In the MMOs where I spend most of my time, big achievements tend to be things like guilds completing a raid before anyone else, or being the first player to hit max level at the start of a new expansion. And as impressive as some of these feats are, they are still part of the largely linear journey that most players will eventually experience. Pax Dei, a “social sandbox” that’s launching in early access soon, is doing things differently.
Mainframe Industries want to make a world that “does not feel like a journey”, says game director Reynir Hardarson. There are no levels or classes, so you don’t progress from level 1 to level 60. “It’s more of a place where you live in it.”
You find some land to call your own, or maybe join a clan and build a house, inn or shop in a village,…