Sick of Warcraft, Conan didn’t click? Well these are the top #12 upcoming MMORPGs & MMOFPS.

12. Aion: The Tower of Eternity

Aion is a Korean MMORPG from the creators of Lineage, although Korean developed it is planned to have a worldwide release.
Aion’s world has quite a unique fantasy look to it, and is based in somewhat of a dream-like reality.

Almost all of the game’s feature are still cloaked in mystery, although their biggest announced selling feature is that all characters have the ability to fly, and can be involved in aerial combat

What it has going for it

• Aerial Combat
• Unique Fantasy World

Release Date: Early 2008
Official Site

11. Darkfall Online

Darkfall is another fantasy MMORPG, its biggest selling point is that it are trying to blend in real-time strategy elements with the role playing eg, politics, diplomacy, kingdom building.
Combat in Darkfall is intended to be skill based, and hence you wont have to spend hours leveling your skills to be able kill bigger monster.

Another of the game’s features is that apparently you’ll never have to reroll your characters, as your character can be changed to suit how ever you want to play them.

Two cool features they are bringing back from the older RPGs; that there will be no safe zones for PvP and player collision detection is back, meaning it’s possible to block doors with your characters or shield players.

What it has going for it

• Real-time strategy elements.
• Skill based combat.

Official Site

10. Earthrise

Earthrise is a MMORPG set in a post apocalyptic future, Earthrise has two main boasting points; one is the ability for the players to pick a faction and fight for them (not really that unique) you can either be working with the government or the rebels.

The other feature which could be a lot more interesting is the leveling system… or rather the lack of a leveling system, Earthrise does not have levels instead everything is skilled base, each skill can be leveled on use and once each skill is maxed the character development is finished.

What it has going for it

• Solo friendly
• Mechs! (Huge mechanized exoskeletons)
• No levels

Release Date: 2009
Official Site

9. Huxley

Huxley is a MMO first person shooter based in an apocalyptic future where Humans and Mutants are at war. Huxley was inspired by the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, hence the game’s title.

Huxley is currently planned to be released cross-platform on the Xbox360 & PC although no details on how the platforms will interact has been released yet.

What it has going for it

• Individual Battles are supposed to support more then 100 players
• Players groups will be able to verse AI.
• Vehicle Combat

(When all screen shots on the official site are tagged by gaming networks then something weird is going on)

Release Date: November 2008
Official Site

8. The Chronicles of Spellborn

The Chronicles of Spellborn is another upcoming MMORPG being developed on the Unreal Engine, and like many games before it is based in a post-apocalyptic world, except this time it’s a post-apocalyptic world that isn’t earth! The player’s goal is to rediscover lost places of the ’shattered world’ and explore them.

One the unique features to Spellborn is the combat, the combat is a hybrid between a Card Collecting game(Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the gathering) and a FPS. Before combat you create a deck of skills and upon entering combat you are given 5 random skills, each time you use a skill your skills are replaced with new set of 5 random skills from your deck, hence battles can become very strategic and lot of planning can be put into deck construction.

Spellborn also features what they call ‘Dress-to-impress’, as game equipment(armor) has no statics and any class can wear any armor.

What it has going for it

• Skill measurement in PVP
• Ability to influence the world
• FPS style combat
  • You have to aim at your enemy
  • Attacks can be dodged by moving

Release Date: Autumn 2008
Official Site

7. APB

APB is a cops versus criminals MMO third person shooter, the game revolves around the PvP conflicts between the Enforcers(cops) and the Criminals, it is hyped to be the GTA of MMO… unsurprisingly the lead game designer is the creator of the original GTA and Crackdown.

APB is built on the Unreal engine, and it’s main feature is ‘Turf wars’, where similar to Planetside each zone will be captureable.

What it has going for it

• Vehicle Combat
• Car Chases!
• Hundreds of Cities
• GTA style mechanics

Release Date: Late 2008

Official Site

6. Stargate: Worlds

Stargate: Worlds, as its name implies, is a MMORPFPS based in the Stargate Universe. Players will be able to explore alien worlds, customize human and alien weapons and battle hordes of enemies. Stargate: Worlds like many others is built on the Unreal Graphics Engine.

Very little information about the combat style has been released yet, although so far stated that combat will be FPS style and will require team tactics.

What it has going for it

• Based in the Stargate Universe!
• The story will be canon

Release Date: Late 2008
Official Site

5. Jumpgate: Evolution

“Well, the thing about a black hole – its main distinguishing feature – is it’s black. And the thing about space, the colour of space, your basic space colour, is black. So how are you supposed to see them?”

Space in Jumpgate is anything but bland, it’s full of rich colours, asteroid belts, space junk, unknown planets, abandoned colonies and much more.

Jumpgate: Evolution is a remake of the 2001 game Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative, featuring a new graphic engine, a remade universe and more accessible game play.

What it has going for it

• It’s already got a dedicated player base.
• Space combat.

Release Date: Unknown(currently in Beta)
Official Site

4. Guild Wars 2

The follow up to the still popular Guild Wars, the so far announced main improvements are; ability to freely roam, jump and explore without being restricted to invisible paths, less instances, multiple races and a lot more options for player advancements.

Not much other information has been released yet, although no doubt there will also be a large overhaul to the environment sound and combat systems.

What is has going for it

• Like GW1 it’s going to be free of subscriptions.

(sorry no screenshots)

Official Website

3. Requiem: Bloodymare

Requiem: Bloodymare was originally advertised as a horror MMORPG, although I doubt we’d be getting any scares in a MMORPG, instead it looks like the game will be a blood and gore fest which is fine by me! Also the Beast Possession system looks like it could be quite interesting.

What it has going for it

• The bloodiest RPG
• First attempt at a Horror MMORPG
• Designed for a Mature audience
• Epic PVP battles (96 vs 96)

Release Date: Late 2008
Official Site

2. Champions Online

“Everyone can be Super! And when everyone’s Super… [chuckles evilly] No one will be.”

Champions Online is the follow up superhero-themed MMORPG by the developers of City of Heroes/Villains, although this time they are developing without the backing of NCsoft. The game is planned to be more action orientated then CoH, have a better graphics engine and be cross platform on PC & Xbox360.

What it has going for it

• Cross platform
• Everyone wants to be a Hero

Release Date: 2009
Official Site

1. Warhammer Online

Unless you have been living in a WoW induced coma I doubt this game needs much introduction, Warhammer Online is very much about about PvP (or rather in Realm versus Realm).

One of its unique features is that characters will be able to age, grow beards and show battle wounds, although sadly this wont be in the game at launch.

What it has going for it

• Massive Warhammer fan base.
• Is being hyped to hell by all gaming publications.

Release Date: Late 2008
Official Site

Honorable Mentions:

Since there is very little information published on these games I couldn’t really rate their potential, so in no order here are the honorable mentions.

Dragonball Z Online

Maybe it’s just for nostalgia’s sake but I really am interested to see how this comes out, Dragon Ball Z Online is based 216 years after the end of DBZ and ignores the events of GT. You will be able to take part in the battles from the series but using Trunk’s ‘Timemachine Quest’ and going back in time helping out the main characters.

Three playable races have been so far announced, the Humans, Namekians and Majins, and for all those wanting to be a saiyan apparently they no longer exist, and will not appear as a playable race.

What it has going for it

• Massive DBZ fan base
• Toriyama has creative control over the project and has been working on a lot of the character designs.

Release Date: 2009 Japan
Official Site (Japanese)

DC Comics MMO

Not much information has been released about this game yet, all that’s official is it’s going to be released on both PS3 & PC, and famed artist Jim Lee will be working on it.

What it has going for it

• It’s based in the DC Universe!

Release Date: Unknown

Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online was first announced in 2004, it has been moved through multiple developments studios and almost canceled numerous times. Yet it’s still alive!
Very little information has been released on Star Trek Online except you’ll start as a Starfleet Cadet and as you progress being able to rank up to the maximum rank of Admiral. The game is planned to played in 3rd person perspective, and players will have the opportunity to explore space, planets and engage in PvP combat.

What it has going for it

• A bunch of Trekkies waiting to play it.

Release Date: 2009?
Official Site