Project Gorgon
- G R Matthews
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
I bought this game a few years ago on the STEAM account my son now uses.
I know, I know. He now has all my old games and his new ones.
I saw some details about Project Gorgon on Reddit and YouTube, with mention being made of its 1.0 release.
To be fair, I saw a lot of good things being mentioned and recalled the times I'd played. It was, all those years ago, clunky and unwieldy. A game where you had to discover how to do things and what to do. No hand-holding, no guides, no exclamation mark over an NPC's head, just a rough game with graphics from 2010 and UI to match.
I actually liked it at that time and enjoyed my limited time with it but I moved on to other MMOs quite quickly, though I couldn't tell you what they were.
Anyway, this year, with the 1.0 release, I've come back to it to try again. And yes, I had to buy a new copy for my new STEAM account, actually my son's old account. Somehow, and I don't know how it happened, we switched accounts. Being a parent is a strange existence.
So, what did I find?
Well, the graphics are the same (pretty much), and the UI has grown a little better. The lack of handholding is still the same, too.
BUT, it just works. There is just so much to do that any plan you log in with may fly out of the window in your first ten minutes. How best to explain this? With a case study and an example!
There is a skill I need for my SWORD – Decapitate. Everyone says its amazing, so I need it!
However, you do not automatically gain that skill as you level up SWORD by killing mobs and delving into the dungeons. I know that an NPC trains that skill, but to get there, you need to build favour with another NPC. To do that, you have to gather some resources and complete some quests, which involve building favour elsewhere, and while I was on the way, I managed to level up another skill, which took me to a different dungeon and a new quest. Eventually, three days later, I got back to getting that first skill... and yeah, it's an OK skill. I just need the augments on my armour and weapons to make it shine. So, that's a goal added to the list.
No guides, no quest hubs; you can go where you want and do what you want. You set your own goals and direction in this game. Everyone on my server is friendly, and grouping up in dungeons is easy and uncomplicated. Much more than that, it is fun!
Last night, while delving through the Goblin dungeon, I grouped up with two others to just explore and see what was there. On the way, we killed some Fog (truly) and entered an area which warned us certain death was ahead – prescient, as it turns out. We died, joined another group to bolster our numbers, and tried again.
This time, we made it further and fought the boss of the area. We died again, but this time we suffered a curse too. All of us were turned into DEER. And now, cursed, in animal form, we had to stampede our way back through the dungeon to tackle the boss again, but this time as deer, without all the skills we once had. A tough battle just became a lot tougher.
You see, in PROJECT GORGON, you can become animals. Each animal form has its own skills to develop, which, as newly transformed deer, we didn't have. Also, you can choose to take an animal form, either as a class skill or just a skill. or it can be forced upon you, as it was for us.
This is the point of Project Gorgon. There are so many skills to develop, and to do that you have to use that skill. There are no 'levels' to grind to get a skill, just the skill grind.
In this way, you can truly develop a unique character.
There are thirty combat skills, and you can choose to use two at any one time; some have synergies, and some don't. It doesn't really matter; you can be whoever you want to be. I run Sword/Mentalism at present, but I started off with Shield and dipped into Fire Magic for a bit and a little Unarmed. I think I'd like to investigate Priest at some point.
Now, alongside Sword, Calligraphy is a good skill to pick up. Writing scrolls can give you buffs which can last an hour or longer, giving you combinations that do extra damage or debuff the monster you are fighting. Very useful, and now I always carry bottles of ink around with me. Mediation does something similar for Unarmed. And bards can give you buffs, but so can carpenters if you build the right furniture.
Not to mention that you can find trainers, if you build up favour with them, who will teach you dangerous and hidden techniques for your Sword, Bow, or magic.
Oh, and the public events. The Poetry Jam, or maybe you want to follow Art History... or surveying the countryside.
You begin to see what I mean? There is so much you can do, so many combinations, and so many quests or self-imposed tasks you can go about that, in just the first three maps, you can fill days and weeks of time! I know where the fourth map is, but I've still go so much to do!
If you can look past the graphics and immerse yourself in your character, you'll find a lot to occupy yourself, and at times it will be overwhelming, but just roll with it.
Project Gorgon is 3D Ultima Online rather than World of Warcraft, but with the addition of Star Wars Galaxies' social skills and community.
Now, I must just go and skill up my butchering for a quest to gain favour, and a skill.
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