Dwarf Fortress vs Life is Feudal: MMO
Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is one of the most unique and massive fantasy game ever made using only ASCII characters and colors. The game is completely open world in the sense that you are given the freedom to play as an adventurer and set off alone or with other adventurers on an exciting journey above or below ground (or both) to seek glory, fame and riches, or to settle down and help develop your very own dwarven outpost where you can then build a fortress, establish a barony, and in general, order your dwarven subjects around. Aside from the obviously different "art style" used, the freedom of choice, and the amazing amount of details in its gameplay, the game is also unique in its world building. The virtual world created is not only randomly generated with distinct civilizations with detailed histories, hundred of points of interests like towns and caves, as well as a flourishing nature, which includes both flora and fauna.With so many amazing features packaged into a simple-looking game, it is no wonder why Dwarf Fortress is a game that has inspired a wide variety of other modern games, both indie and big triple-A ones, until today. Due to its size, you might feel daunted to dive into a game like this, but once you've learned the basics, you will find yourself fully immersed in this completely open world of symbols and colors.
Life is Feudal: MMO
Life is Feudal: MMO is a medieval-themed sandbox MMORPG that offers you a pretty hardcore survival gameplay where death and bad behavior are both severely penalized. You can also craft a wide variety of tools and items, build amazing forts and other structures, and explore a huge world and see other people’s creations.All of these sound great and all, but what truly makes this game stand out is its iconic, karma-like system called the Alignment system. Players who break common sense norms, like not stealing other people’s harvest, destroying people’s homes, or even killing another player unprovoked, will get marked with a negative alignment. The punishment from this system isn’t instant or swift, but if the bad-behaving player dies with negative alignment, he may risk losing all that he has worked hard for. He may potentially lose all of the skill points he had painstakingly grinded for.
On the downside, the combat in this game still feels a tad bit clunky and many players have mentioned that the cosmetics in-game shop are sold at ridiculous prices. The game is still currently in early access as well and thus, the game does have its fair share of bugs.
Although many have drawn a comparison with Wurm Online, those very same players would probably unanimously agree that Life is Feudal simply looks much better and plays out a whole lot better as well. The dynamicity of its world is astounding and the alignment system serves as a great deterrent to bad and toxic players. Life is Feudal may not be the ultimate medieval-themed sandbox MMORPG, but it’s pretty close.