Astonia III

In December 1998, a programmer by the name of Daniel Brockhaus had created a small MMORPG titled Mercenaries of Astonia. It was only able to support up to 100 people at a time, and was not intended to be a commercial release; rather, it was to be a hobby project. Due to the growing popularity and Brockhaus wanting to expand, he decided to create a new game, titled Astonia III. Although servers were left online for Mercenaries of Astonia, players had started to gradually move to the new game. It supported better graphics, more gameplay elements, and an improved netcode to support hundreds of players in one server.

Alpha testing for Astonia III started on September 13, 2001. It was to help stomp out bugs and test new gameplay elements. When the year came to a close, Intent Software (the official developing and publishing entity) moved the game to a pay-to-play model, with a one month free trial period for any new accounts. The game's official servers supported numerous mirrors to allow larger crowds online.

In June 2002, IGN previewed the game, and had stated "Overall, the smaller online world of Astonia III has impressed me with its large amount of content, especially in the way of quests. It is one of the few online worlds I've played where the major motivation for advancing my character has been to see what the next quest will be."

Adrenaline Vault reviewed the game and gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, and concluded that "While it may not be the prettiest title on your shelf, its gameplay doesn't disappoint in the least, providing a good amount of variety and customization."