What is OTHERLAND?

OTHERLAND is an action MMORPG based on Tad Williams' popular novels which runs on the Unreal Engine. Many different worlds which could not be more different exist in the game's multiverse and offer an incredible diversity in breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, NPCs, outfits and weaponry. Whether you go shopping in the futuristic Lambda Mall, travel the lands of the medieval 8Squared or try to find inner balance in the Asian inspired 5Isles – there is something for everyone!
DRAGO Entertainment decided to publish OTHERLAND as an Early Access game on Steam in order to create a bigger and better MMORPG together with the community.

https://youtu.be/mmYA-EmQVOQ

The player character [Avatar]

The player begins the game in the most basic state possible, which enables you to customize your Avatar very early by defining gender and basic visual settings such as its color and the color and pattern of the lines on your Avatar's body. Further into the game you will be able to completely change your character's appearance and have additional options in customizing it even further.

https://youtu.be/VHH-RhgFWbg

Interaction

The F-key is, well, the key to interacting with the game world of OTHERLAND. It serves to extract eDNA from defeated enemies, interact with NPCs, open doors, use portals and basically every other non-combat interaction in the game.

The character classes

In OTHERLAND you can choose between for different character classes. Each of the classes has distinct combat capabilities and has two fields in which it specializes. But don't worry! The tutorial will give you ample opportunity to try out each of the different classes with your Avatar before deciding which one you prefer.

- Assassin -
As agile as a cat and silent as falling snow, the assassin creeps up on his enemies and strikes when they expect it the least. The assassin has a wide range of controlling skills at his disposal which help him keeping his enemies at bay and reducing the damage they can inflict. Being very agile, he relies on his speed to dodge incoming attacks
Combat role: Close combat, Avoidance-Tank
Common weaponry: Staff, Two-handed sword, Dual wield daggers
Example of skills:
Stealth: Use of the environment to turn invisible.
Vanish: Turn invisible while engaged in combat.
Vitality: Increases HP regeneration of the whole party.
Poison Cloud: Poisons the area in the close vicinity and deals damage to all enemies caught in it

https://youtu.be/PAXyf44SHT0


- Energizer -
]Just as the Marksman, the Energizer is a ranged combat class. His attacks however, have two different uses – they can either deal damage to the enemies or heal allies. Certain weapons even allow both effects simultaneously! And let's be honest, who wouldn't want to get healed by a hit from a rocket launcher?
Combat role: Healer, ranged combat
Common weaponry: Laser rifle, Pulse cannon, Projectile weapons
Example of skills:
Recuperate: By channeling his energy, he can restore a lot of HP. This can only be used outside combat however
Arc Damage: An attack that deals damage over time (DoT) after scoring a hit on the target.
Insulating Spark: Increases stamina of every party member.
Surge Pulse: Increases all primary attributes of party members for 45 seconds.

https://youtu.be/zHHK8ko50mo


- Marksman -
The Marksman is unequaled when it comes to defeating his enemies at a distance. And should one get too close, he can quickly whip out his shotgun and make short work of it. Similarly to the Assassin he also employ a variety of controlling skills, such as setting traps or pushing away enemies that get too close.
Combat role: ranged combat, support
Common weaponry: Assault rifle, Shotgun, Sniper rifle, Machine gun, Bow, Crossbow
Example of skills:
Hunting Party: Increases damage output of party members.
Weakening Shot: Direct attack which lowers the blocking chance of the enemy.
Entrap: Entraps enemies in the target area and deals damage
Trigger Happy: Increases firing rate for a short time

https://youtu.be/BgxHND19604


- Warrior -
The Warrior is probably the most common class throughout the online RPG-genre. He is heavily armored and prepared to take the heavy blows to protect the other party members. But being able to wield a wide range of two-handed weapons. he can also deal substantial damage to his foes.
Combat role: Tank, close combat
Common weaponry: Polearms, Two-handed axe, Two-handed mace, Two-handed sword, Two-handed club.
Example of skills:
Jagged Edge: Deals damage and leaves a lethal ”wound“-effect on the target
Iron Will: Removes all stun/paralysis effects from the Warrior.
Blood Storm: Surrounding enemies receive damage over time.
Life Touch: Heals the player every time the target receives damage.

https://youtu.be/lYULnXF_8JA

Skill Trainer

When you level up and new upgrades for your skills become available, you receive a message in the chat. Find the corresponding skill trainer to improve your skills. But don't look for NPCs, as skill trainers are more like stations, indicated by a circle with a hand in the center. One such station is in the Lambda Mall, just opposite the auction house for example.

https://youtu.be/kmGWABhGKqQ

Combat system

Do you have enough of getting mired in the flood of different skills of other MMOs and have trouble assigning them all to quickslots? Well, then OTHERLAND will be a quite refreshing experience for you!
In the lower right corner of the UI you will find a bar to which you can assign up to 7 skills in any order you like. You can access those skills with the numbers 2-8.
In addition to the standard attack, which you execute with the left mouse button and the skills from you skill bar, you have two more attacks at your disposal that first have to be charged up to be the most efficient. This happens by attacking your enemies with normal attacks.
-> On the left of your character you will see an orange gauge filling up. This is your “Heavy Attack“ which you can execute by pressing “Q“.
-> On the right of your character you will see a blue gauge filling up. This is your “Special Attack“ which you can execute by pressing “E“.
The F1-F3 keys are reserved for your weapons, which you can even change in the middle of a fight.
Finally there are the Z, X and C keys which you may assign as you like, for example to assign the regeneration-capsules..

https://youtu.be/2hfhi4qVmyU

The in-game menu – STRG

You can easily open the in-game menu with the CTRL-key which lets you access your inventory, the map, skills, social interactions, mail system or the Vanity Shop. Once open, you can simply navigate and make your choices with the left mouse button. When you are done, just press CTRL again to close the menu and get back into the fight.

https://youtu.be/4WVhpFVshvI

U | SPACE

The U | Space can be considered as the housing in the world of OTHERLAND. It offers the player a wide range of functions and your private residence is accessible from any portal in the game. Although it is not possible to change the layout of the rooms, you can change the color of the walls and floor according to your preferences. It also offers an appropriate choice of background music. You can acquire the basic equipment by finishing the first quest and more items can be purchased in the shop Nouveau Monde in the Lambda Mall.
Your personal living area can be expanded with up to 12 additional rooms such as a portal room, a SOMAponics room or the eDNA lab.
-> The portal room allows the setting up of portals to any zone in the game to quickly access it whenever you need.
-> In SOMAponics room you can generate and craft your very own SOMA.
-> The eDNA lab serves as storage for eDNA and lets you use the eDNA to create clones to defend your U | Space against potential invasions.

https://youtu.be/Zaw0OlUWQQA

Crafting / SOMA Forge

OTHERLAND also comes with its own crafting system. Defeated enemies will drop SOMA from time to time. You can use this resource for crafting. You can gain access to blueprints either by extracting eDNA from slain enemies or by buying it from the shop in the Lambda Mall. To create an item, you need to go to the SOMA forge. You can find one next to the auction house in the Lambda Mall. In the crafting menu you chose the blueprint, check if you have enough SOMA and then you can start crafting!

https://youtu.be/66Hg2uLz1zI

SOMA

Slain enemies drop SOMA which you need to craft items in SOMA forges. It comes in eight differently colored variants (black, green, blue, turquoise, pink, orange, yellow and red). You can check your current stockpile of SOMA in your inventory.

eDNA

You can extract eDNA by pressing F after killing an enemy. This eDNA can then be used to create clones of monsters that you have encountered during the game and which will defend your U | Space from attackers. However this feature has not yet been implemented.

https://youtu.be/vxE3izn5DHY

PvP – Player versus Player

Unfortunately the the PvP mode in OTHERLAND is still under construction, so there are not many functions available yet. Outside the Battlegrounds you can sign up for PvP which means that other players who did the same will be able to attack you. Or you attack them, whoever attacks first. When at the Battlegrounds, you can currently select the Dominion mode where players have to capture up to 3 flags and defend them against their opponents (However there was no indication of what exactly the objective or status was, but I assume that you gain points more quickly the more flags you control and thus win the game at some point). A PvP ranking also seems to be in development but as of now I still don't have enough information on that.

Clans

Clans are Otherland's equivalent to what is called “guilds” in other MMOs. You can found a clan using the “Clan Creation Charter“, which you can purchase for 1000 Bits in the shop “The Gathering“ in the Lambda Mall. Here you can also acquire improvements for your Clan bank. Later on it will even be possible to create whole worlds with your clans.
Note: Currently not fully implemented.

https://youtu.be/o2sGOOMXw9w

Vanity Shop

This is the credit shop for OTHERLAND and here you will find the most awesome and crazy customization options for your Avatar! You can find anything ranging from wings to frog faces to really bizarre outfits. You can access the shop from your in-game menu (ctrl) and clicking on the button “SHOP”.

Auction house

In addition to the stores in the Lambda Mall and the Vanity Shop, you can also go to the auction house. There players can put their items up for sale. And this can be basically anything you picked up on your travels!

The In-game mail system

Of course you will not find one letter box in all of OTHERLAND. Instead you can access the mail function through the menu or by simply pressing N. This will allow you to send other players or your other player characters items and currency from any part of the game world. Or did you want to write someone a love letter? Yes, you can do that too!