November 22, 2025

In a week, it’ll mark a month since Chaoscraft’s website launch on Halloween. We’ve published four Dev Logs, each dissecting key pieces of the game. We’ve now formally entered engine development, with a handful of developers showing interest. Given we remain such a small team, we’ve made the decision to post Dev Logs once a month, on the 1st, beginning January. In future Dev Logs, we will share our progress in launching Early Access and continue to delve into some of the features planned for the future. We greatly appreciate anyone in this world who sees potential in this game. We welcome input from all.

We know for the game to attain the reality necessary to compete in this market, it will take making the actual game. As we do this, taking our time to ensure we do it right, we’ve published this website for you to review and, if you like it, share it with your friends and family.

A reminder to any who see the true potential of Chaoscraft in the future of MMOs: We will launch on our own independent launcher. We are not on Steam. We will be active on social media but it is this website that is the game’s home. A subreddit, wiki, and Discord to come in the near future. Stay tuned for updates, and if you want to show us support, buy a copy of Chaoscraft and Castle of Nightmares and donate to our crowdfund. All contributions make a real difference.

World PvP

At the center of classic MMOs is a widespread love of world PvP. This exists alongside the main centerpiece of raiding, which is their bread and butter. World PvP, despite being so enjoyed by many, is actually very controversial, with heated opinions across the board.

Much of what is so beloved about world PvP is that, unlike ranked matchmaking, it is a very unstructured, lopsided, unpredictable, and very organic form of PvP. Ranked is still and will always be a very valuable, engaging part of great games. It is a ton of fun to queue solo or with friends and grind the ranks, facing some of the same opponents along the way.

World PvP exists in new forms in Chaoscraft. Beyond the game’s base realism approach oriented around skillshot and movement, the world PvP that exists in this MMO is both softcore and hardcore, depending on the realm and region one selects or visits.

There are also risk worlds, where players risk a set value of their bank without risking their lives. Softcore, risk, and hardcore allow a greater selection of world PvP and scenes than straight-up world PvP alone. Depending on your mood and comfort level, you can choose what kind of realm you want to play and which region of that realm you want to travel to.

One of the chief grievances with world PvP has long been a valid sentiment around how unfair and uneven many WPvP fights in classic MMOs are. We want to take some time to address this longstanding debate.

Part of what makes WPvP so unfair in classic MMOs is that there exist levels, vast gear discrepancies, and low-level players on PvP realms often face high-level gankers during the course of their questing journeys. We mentioned elsewhere that gear differentials can actually be a fun part of old MMOs, but we emphasize this as one of the points of contention around WPvP.

None of these – and we repeat – none of these are present in Chaoscraft. There are no levels. It is very improbable to see any kind of major gear discrepancy, given the game’s gear design. And as there are no higher-level players to gank lower-level ones, this annoying trope becomes unseen.

What can be seen is uneven fights, where forces are outnumbered, but only on multi-combat (multi) realms. We plan to release single-combat (single) realms, where, for lore reasons we won’t disclose here, PvP combat in the open world will only be possible among two combatants. This is a throwback to the earliest MMO to popularize singles and multi.

If you absolutely despise WPvP, but want to travel in the open world, singles realms are an option. As disclosed previously, there are still no non-PvP realms. We recognize this is an extremely controversial design decision for an MMO studio. We’re well aware this is a dealbreaker for some players, despite the number of PvM opportunities in Chaoscraft.

There is PvM in the open world, PvM in Labyrinths and Raids, PvM in hardcore, and PvM in Magic Realms. There are no PvM-only realms in the overworld because this breaks from the spirit of the game, which is meant to embrace the rawness of traditional fantasy. If a player absolutely does not want to deal with the possibility of gankers in the open world, but still enjoys other parts of the game, they do not have to. WPvP is at the heart of this game. It is equal parts PvP and PvM.

WPvP is innately flavorful for its unstructured, lopsided nature. It feels like such an epic showdown because the story is written solely by the acts of adventurers, and the chaos of the unknown exists ever in the balance. That it can be risk or hardcore enhances this quality, transforming the genre of WPvP itself into one very enveloped in the raw emotion and torque of life and death, where whole souls and banks are at stake.

Dungeon Delving

Dungeons are also a beloved tradition of MMOs. And for good reason. They’re very communal gatherings where friends and strangers group up to delve into the depths of known or unknown lairs of monsters and other scalawags holed up within.

Labyrinths are meant to take MMO dungeons to the next level. They are 5-man hardcore dungeons with randomly generated layouts and monsters. Layouts vary dramatically among a spectrum of possible Labyrinth types, with corridors, traps, textures, and the beings and forces that inhabit them all varying each run.

As players descend deeper, into lower levels, Labyrinths get tougher and their treasure grows. At the lowest levels, players may encounter rarer characters and spawns who can only be found in lower Labyrinths.

This is a dungeon without a preset layout and known enemies and behaviors. Layouts shift. Enemies shift. Behaviors differ even among the same enemies. Labyrinths are a total wildcard in the MMO world. This isn’t just procedural generation. It’s a ranked season where parties both contend to survive and progress and compete with everyone around the world.

We’ve disclosed on the hardcore page our intent to release DC protection we call Severance Shields. These are temporary immunity shields that would protect a player from death in the event of a legitimate DC. As they’re intended to protect players only from legitimate DCs, it would be against the rules to abuse them intentionally. It is highly recommended anyone with an unreliable internet avoid Labyrinths. It is fair to expect any who undertake this risk do so with a reliable connection. In the event it fails, there is a failsafe.

We’ve heard complaints about hardcore over the years. We work to improve Chaoscraft’s hardcore selection based on the lessons learned from past MMOs. Labyrinths are one of these lessons, seeing the desire that exists for new unpredictable adventures, and the parallel longing for legitimate protection from DCs. We hope the game to feature both in the future.

Minigames

Minigames include classic ones like poker, chess, pool, and solitaire, and other new minigames on the horizon. We envision a world where you can sit down at a poker table and play cards dealt by a dealer. You’ll have a hand and essence to bet, and you’ll see and be able to speak with players seated at the table or watching nearby.

Chess will feature in-game chessboards, played by private parties or in official tournaments. You’ll move pieces with your character’s hand, and play on a ladder. We’re sure poker and chess alone will add a lot of replay value to the game, existing outside of the central game.

Pool is a bit of a trickier game to code. We see it as likely being a game played with players who exist inside an invisible bubble around the pool table. Pool players are able to move inside this area and line up shots, without bystanders being able to intercede. It shouldn’t be all that tough to see first-person shots over a simple table.

Poker and pool tables appear both in taverns around the world and Arcadia Casino. You’ll be able to stake essence on games of chess and pool. This pays homage to the long tradition of chess and pool hustlers who make money playing these olden games.

Solitaire, finally, is a very old minigame long played in solitude. It is notable this game often exists on the factory-installed operating system of modern computers. Here we see the same timeless recurring theme of playing cards, following us across the centuries. We see solitaire decks being cards you can play a game with or without a table. Solitaire, in some formulations a skill-based game, will also feature its own league, if not just for shits and giggles.

Isn’t that what this is all about?

Voice and Immersion

We arrive now at a very new but in some ways very old feature: Voice.

Chat includes both voice and text. Voice can be in a player’s natural voice. Players can also use a race-based or class-based voice modifier. Each race and class has its own vocal styles that can be overlaid atop one’s voice. This creates a level of roleplay immersion rarely if ever seen in MMOs. If it seems like we say this quite a bit it’s because we do. Have you ever seen a game where every race and class has a unique selection of immersive voice modifiers? Yet this is exactly how we would expect many of these races and classes to sound.

This is bound to be equal parts serious and comical. You can never make anything like this and expect it to always be played with a straight face. All the funner, then, to think one’s character can be given this level of life, and exist as a direct expression of the individual.

Arena Book

In Arcadia Casino, and on the Arena Book page of each Personal Device, players find live broadcasts of a subset of rated 1v1 and 5v5 matches, as well as the Racing Circuit from the Racing Book. Of the matches broadcast, bettors have the option to wager essence. Viewers see anonymous teams prior to a match, with only races and classes visible. We see camera angles being automated, with viewers able to watch Arena and Racing matches live. This would likely have a certain rating cutoff.

We do recognize this as a feature some may attempt to abuse to gain unfair competitive advantage. This doesn’t deter us from giving it a whirl for the heck of it. Sometimes, you have to make a decision between the “perfect” ideal and having lots of fun. And sometimes, having lots of fun wins out, just a little bit.

The Arena Book is a version of a live stream without commentary. At least, commentary may not exist for every broadcast. We could see some commentators of both Arena Book matches and future tournaments. We’ll also be giving a sneak peek into our idea for live radio stations, with a music DJ and song requests. It’s possible we’d see some fan favorites over time, with big winners reappearing in future broadcasts.

The Arena Book offers an entertaining venue and interface for players to watch competitive matches live. It’s a way to win or lose essence, view and analyze matches, and have a fun time. We see it bringing Arena to the level of a spectator sport as it was in history.

If you’ve hung out here thus far, cheers. We’ll let you know our progress on development. Any support you can show for the game makes it a reality.