Tarisland: Closed Beta Preview Impressions

ign.com:

Tarisland reminds me of a distilled version of some of my favorite MMOs, filled with visually striking environments that are largely satisfying to poke around in. Classes are distinct and focused on a small number of abilities that play into a central mechanic or theme, with two specializations for each class to switch between.

But although it did recreate some of the same warm feelings and fun gameplay experiences I used to get from other games, the change of direction with microtransactions and the inconsistent quality of the story, voice acting, and writing all leave me concerned.

Tarisland is a hybrid PC / mobile massively-multiplayer online role-playing game from Locojoy and Level Infinite. It’s available on Windows (as a standalone app) as well as from the Apple or Google Play store, and progression and multiplayer is shared between both versions. I played on PC and Android during my preview, but I spent more time on PC both because I enjoy mouse and keyboard and because there is no current controller support in the mobile version.

One of the most immediately striking things about Tarisland are the visuals, specifically the gorgeous character models, which made it fun to look at my avatar both in the character select screen and on the battlefield. The second thing that struck me, after getting through a seemingly truncated, perhaps unfinished introduction (this was a beta, after all), was how familiar the aesthetic, design language, and gameplay felt. The design of the main cast, supporting characters, antagonists, and even environments are reminiscent of the visual presentation of both MMOs like World of Warcraft (WoW) and other modern free-to-play games like Genshin Impact – although Tarisland is more focused,