E3 2012: Hands On with Neverwinter

As you may know, Perfect World has acquired the Star Trek Online developer, Cryptic Studios. And with that comes a new Dungeons and Dragons game, Neverwinter which will be a free to play MMORPG.

Before you write off a free-to-play game, this one is worth checking out. Neverwinter takes place in The Forgotten Relms of the Dungeons and Dragons world. The game

starts players in the ruins of the city formerly known The Jewel of The North, and takes you on a journey through caves and wilderness as you battle monsters and collect loot.

The gameplay is fast paced and fluid. Each class has a right and left mouse click action ability that has unlimited use. For example, if you are playing as rouge, the left click is your basic knife swipe, while the right click teleports you behind enemies so you can slash them in the back. Having these powers right at your finger tips as much as you want is what makes the gameplay fast paced.

Dungeons and Dragons games are about the group experience, and this game is no exception. You’ll need a good group to make it through boss battles which can be pretty epic the more people you have in your party.

The Neverwinter universe is emense in the D & D universe, but you don’t need to have any knowledge of it to enjoy this game. With tons of fantasy MMORPG’s to choose from, this one can stand out with its gameplay mechanics. Just to give a sense of how good this game is, once I found out it was free-to-play, everyone’s reaction in the room was, “This is free?!”