It’s time once more for us to do our semi-sporadic peek into Persist Online, the PvPvE zombie-filled shooter MMO in pre-alpha development by Tibia studio CipSoft. And this time around we cast our eyes to the game thanks to its most recent major update, which introduces a new resource capturing mechanic known as nodes. In summary, nodes […]
Welcome back to yet another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news! We’ve got quite a bit to cover today, so let’s not waste too much time with a preamble and hop right into this list of headlines. Regime change at Microsoft Gaming and Xbox: According to reporting at IGN this afternoon, Microsoft Gaming CEO […]
I said it, and I’m actually going to deliver on it this time: I’m bringing you back to another round of Eldegarde. That’s Notorious Studios’ recent mini-MMO, which primarily plays as an extraction RPG. And yet it has so many features that MMO players love to see that it’s been self-dubbed a mini-MMO. The game […]
This week’s Massively Overthinking is inspired by a tweet I saw from SMITE, of all games, where the Hi-Rez devs asked players to propose one god to delete from the game. Obviously, this is not a serious proposition, but in the aggregate, the answers can kinda show a trend in what people are tired of, […]
Mercenary Plate is just too darn good in Mortal Online 2. That isn’t intentional, but it is how things have shaken out, hence why the next patch that’s going into public testing on February 25th will involve stat normalization for plate armor. No one wants to pick armor that’s just not going to be good in […]
Embark Studios finally stopped playing coy about how their machines sort the digital wheat from the tactical chaff. Patrick Söderlund basically handed the Reddit theorists a victory lap by confirming Arc Raiders employs aggression-based matchmaking. This system attempts to bucket the bloodthirsty PvP enthusiasts away from the folks who actually want to scavenge in peace. If you spend your time hunting players, you get a lobby of hunters. If you’re there for the loot and the atmosphere, the algorithm tries to find you a kindred spirit who won’t shoot you in the back the second a rare component drops. It is a bold move for an extraction shooter, a genre that usually thrives on the total lack of safety, but Embark is clearly trying to manage the salt levels of its growing player base.
Arc Raiders – Matchmaking tune up
Extraction Etiquette and the Predator Problem
The CEO admitted the system is hardly a perfected science. It functions as a secondary layer beneath the standard skill-based parameters and party-size filters. The logic is simple: the game tracks your propensity for violence. A week ago, this invisible hand started nudging the “kill on sight” crowd toward their own private hells. It aims to address the viral chaos of retired pros dunking on casuals, but it raises questions about how the game defines intent. If you only fire in self-defense, the system might still struggle to differentiate you from the aggressor. The tension of the extraction genre relies on that unpredictability. Sanitizing the experience too much could strip the game of its actual edge, turning a tense standoff into a predictable chore.
The holiday sprint has officially cooled down, and Epic is swapping the daily chaos for a much more manageable weekly rotation. Yesterday’s final 24-hour gift, Chivalry 2, is no longer up for grabs, but the replacement is a heavy-hitting double feature. From today, January 1, until January 8 at 11:00 AM ET, you can claim both Total War: THREE KINGDOMS and the sci-fi newcomer Wildgate for zero dollars. This shift signals a return to form for the storefront, moving away from “mystery” reveals back into a predictable schedule that actually gives you time to play the games you’re hoarding.
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS
This is arguably the most polished entry in the long-standing strategy franchise, set during the legendary collapse of the Han Dynasty. It isn’t just about moving thousands of soldiers across a map; it’s a character-driven epic where personal rivalries and diplomatic betrayals dictate the fate of ancient China. The “Romanticized” mode turns your generals into superhuman warriors capable of taking on entire units solo, while the “Records” mode keeps things grounded in historical realism. If you happen to miss the free week on Epic, the Steam Store is currently running an 80% discount through January 5, and the G2A Marketplace (affiliate link) often has keys for roughly $9.00, making it a resourceful pickup even after the giveaway ends.
Total War – 3 Kingdoms massive straegy
Wildgate
Providing a sharp contrast to the slow-burn strategy of the Three Kingdoms, Wildgate is a 2025 arrival that focuses on high-stakes PvPvE extraction in deep space. You and your crew are dropped into hostile sectors where you have to balance hunting for ship upgrades against the threat of rival players and lethal environmental anomalies. The combat is a hybrid of first-person shooting and tactical ship-to-ship maneuvering, requiring genuine coordination to survive the extraction phase. While the Epic giveaway is the best current deal, the Steam Store has it for 60% off until next week. If you’re looking for a second chance later, G2A typically lists keys around $1.80, which is basically pocket change for a modern sci-fi title.
Wildgate – Multiplayer FPS Adventure
A Resourceful Start to the Year
Securing these two titles adds over $90 of retail value to your library for nothing, covering both the grand-scale strategy and the competitive shooter niches. Total War provides a campaign that can easily eat up a hundred hours of your January, while Wildgate offers a fresh loop for your weekend squad sessions. Make sure you hit the claim button before the next rotation on January 8 to start 2026 with a significantly more valuable library.
Fydos.io is a multiplayer browser game focused on survival, progression, and exploration. Players collect resources, fight enemies, level up stats, and unlock n...
No time for love, Doctor Jones, but there’s always time to plunder a newly discovered ancient tomb in Star Wars: The Old Republic! We begin our One Shots column today wheezing and coughing at all of the dust that Lucky Jinx kicked up in the latest pursuit of some Sith Artifact or maybe a Hello […]
Today we’re finishing up our traditional countdown of MassivelyOP’s weirdest MMORPG stories of the year, that year being 2025! Coming in at #1 on our list is… Oh come on, you knew it was War Thunder again This award has been a tradition since 2021, when it first became mainstream news that military nerds were […]
If you’d enjoyed running around on Ellan Vannin in a peaceful celebration, you’d better get ready for what Dark Age of Camelot has done to the region. That peace has been shattered and players are now faced with an open PvP zone flagging anyone not in your group as an enemy, complete with ruined towers for […]
Who’s ready for a big chonky pile of Not-So-Massively game news pieces? You must be since you clicked here, so welcome! Pull up a chair. Read through about some of the most recent updates to the smaller scale multiplayer games in our orbit. Have a cranberry scone and maybe some of this chai. It’s pretty […]
The fact that ARC Raiders’ use of generative AI development tools for its creation, particularly for its voice work, is a sticky wicket for many shouldn’t come as a surprise in the age of rising slop tides. Still, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Soderlund is not backing down and continues to defend the decision in an […]
Welcome to the end of the year, everyone! Somehow we all got here, seriously, and that means it’s time for our annual roundup of stories and events over the last year. I’m sure that some of these will have people saying that they were not surprised by anything that happened over the course of 2025, in […]
Justin and Bree discuss WoW Midnight, Gloria Victis' revival, the Cryptic mess, Neverwinter, and Albion Online, with a run-down of all the cool stuff coming in early December (WoW's housing, LOTRO Kingdoms of Harad, EverQuest Shattering of Ro, Destiny 2 Renegades, Guild Wars Reforged, along with adventures in LOTRO, Guild Wars 2, and WoW, plus a mailbag topic on predatory MMO monetization.
Pokemon Go’s not perfect, and there’s always something to complain about, but the winter Precious Paths season is certainly looking strong in some ways. Yes, there are some very wrong turns ahead, but there’s enough good to light a fire even in this player’s cold heart. Today’s Massively on the Go is here not just to warn […]
War Thunder is looking towards the future. Or at least what it’s doing next month and somewhere down the line after that, anyway, as Gaijin Entertainment has outlined what players can expect in the December update and answered several burning questions from among its playerbase. The update due sometime in December does appear to be […]
Has your time in Albion Online been good from a performance standpoint? Judging by a forum thread published by technical director Jon, the answer would be “no,” but he also offers some explanations about the problem and promises to solve them. In summary, performance issues are a three-pronged problem caused by client lag, server lag, […]
Did you happen to miss out the time when EVE Online took over a lava tunnel tourist attraction to talk about its recently released Catalyst update? Do you yearn for the rocks and the dark? Well you’re in luck because CCP Games made sure that this distinct broadcast location was saved to its YouTube channel […]
The month of November has once again seen a fresh update to Warhammer Online rogue server Return of Reckoning as the PvP’ing MMORPG brings back the annual Saga event and applies some important updates to RvR lakes and certain dungeons. From now until December 1st, the Saga event encourages players to settle grudges in the […]
