I don't usually write reviews. Theyre subjective and don't always fully highlight all the nuance good and bad for any given game as the author(myself included) will focus on the things that either delight or enrage them.

****If you're here for a short YES this is great or NO don't do it....you should scroll on****

If you're here because you saw the MMORPG tag - please....do not come into Pax Dei thinking that you will be leading epic raids against telegraphed opponents to get the big phat loot.

As a former raid leader in wow and ff14 I have to say that all the things that I found positive about the MMO experience and all the things I hated about it are both present and not present in the game. To clarify, the social aspect of grouping up to take on a dungeon(as opposed to a several hour raid) is present while the required time and effort to keep being relevant is not. I can choose to find a group on their discord server and try my hand at large strong holds or dungeons or I can just chill out and chop trees, mix elixirs, build my clan home or do some exploring of the area at my leisure.

As a busy business lady who also loves to game I don't have time to sit down for hours worth of required farming so I don't let my team down because the point of Pax Dei isn't world server firsts. It's a more relaxed version of what you might expect from an MMO --- which the traditional concept of the MMO has changed over the decades ---

The best first impression I got from this *Early Access* game was my first night cycle...where the horizon of the game lit up with glittering lights from player made structures dotting the mountain side or valleys. The landscape is constantly changing as players log in to build up their plots and grind for power creep.

Is this game grindy? Yes, yes it is. But you can do it at YOUR pace. The player base isn't super bent over whether or not they have the highest skill or the best gear because of the relaxed nature of the game.

While there are definitely server frame drop issues for older graphics cards - I'm using a 1080 Ti - it hasn't really impacted my experience of the game in an overall negative manner.

The best piece of knowledge I got from the community was how mindful the crafting system is. Like many games you have tiered(1-4) ingredients. One might expect to consistently get elevated stats to their crafts based on this alone but this isn't the case. The players skill in the role they play and the tools they use are just as important as the materials used to create them. Each item has a base set of stats that is altered depending on your skill with the tool or your skill when crafting the item in addition to the potential for tiered stats.

I might like to see optional world bosses that all the clans can get together to murder and loot but I don't think it would be a game changing experience for me negatively if that never happened.

Overall if you're looking to marry the traditional concept of sandbox and MMORPG this is a very palatable target of that desire.