Salem Officially Announced

We’ve known about Seatribe’s permanent death-inducing MMORPG Salem for a few weeks now, though we didn’t have a release date or even an official announcement to present to you until today. Prepare for some serious PvP in fantastical New England later this year:

Salem Free-to-Play MMORPG Game Officially Announced

The Game that has Everyone Buzzing About Permanent Death is Coming to Paradox Connect in 2011

NEW YORK February 10, 2011 Paradox Interactive today officially announced Salem, a free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game based in the harsh world of colonial Salem. The game focuses on crafting and player colonies as players discover the new world in a sandbox like environment. The game is being developed by the team at Seatribe and is scheduled to go live in 2011 on the Paradox Connect platform.

Salem has already garnered a lot of interest from the gaming community since it was previewed behind closed doors to members of the media in late January. Known for its controversial permanent death feature, an essential game mechanic that introduces risk as players progress in the new world, Salem is a fresh twist on the MMO genre giving players control of their towns in the game and introducing frontier justice in the open Player-versus-Player (PvP) environment.

“Salem is a free-to-play MMO game that is going to add something new to the genre with the concept of generations rather than just a single character through the game,) said Tom Söderlund, Project Lead for Paradox Connect. (If your character is killed in the game, and believe me it can be dangerous in Salem, their descendent has the ability to pick up where your character left off. The concept of revenge and towns policing themselves and even sanctioning hits on griefers is going to be a really compelling aspect. We know we’ll see some interesting things when the community finally has a chance to play Salem later this year.)

About Salem

Set in a fantastical New England, Salem offers free form Massively Multiplayer gameplay in a persistent, ever-changing, online world. Players take the roles of intrepid colonists from the Old World seeking to make lives for themselves in the New. The colonists are able to use a unique crafting, farming and building system inspired by 17th century alchemy.

Although Salem takes place in a light-hearted gothic setting with a charming and cute art-style, there is also open Player-versus-Player combat and permanent death. Players will also experience creatures based off actual colonist folklore like Squonks, Hidebehinds and of course witches in an open sand box world.

Features:
‘¢ Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
‘¢ Persistent and mutable world
‘¢ Crafting, farming and building
‘¢ Open PvP combat with permanent death
‘¢ Free-to-play

For more info:
Website: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/salem
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SalemGame
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SalemTheGame
Forum: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/

About Paradox Connect
Paradox Connect is the umbrella brand for all Paradox Interactive’s online activities and aims to give every Paradox player a stronger online identity. Building on their large community, Paradox Connect will include Paradox Achievements, integrate social media, downloadable content in various formats and more. Paradox will also start publishing online games as part of the Paradox Connect initiative.

About Paradox Interactive
Since 1999, Paradox Interactive has been a leading global developer and publisher of PC-based strategy games. World-renowned for its strategy catalog, the company holds a particularly strong presence in the United States and Europe. Its steadily-growing portfolio includes originally developed titles such as the critically acclaimed Europa Universalis and the Hearts of Iron franchises, as well as publishing titles such as the Elven Legacy series, Mount & Blade and Majesty 2. Paradox made an explosive entry onto consoles during 2010 with the release of Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West. For more information, please visit www.paradoxplaza.com and follow www.twitter.com/pdxinteractivea