The dynamic open-world MMORPG Fractured Online has also been released on Steam for some time in Early Access, but it mainly collects negative reviews. In this article, you will find out how much of this criticism is true and what is planned for the future.
Info from Gamescom: At Gamescom 2022 we had the privilege of interviewing the developers of Fractured Online and got some information about future content. Some features the developers told us about could allay the general displeasure of the players. We don’t have exact dates, but we have been given an approximate time for some features.
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What’s with the Negative Reviews of Fractured Online?
On Steam, Fractured Online currently has a “Mostly Negative” rating of approximately 175 negative reviews to approximately 100 positive reviews. Many of the players who gave Fractured Online a negative review on Steam appear to have supported the game since the Kickstarter campaign but have been particularly dissatisfied recently. For some new players, it simply offers too little content or is too difficult. This is probably due to the lack of a common thread and hardly any tutorials, so you quickly feel lost in the big world.
The Biggest Criticisms:
- Much of the promised content of the Kickstarter campaign is still missing
- Some content had to be disabled multiple times due to glitches
- The talent trees are only about half-implemented
- Missing UI and tooltips
- Terrible ping of 100+
- The combat system feels clunky
- Large but very empty areas
Even if the developers personally report some negative reviews, most of the criticisms are unfortunately absolutely justified, and it will take some time before all negative points are resolved. Let’s take a look at the promised Kickstarter content below.
Is all Kickstarter content in the current game version?
There isn’t that much Kickstarter content on the official Fractured Online Kickstarter page. Many of the features shown here are already included in the game since they make up fundamental parts of the game, without which it would not run at all. Presumably, the lack of the various stretch goals is alluded to, which are largely cosmetic. Only the difficult maze dungeon crawler mode is a big feature, about which we also have information from Gamescom.
- Humans: First race was in the game from the beginning.
- Beastmen: Second Race made its way into the game in the last major update.
- Demons: Third Race is still missing and should be implemented for the full release.
- Resurrection: A kind of prestige already announced on the Kickstarter page. It should appear sometime after the release. This allows you to reset your character to Level 0 after reaching the max level to become an ascended version of your race. Demons become angels, beastmen become evil creatures, and humans become undead lichs, all with higher starting stats.
- Labyrinth Dungeon Crawler: Procedurally generated, challenging dungeon, implemented very late after release.
- Stretch-Goal Cosmetics: Seems to be missing at the moment.
All races should have been inserted earlier, like the Alpha 2. Also missing are some smaller and larger features teased in various roadmaps and posts by the developers from 2019, for example. Overall, the development of the game is taking a lot longer than originally planned, which doesn’t excuse everything, but currently, Fractured Online is probably not the only game with delays.
The developers have planned these features for the future
Of course, we have already mentioned a few planned features in this article, but there are still a few that the developers mentioned in the interview at Gamescom. Of course, we don’t want to withhold these from you, so here’s a short list.
- Demons: As already mentioned, the demon race only comes with release. With him, another world and a unique mechanic, since the demon people will play particularly PvP-heavy. You can also leave the demonic realm for a limited time only.
- Dungeons: Many non-procedurally generated dungeons are designed primarily for solo players.
- Raids: Hard, large areas for multiple players. It should be implemented later after the release.
- Resurrection: As described above, a “prestige” type of feature where your character is reset to 0, and you are resurrected as a slightly different ascended version of your race.
- Introductory Quests: A quest series that will make it easier for you to start in Fractured Online and guide you through the game like a red thread after the tutorial.
- World Events: Various random events across the map.
- Religion: Probably some kind of system to show off the player’s karma more.
- Alchemy: Another crafting method.
So some features are still planned for the future, we can only be surprised when they will actually find their way into the game. In conclusion, we can state that not everything has always gone exactly as announced, but the developers are trying to deliver a lot of good content in the future.
It should also be said that all worlds will be wiped for full release. So don’t worry about falling behind now, as everyone will start over together for the full release next year.
If you’ve had your own experience with Fractured Online or been around since the Kickstarter campaign, let us know what you think in the comments below.
