Asheron's Call
1999
- role-playing (rpg)
- fantasy
- massively multiplayer online (mmo)
The story
Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) for Microsoft Windows-based PCs developed and published by Turbine Entertainment. Though it was developed by the Turbine team (with Microsoft's extensive assistance), it was published as a Microsoft title until 2004. The game was set on the island continent of Dereth and several surrounding smaller islands and archipelagos on the fictional planet of Auberean. The game was played in a large, seamless 3D virtual world which could host thousands of players' characters at a time. Released on November 2, 1999, it was the third major MMORPG to be released and was developed at the same time as Ultima Online and Everquest. After initial success, its subscription numbers dropped as newer MMORPGs moved into the market. Its host servers remained online for over 17 years after the game's original launch.
What it’s like
Wide, open green-and-grey landscapes rendered in early polygonal 3D, with soft-edged fog that swallows distant hills and a day-to-night cycle that shifts the colour of everything from pale morning to deep blue dusk. The mood is unhurried and communal: the sound is mostly ambient wind, distant creature calls and a low, pastoral fantasy score that loops quietly beneath the noise of other travellers. Its pace is slow and repetitive by design, built around walking, hunting, crafting potions and gradually levelling a character across long sessions, so it suits a quiet evening alone, a rainy weekend with a drink on the desk, or background company while doing something else. Emotionally it is warm and low-stakes, with a patient sense of wandering into a world that feels populated by strangers rather than scripted story beats. Violence is present but cartoonish and mechanical: melee and archery against monsters, with no gore and little sense of threat beyond the occasional ambush. It is for players who enjoy grinding, exploration and the quiet pleasure of a shared online world, and who would like a gentle fantasy escape without tension or cruelty.
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