I played the Chinese version of this newly released MMO, and here are my thoughts...
BY KafkaGaming, edited by Chibbi
On September 21st a new UE5 (Unreal Engine 5) game was released in China called "Lord of Mysteries", a MMORPG game based on a very popular novel of the same name written by Yuan Ye/Cuttlefish That Loves Diving. You probably saw that "First look" trailer from IGN before that introduced the game to the global audience. Well, the game hasn't released globally yet, but I was able to "sneak" into the Chinese version (thanks, my trusty verified BilliBilli account) to check it out...
The game is made by Kuaishou (快手) which is a video-sharing company (not a gaming one!), popular in China. It cost around $178.5 million dollars to make (1.2 billion RMB), with developers rejecting AI during the game development (we will talk about it later)...
The Good
The game has a lot to offer. From its story to a huge variety in cosmetics elements, combining hardcore elements and cozy ones.
The Story...
The storytelling impressed me quite a bit. There are many cinematic elements and some interactivity here and there. I really like that the main quest gives you an ability to play as "Lord of Mysteries" characters. For example, in the beginning you will be playing as Klein Moretti, the main protagonist of the original story. It’s hard to tell exactly how close the game’s story presents itself similar to the novel. I, however, gave the dònghuà (Chinese animation) a try and watched 3 episodes. It was quite nice to see some similarities to the game story. Of course, some quest elements are more or less pretty traditional for a free-to play game or a gacha where you go from point A to point B, talk to an NPC, give them something, fight, rinse and repeat. I didn't find those parts overwhelming. There is a part of the game that plays by itself, thought, and sadly, that was quite disappointing to experience.
Cosmetics and Gacha
The game uses gacha. The system is used for outfits and "contacts" feature. Sadly, premium outfits can be pulled only with real money, but there are still plenty of free outfits and accessories. I was quite impressed by the choices of different cosmetic elements in this game. Hats, tops, bottoms, capes, footwear, hair, skirts, pants, different accessories, cars, bikes and even dragons! Most fashion elements can be combined.
The "contacts" feature is another part of the gacha. It's quite interesting, not only can you use a character you pulled as a help for your skillset but you can easily invite them on an "impromptu date" and get points while interacting with them that will eventually lead to some additional rewards. Sadly, this feature seems quite unfinished, especially for players who are interested in the social aspects. The animations are very stiff, and it's hard to even take a proper photo with a character.
There is a housing feature in the game called "Castle". It's alright in my opinion. Many items can be obtained through the gameplay, the building process feels intuitive as well. The auto-generated starter house is a total abomination: missing floors and walls are to be expected, though it can bring you a good laugh.
Exploration and combat
City exploration is pretty average, in my opinion. There are treasure chests, world quests, orbs to collect, some lore pieces as well. You can also move around pretty quickly by long pressing the SPACE bar. You can fly horizontally and vertically, which I found very fun. When on water, you slide. There is a transportation system in this game, and the bike is given for free early. I liked that it's "always with you", no needing to rent it or be physically present near it. Just press a button, and there you go!
Combat could use some more variety. It's quite easy and I'm worried that it means that late game will be based on how well you are invested in the character, rather than your skill level. The combat is mostly moving around, pressing skills, normal attack, dodging, parrying. Sometimes you will do some quick time events during the story. There is a semi automatic combat system where you can setup a preset of the skill rotation. Those skills will be used automatically while all you do is moving around and pressing the normal attack.
The dungeons have huge variety. There is PVE and PVP. You can also play with bots. Mostly it's combat related but there are some mini-games like collecting orbs in a labyrinth.
Unfinished Business...
Lord of Mysteries feels rough around the edges. If you saw that IGN official Tigen city gameplay trailer, don't expect the game itself to look exactly like that. The game looks different, you might even ask yourself: Am I playing a fully released game or a beta test version of it?
I was playing the game on ultra video settings, and while it looked alright, the graphics fidelity had a huge room for improvement especially in non-city areas. I wasn't using any up-scaling methods but some parts of the game looked like I had "FSR quality" turned on. The performance gives me mixed feelings. Whether it's an issue of using Unreal Engine 5 or, more likely, rushed development is another question, but I certainly remember having a huge FPS drop in one area with lavender. There are also stutters here and there as well. Plus, the graphics options are quite limited...
Animations can feel weird. Some might look very unfinished, even during cutscenes. There is a clipping issue, particularly when you drive a bike. Some bugs are noticeable like missing objects or weird stripes if you play on mobile. Some textures in some areas look blurry.
Playing the game might feel like a mixed experience where you will enjoy certain parts but you will dread the others. There are also some minor but weird additions like seeing a "TikTok" dance routine in the middle of a park, a random NPC playing with a basketball and other things that feel out of place for a game set in supposedly Victorian era...
The UI elements in "Lord of Mysteries" are overwhelming. There are many of them, and you might get lost.
AI suspicions...
We know that the topic of gen AI or AIGC in game development is a heated subject, but I won't ignore it, since I have personal gripes with its usage, and I want to make sure that players who care about this issue as well will have lower expectations when it comes to this game...
While there are many article claiming that developers have rejected AI while knowing it could save them 300 million RMB (yuan), there are some moments in the game that left me questioning the truth of the situation. First, there is this opening cut-scene. I'm leaving some images for you to explore and a link to the full CGI for you to judge...
Here is a link to the CGI itself: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/6a86cac2000000000902de40?xsec_token=ABx6MRv-XeOp_4q2ik_Y8oM_w6d5MlySAcyQkFmQH7NeE=&xsec_source=pc_search
After looking at some images it's quite clear that there are some weird artifacts here and there. Not to mention, overall glow of the video that can be seen on many AI-generated videos. The artifacts are especially noticeable in the bird view city area. Other AI aspects are: you can upload your own photo to make a character out of it; there is a creative studio feature where you can upload any video, and your character will move based on it. There is also a chatbot feature in the chat but it only seem to answer very specific questions (seems like an old-school chat-bot, not an LLM).
All those instances are just my observations, and we shouldn't make any conclusions before the official announcements or news. I feel like we will learn more when the game reaches global, since the possible AI will be judged much harshly by the global audience. For now, it's important to make our own research and make our own decisions regarding playing this game...
Verdict
Lord of Mysteries is undoubtedly a fun game but it's very imperfect with quantity over quality philosophy. There are performance issues as well as the quality being very inconsistent. It feels like the game should've taken more time for development. It's hard to recommend the game in it's current state, and I'm not giving it any score especially since it's a live service game, and those games tend to fluctuate in quality by a lot. This game needs time to really show itself.
The good part is that it has a potential of being a cozy dress-up story-based MMO for people who don't want to be bothered with PVE and PVP stuff. Some social features, like dancing or being with your "Lord of Mysteries" companion (though it needs some polish) can be nice as well.
The AI situation gives some uncertainty, and it would be very unfortunate to have another game that will have contradictory information regarding its usage. Though only time will tell how things will go...
Good:
Diverse fashion choice;
Pretty loyal to the IP;
Can work for hardcore and cozy players;
Not Good:
Performance issues and bugs;
Inconsistency in quality is noticeable;
Suspicious intro animation;
UI sensory overload;
Many cosmetics elements are paywalled;
"Contacts" feature is very unfinished.
Does not look as the "IGN first look" trailer.