EverQuest Next Preview

The editors over at PC Gamer are next in line with a preview of EverQuest Next, the third such ambitious MMORPG title in the series from the veterans at Sony Online Entertainment, which also talks a bit about EverQuest Next Landmark. A few paragraphs:

‘˜Tumbling somewhere you’re not supposed to be’ is part of EverQuest Next’s mission statement. SOE’s vision for the next generation of MMOs involves a gameworld that is layered like Minecraft, with hand-designed fantasy landscapes on the surface and procedurally-generated tunnels below. The next Norrath is built out of voxels clever cubelets that can be generated, moulded and destroyed on the fly. At the most basic level, that means a surface world built out of destructible components: demonstrating the game for the first time, game director David Georgeson showed how melee strikes and magic attacks can blow up walls and leave craters.

This is impressive simply as a visual effect, and adds a level of responsiveness to the world that isn’t present in other games. Over time, this damage will repair itself to make way for fresh adventurers, and certain key areas won’t be destructible at all but it’s what voxel technology has allowed SOE to do next that elevates it from impressive to important.

Break through the floor in EverQuest Next either in the aftermath of an earth-shattering blow, or by casting a spell or picking up a shovel and you’ll enter a subterranean cavern that is generated on the fly for you to explore. You’ll be able to hunt monsters, claim items and conduct the rest of your MMO business in an environment that promises a new experience every time you enter it and the deeper you go, the more you’ll encounter.