In Tarisland, WoW meets Genshin Impact: What sounds like a great MMO hope still has to get to grips with some huge problems before release
The timing couldn”t be better for Tarisland: Mystery of the Hollows. As soon as Blizzard discontinues its MMO top dog World of Warcraft in China, it promptly announces a WoW-style MMO that seems tailor-made for the Chinese market.
Tarisland comes directly from Chinese publisher Tencent and is set to be released this year for PC, iOS and Android – also in the West. Visually, the MMORPG is quite impressive and looks like the bastard child of WoW and Genshin Impact, while in terms of gameplay you should get good old-school MMO fare with quests, PvP, dungeons and raids
We played Tarisland extensively in the closed beta and are curious – but also worried. Although the developers still have a lot to iron out before the launch, there are some surprisingly cool ideas hidden beneath the technical problems, Pay2Win accusations and more.
What did we play?
Randomly selected players as well as some members of the press and content creators were given access to the MMO”s second closed beta for about two weeks in November. Compared to the first closed beta in June, there were some minor improvements such as optimized controls and additional languages. Playable were the beginning of the game, several classes, the open world including PvE quests, as well as PvP and dungeons.
Table of Contents
The story is interesting …
Rarely have we been so divided as with the story of Tarisland. Because somehow it manages to become the MMO”s greatest strength and weakness at the same time. Basically, Tarisland offers a very exciting starting point. Once we have created our character (more on this later), we end up directly in a raid-like scenario in which we defend a town against a bloodthirsty dragon and its minions
Between ashes, dust and sparks, we desperately cast our spells while as yet unknown NPC allies go screaming to the ground. Suddenly everything around us goes black and we wake up somewhere in the forest, where we are greeted by a young elf lady called Jeya. Apparently we have seen a gruesome future that must now be prevented.
However, their harbingers are already visible in the form of a mysterious black tower and dangerous monsters that haunt the open game world. So let”s warn its inhabitants as quickly as possible and prepare for disaster!
Until we face the dragon again, we can expect some surprisingly cool moments We are betrayed by allies, enter a magical library full of flying books that is lovingly reminiscent of Harry Potter or suddenly slip into the role of the warrior who enables our escape from a mine overrun with enemies. Although his life bar has long since dropped to zero, we fight our way through masses of enemies with sheer force of will to ensure the survival of our friends.
.. and terrible at the same time.
Highlights like this are repeatedly torpedoed by the game itself Many text windows and dialogs are buggy, have a robotic soundtrack or are simply written in a strange way.
For example, as a woman we are addressed as “He” and warrior Catherine introduces us to her brother, the king, who in turn refers to himself as her father. Let”s hope that only one of them is right …
This of course damages the atmosphere enormously What”s more, the narrative is presented in an incredibly confused manner. We are constantly teleported somewhere else in the middle of a sentence or event, or plot threads are simply dropped in favor of others. When the story slowly picks up speed, it is abruptly over and gives way to uniform open-world tasks.
It”s possible that content is still missing here that will be added in the final game. If the story remains like this, it is at best a vehicle to send players from one region to the next – albeit with a few small moments of tension as consolation.
Sheep and sharp
In terms of gameplay, Tarisland can be quite convincing if MMO fans know what they are getting into. The gameplay mainly consists of the typical collecting tasks. You roam the open world, pick flowers, hunt wolf packs or craft with the help of resources to complete missions and level up your character. This allows you to strengthen your skills and earn new equipment.
You can then put your new strength to the test in dungeons of different difficulty levels, raids or in PvP. The latter is linked to a reputation system, which you can use to unlock rewards such as mounts.
However, the main missions and dungeons in particular have interesting ideas and certainly make an effort to provide variety. For example, you can follow ghostly footprints through a character”s memories or solve small puzzles by turning statues and answering questions. So you don”t always just have to collect things or fight
Dungeons usually function as the climax of a questline and can be completed alone with AI companions or with human party members via player search. Both work smoothly in the beta, although the AI companions generally have a bit of a hard time and often kick the bucket. But Tarisland proves inventive here too: for example, you have to survive being turned into sheep, dodge razor-sharp blade boomerangs or quickly free your companions from prisons before they are hit by a particularly powerful attack.
Fire (or ice) free!
The fact that Tarisland is also a mobile game is only noticeable in the battles. With six class spells, an ultimate ability, two special powers (such as a dash and a shield) and a few potions, they are very straightforward.
For example, we play a mage who diligently deals DPS from a distance using spells. To do this, you simply hover your mouse over an enemy and rotate through the spell cooldowns or change your target via tab
You also receive hints if you should dodge and level up all skills conveniently with one click. Operation is therefore very simple. Nevertheless, it can get a little hectic in battles with lots of enemies if you move with WASD, cast spells with the 1-6 keys and adjust the camera with the right mouse at the same time.
Overall, there is little to shake about the combat system The spells feel powerful and are atmospherically accompanied by sparking effects. You can also choose between two paths for each class – so we can play as either a fire or ice mage and additionally strengthen or swap individual abilities
You can also watch Tarisland in action in the trailer:
Identity crisis
By the way, we don”t just write mage because we happen to be playing a woman. In fact, Tarisland comes with racial and gender lock, which is generally met with little enthusiasm and also disappoints us when it comes to class choice. There are only mages or priestesses, as well as warriors or paladins. You can customize your hair, eyes or make-up a little, but overall there is little room to express yourself with your character
Even collected equipment does not show on the character. You can unlock new looks either via in-game challenges or by purchasing skins for real money. So if you don”t want to grind or pay, you”ll have to live with a lot of clones in the game world.
The basic design of characters and outfits is appealing, but somewhat generic Elves, for example, look like they”ve come straight out of WoW and the warrior archetype with its whirlwind attack was apparently apprenticed to Garen from the MOBA League of Legends. Visually, Tarisland lacks its own identity
Is Tarisland Pay2Win?
At the time of the announcement, developer Tencent was still advertising Tarisland as an MMO with a fair pricing model that “will do away with Pay2Win entirely”. The social media profiles also spoke of a Non-P2W-MMO After harsh criticism of monetization was voiced during the closed beta, there is now no longer any reference to the promise.
In the beta, in-game benefits could not be purchased directly in the in-game store using real money. However, you could buy the in-game currency in a roundabout way with real money, which you could then use to strengthen your own character. Bonuses are also offered to reduce grind and waiting times
According to the statement, the developers apologize for the fact that “their understanding of Pay2Win obviously differs from that of the players”. They promise changes at launch. In its current form, you can in any case purchase player benefits with real money, which makes Tarisland, strictly speaking, actually Pay2Win. However, it remains to be seen how serious this will be in the finished game
In other MMOs, it is also possible to exchange real money for in-game currency, for example in WoW or Guild Wars, as well as save time by buying boosts. The decisive factor for most people at launch will probably be how fun the experience is without real money and how fair the free in-game rewards are.
Green meadows and technical chaos
The game world is also still searching for its own identity. With its lush green meadows and dreamy sunbeams that are even reflected in puddles, it has some really pretty corners to offer. However, once you”ve been exploring for a while, a lot of things look very similar. The environment is also very reminiscent of the equally colorful game world of Genshin Impact
The impression is further clouded by the ever-present technical problems We repeatedly lose the connection to the server for a few seconds or have to contend with stutters, lags and long loading times. The fact that Tarisland uses cutscenes a lot is actually a great thing – but even these often stutter or cause moments of embarrassment instead of great emotions due to asynchronous soundtracks and wooden animations
We don”t really believe that Tencent will get all these problems under control by the end of the year. But if the MMO is given a little more time, it could become an entertaining WoW alternative that is definitely beginner-friendly and versatile.
Editor”s verdict
Tarisland was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. On the one hand, I liked many moments and ideas. You can tell that the developers had a lot in mind with the staging and story and had definitely thought about how to build up the characters and create tension. Unfortunately, however, only a little of it works, because I always felt that half of the information was missing, passages were strangely translated or the technology was simply a hindrance.
And even if the general look of the game is really nice to look at, this cannot be equated with good design. Almost all of the characters look far too familiar to me because they simply look generic or even copied. Actually cool armor is then hidden behind paid skins, and when I get new equipment after a tough dungeon, it feels really unsatisfying. After all, I still look like a 0815 starter elf.
Together with the technical difficulties and Pay2Win accusations, this left me with a bitter aftertaste, even though I had a lot of fun with quests and exploring. Tarisland just doesn”t (yet) feel finished, unfinished and like a WoW clone without its own identity. However, the MMORPG can be more and find its own voice. A solid basic framework is in place. The developers now just need to give themselves the necessary time to build something of their own around it.
