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There are too many games that fade away like gossamer clouds under harsh sunlight. Too many titles arrive and then depart, forgotten and lost to the brutal slow march of time. MMO Allods Online is one. Released back in 2010, it apparently continues to do well in Russia, but elsewhere, it’s a name few remember. With several incredibly interesting ideas wrapped up in a unique setting, it probably deserved better – and now, suddenly, it’s attracted an audience on Steam.
To put it in context, Allods Online – on Steam at least – has been stuck around the 50 player mark for years – nearly as long as the game has been on the platform. Then, on Saturday August 3, that number took a big leap skywards. The MMORPG now has roughly a thousand players – a gathering of gamers it has never before enjoyed on Steam.
In one world that would be the end of the story and we would be celebrating an influx of players to a forgotten game, much like the recent events surrounding Meet Your Maker and Global Agenda: Free Agent. Unfortunately, however, this seems to be something more akin to the surge experienced by Valve’s abandoned card game, Artifact.
Much like Valve’s title, Allods Online’s Steam numbers are incredibly uniform. The game has attracted a thousand players and those are present, day and night, with almost no variation. Since this spike started there has never been more than 1,021 online and never fewer than 942, which would indicate that this most likely isn’t the work of a gaggle of fans giving the game a go.
Instead it looks to be the work of a wave of bots, which has the side effect of artificially inflating the player count. If Artifact is anything to go by, this surge may end in a short while – the card game’s numbers fell back down to their previous levels after 11 days.
It’s a shame as games do deserve to have a second chance at success, and Allods Online is an MMO that should be remembered despite several controversies regarding its free-to-play model that have somewhat tarnished it over the years. Also it has flying sailing ships, and that’s always a big win in my eyes.
If all this has you hungry to try it out for yourself, Allods Online is free-to-play and you can jump in over on Steam. Should you desire something else online, our guide to the best single-player MMOs will help you find what you need, and if price is an issue you can take a peek at our list of the best free MMORPGs you can play right now.
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