Xyson is a free-to-play sandbox MMORPG that allows players to gather and survive while shaping the post-apocalyptic world around them. Players can build, craft, and adventure with old friends, or new companions.
Gameplay
Character creation is pretty extensive– not necessarily with specific customization; players assign stats and skills during this process. Once you are in the game, you have to fend for yourself. There aren’t any built in tutorials, so anything you learn in-game will be from exploration or other helpful players. In my experience, other players were extremely helpful. There weren’t very many, but the ones who were around were friendly. However, if you want to figure out how the game works outside of the game, you can use the Xyson Wiki, which includes tutorials and more in-depth information about the game.
Controls are simple, even if the camera movement is a little awkward. Players move around with the WASD keys, and camera movement is with the mouse– right click. There are other controls that you can specify in the key binding settings.
The emphasis of Xyson is on survival. You learn how to craft items, hunt for food, and work with other players to survive in this fallen world.Notice how I mentioned food; you do actually have to eat in this game, and sleep, and drink. If you can’t find water or food, you will die. There are skills that you can master in order to help you survive; these skills are the ones you chose during creation. There are 5 resource skills (Foraging, Fishing, Hunting, Scavenging, and Logging) and 3 trade skills (Construction, Crafting, and Fire Building). If you cannot make something that you need (like weave a basket or hunt) you would strike a deal with another player, trading your services for theirs. Thare 5 resource skills (Foraging, Fishing, Hunting, Scavenging, and Logging) and 3 trade skills (Construction, Crafting, and Fire Building).
Trading creates a social atmosphere within the game. Another part of the social aspect of the game is the ability to form tribes. Tribes work together and, in a sense, live together. Tribe bases are where the tribe totem is placed along with other resources. These social aspects help to form a strong sense of community inside and outside of the game.
Xyson is, at its very core, a sandbox MMO. Other players create everything within the world, besides natural resources. Everything you do impacts the world around you; if you cut down a tree and don’t continue to turn it into logs, that fallen tree will stay on the ground until someone else chops it into logs; if you dig a hole and never fill it, the hole will stay; buildings created and abandoned will continue to stand.
How you make your impact depends on the skills you chose at character creation; this choice gives the game a level of complexity, which can be hard to utilize for new players.
Atmosphere
Players can change the graphic quality in the settings, lower quality may look choppy and unrefined, but it helps with the lag if you are playing on a non-gaming computer. Notorious is a relatively small and new developer, the high quality graphics are surprisingly good for a developer in its early stages. The graphics are fairly smooth, and detailed. It is interesting to note that the team used a real geographical location– Lake Tahoe– as the basis for the map.
There isn’t any music, but there are sound effects. Your character makes noises as he (or she) runs through the grass. You can hear bugs and other critters in the background noise. The audio creates a more realistic impression of the post-apocalyptic world. It allows you, the player, to more fully immerse yourself into the world.
Bottom Line
Xyson is a fun and engaging sandbox MMORPG. It is still constantly changing and improving. The lack of tutorial makes players reliant on other players, or the Xyson community, which might be the purpose considering, with the need for player trading and tribe formation, Xyson is a somewhat social game. If you enjoy games like Minecraft, then Xyson is definitely worth a try. Sign up free today!