhabitable. Players are able to store their goods inside their structures, fortify their defenses with planks and furniture and set traps to protect them and their abode against invaders. Generators can be fueled and activated for power through the dark nights and stove tops can be used to cook food with out the use of an attention-attracting fire. Even players who prefer a more mobile lifestyle can repair vehicles and roam the countryside living out of their trunk.

Survive The Nights currently has a targeted release date of August 2015. For more information on Survive The Nights or announcements of an alpha, beta or full release, keep here to MMO ATK.

Supernova MOBA

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Supernova MOBA Game

Supernova is a brand new MOBA game with RTS elements from Primal Game Studio and Bandai Namco Games America. Supernova is scheduled to be released in Q2 of 2015 on PC. In Supernova, the human race has ventured into the cosmos to find a universe that is in peril. A serious of mysterious portals have brought us face to face with an array of alien races in the midst of war. The human race must lead their forces into a fight of galactic dominance to figure out the secrets behind these portals.

The game will bring new innovation to the MOBA genre through both it’s fresh new take on a sci-fi universe, but also with upgradeable minions, crafting from drops and a great line-up of commanders that players will use in battle.

[heading]Features[/heading]
True Command of Your Army – Strategically deploy and outfit lane units that advance on enemy territory. How you manage technologies, upgrades, and build order can mean the difference between stunning victory and crushing defeat. You have control of it all!

A Distinctively Sci-Fi Setting – Supernova’s futuristic science fiction setting, with technology and space-faring races, offers huge gameplay possibilities. You’ll be transported to a universe where contests between commanders are won with unique technologies and strange alien powers.

A Vast Galaxy of Customization – Commanders can prepare a wide variety of craftable accessories before a match, then customize attributes and talents with each in-game level. Accessories are crafted by combining dropped items to boost commanders’ inherent talents.

Commanders from Across the Universe – A dizzying array of powerful commanders is at your disposal, ready to lead your armies into battle. Choose between mech pilots from the human core worlds or gun-for-hire mercenaries from the lawless outer planets. Or look beyond mankind and select an alien commander – the choice is yours.

Technology is Key – Commanders daring enough to challenge and defeat the ancients will be rewarded with Mechanoughts, planet-razing ancient technology that relentlessly drive through the heart of your enemy’s defenses. The question is; who will awaken them first?

Strife

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Strife

Strife is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) from S2 Games. Strife is described as a second-generation MOBA game and is S2 Games’ second entry into the genre, following the well-received Heroes of Newerth.

There are currently 20 playable heroes in Strife, each with four abilities that can be unlocked and upgraded via gaining experience throughout a match. Each hero has their own advantages towards varying styles of play, whether it be ranged support, tank or jungler. A well-balanced team and solid team synergy are vital components in a successful match.

Gameplay consists of two teams of heroes on opposite ends of a map attempting to destroy the other team’s base. Players must fight through waves of creeps, multiple generators and enemy heroes to reach the opposing base.

For Strife, S2 Games is modifying many typical features associated with the MOBA genre to reduce both the negativity of the community and the relatively steep learning curve. Complex menus and item systems have been simplified and gold sharing assures players of all skill levels have a fighting chance. While not necessarily specific to Strife, but relatively new for the genre, gold sharing causes gold earned for creep and hero kills to be evenly distributed between everyone involved in the area. This avoids the hostile, inner-team competitions that evolve from counter-productive practices like ‘last hitting’.

For the first time ever in a MOBA, Strife players will be be able to bring pets into the arena! Each pet comes with multiple skins and fights alongside you in battle. At the end of each match, players receive seals which can then be spent toward unlocking new pets. Strife is also introducing the idea of item crafting. Crafting will allow players to modify the effects items have on character stats while still avoiding unfair advantages that can come with such a feature.

Strife is currently in closed beta with a release date yet to be announced. For more information on the free-to-play MOBA, check out our PAX Prime 2013 developer interview, What Is Strife?

Storm United

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Storm United MMOFPS

Storm United is a socially driven class based massively multiplayer First Person Shooter that has been built upon an omnipresent clan foundation.

Your journey into Storm United begins with choosing a clan. Every player gets a clan, so no one is left behind. The clan’s personal headquarter will serve you as a central communication hub where you can chat and get the latest news on the clan’s objectives and victories while also being a place where you’ll build useful infrastructures in a similar way strategy games works.

Get ready to wage war with other clans for resources on a globally shared intergalactic map. Build and break alliances, research or spy for technologies and produce new weapons and gear.

In addition to the ongoing galactic war, organised tournaments and events give you one more opportunity to prove your ultimate supremacy.

The first version of Storm United will be released on Steam for PC and Mac users and will later likely get released on Xbox One and PS4. It’s free to play and won’t provide paying users unfair advantages over free players.

Steel Ocean

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Steel Ocean MMO Game

Steel Ocean is a free to play war battleship simulation MMO game from ICE Entertainment and Changyou.com.  In the game you are the commander in the navy where you choose from 6 types of World War II Warships to take part in 16v16 naval battles.

System Requirements

RECOMMENDED:

    • OS: Windows XP SP 3 or higher
    • Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)I5-3570
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
    • DirectX: Version 9.0c
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 6 GB available space