2008 · Spellborn International · Action-adventure · MMORPG

Spellborn

Set within a unique post-apocalyptic fantasy universe, The Chronicles of Spellborn provides an immersive combat system along with a well fleshed out and unique storyline.

Released: 27 November 2008
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Action-adventure MMORPG Role-playing
Developers: Spellborn International
Publishers: —
Modes: Multiplayer
Themes: Action
Engine: Unreal Engine 2.5
Country: Netherlands
Age ratings: PEGI 12
Composers: Jesper Kyd

About

The Chronicles of Spellborn was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) initially released on November 27, 2008, developed by Spellborn International and distributed by Frogster Interactive, Mindscape and Acclaim Games; set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Spellborn used the Unreal Engine, featured a European Art approach and contained notable contributions from Jesper Kyd. In August 2010, the game was shut down.

As of 2019, the game is still playable on a proprietary private server that is operated by a former developer.

Keywords

magic
customizable characters
leveling up
loot gathering
questing
discontinued mmo
black magic

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Spellborn consisted largely of conventional MMORPG gameplay, in which the player plays a character (avatar), and explores the gameworld in order to gain experience points and advance in level. In exploring the gameworld, the player encounters quests, the most important part of Spellborn's gameplay. The game had about a thousand of these quests. Completing quests was the primary means of earning experience points.

Repeatedly killing enemies ("Grinding" in gaming jargon) to gain levels was not a practical option in Spellborn. Separate from other story-driven quests were the Ancestral Quests, which allowed the player to take the role of a major character in Spellborn's history to accomplish a specific requirement. Players needed to complete certain Ancestral Quests in order to advance their character's story arc.

Development

In June 2009, the developers of Spellborn, Spellborn Works, went bankrupt. One of the publishers, Acclaim, announced the following month that the game would be re-developed as a free-to-play game supported by microtransactions. The new version would be released sometime after 2010, and until then the free-to-play version would remain active.

The game servers were shut down in August 2010. The Chronicles of Spellborn has not been re-released by any publisher since.