Wizardry Online Revealed at E3

During a presentation of its newest project at E3, Headlock Games revealed that the game will institute a rare and unconventional idea: permanent death.  Wizardry Online will be free-to-play with microtransactions and runs on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 PCs with DirectX 9 or above. Headlock Games plans to have the game in closed beta testing very shortly, with a commercial release in Japan later this year with the NA and European release in 2012.

Headlock Games CEO Noboyuki Okada says that permanent death “will create a more realistic sense of urgency in the game.”

Also included in the game will be a very strong player-kill system, where friends can quickly turn in to enemies.  With that in mind, Okada also notes that players will be able to store their money and gear in a designated area, in case they lose their character to permanent death.

Dungeons will be complex, with a variety of traps and puzzles to promote team and group play.  Okada says that the idea is to bring a fresh new challenge to the MMO industry:

”Wizardry is a very difficult game and delights in killing the player. MMOs today coddle the player, but we’re taking a different route. That said, this is a fair game that rewards the strategic and skillful player.”

Story Source: Massively