Ya know, Skyforge is a free-to-play game. Like other F2P games, it has its hooks that it tries to snag into you to keep you playing. That veritable carrot on a stick is dangled before you to push you onward, tempting you to pony up some bonus cash in order to get the good stuff.
But, at this point, I don’t even know what that good stuff might be. I don’t quite know what the carrot is. I’m currently playing through the “tutorial” which pushes you through each adventure, and apparently it opens up after that is completed, but I still don’t know why I’m doing any of it.
The gameplay so far is stupidly simple, but at the same time it’s kinda fun. The combat is decent and the questing is straight-forward. There is no guesswork in this game. As is the case with older MMO’s like World of Warcraft, the game tells you to go kill X number of monsters or collect Y number of objects, and you go do it. Why? It doesn’t matter. Just run to the spot on the map, do what you gotta do, then move on.
I have a buddy who is also weirdly hooked on it, and we’ve had a discussion over just what it is that is keeping us playing. So far, we don’t really have an answer. There isn’t much in the way of a tangible progression with your character. It’s not like there’s an amazing armor set you’re working toward. Costumes are just cosmetic, and the weapons and items (so far) don’t exactly set the world on fire. The story is as nonsensical as you would expect, and the voice work is pretty flat and lifeless.
Though when your character looks like this, it does make it easier.
In other words, it’s not like it’s the brilliant technical wizardry that’s keeping us around. When all is said and done, I think it’s just the fact that underneath all of the jumbled currencies, multiple menus, and nonsensical characters, there is a simple core gameplay that for whatever reason is retaining my interest.
In short, I like to mash buttons and watch things happen.
