This video is going to remind whoever is running the servers that they never turned them off

I love how Josh is optimistically hoping for updates to a game that has 24 active players.

I loaded up this game earlier today and met a player who also came from this video. We spawned in from the tutorial at the exact same time. We eventually made our way from Eldevin to Embers Adrift. 15 hrs later and I just had the most enjoyable stretch of mmorpg gameplay I've had since I beat dragon slayer in RuneScape with my best friend in middle school. Thanks Josh

I would love to see an epic scale fantasy MMO in which the _entire_ plot, from peasant level to god-fighting level, is somehow driven by ongoing marital strife between a simple merchant and his wife.

So, uh, I can't help but notice that the birthday vendor has a bunch of 1-balloons there. Has he been standing there since the game's first birthday?

As a game designer, making a game that's this level of fine is my second biggest fear.

Watching these videos makes me want to start playing some obscure MMO with 6 players on steam so I can be the guy that doesn't run away when Josh comes to review the game.

I love the optimism of asking the devs to update things.

That opening analogy alone is pretty spot on. I remember trying this one out awhile back, thinking "This is pretty charming and enjoyable. I should play this some more when I get time." That was in 2017 and I have yet to launch the game for a second time.

Love the idea of Josh's analogies getting comically longer and more depressing "You know the feeling of getting home after another 10 hour shift at a job you hate, after you'd hyped yourself up to finally have free time to yourself? But there you are, sitting idly, too mentally and physically exhausted to enjoy the things you once loved. You tell yourself 'Maybe if I just force myself to play something...', but you just end up not being able to focus or engage with anything. The thoughts start coming back, the regrets of lost opportunity, the lost and forgotten friendships. Who are you, any more? What even makes you YOU? All you do is work for the sake of affording to be able to work, every moment of free time is spent trying to recover and prepare. Nothing is for you any more, you exist solely to pay bills. Nothing is good, it's all gone and you didn't even realize it was leaving until it was too late. You feel the tears coming but you're too tired to put in the effort to sob, an apathetic and cold blanket covers you and fogs your mind. Your alarm wakes you at 5am. That's basically Elder Scrolls Online."

I actually did play-testing for this game when I was in high school. we all figured out cheat codes really quickly and basically broke the game lol, it was kinda fun at the time and the devs were cool guys.

All 24 players were actually just youtubers making this same video format.

The best thing about eldevin was the community when it had 100-200 players. They had many dedicated players at one time, if only the devs cared about their game as much as those players did. I don't think eldevin can be saved and don't think Huntedcowstudios deserve it after neglecting it for so long.

I like the idea that people like Newton made “Physics Lore.”

The fact that Josh referenced "Transmorphers" sent me spiralling back into my childhood when I remember renting Transmorphers from the local video store because I thought the front cover looked cool and I was a big fan of Bay's first Transformers movie. I felt so ripped off and it forever stayed with me as a core memory. Just needed to bring it up. Fantastic video as always!

I actually love how it looks visually. I would love to see more oldschool looking MMOs but with modern gamefeel, kinda like how all these "Boomer shooters" have retro graphics but feel so good to play.

Josh: talking about silly aesthetics and how its a red flag. Me: listening to Josh on the 2nd monitor as I dye my giant frog head hot pink in FF14.

B for ‘bilities’ made me laugh an unreasonable amount

If Josh had a nickel for each game that lets you bury your head on a sheep's bumhole, he'd have two nickels, which isn't much, but it's weird that happened twice.

37:18 I'm from the South-east of Kent. We legit have a street called 'Ham' in the town of Sandwich down here. No Joke.

40:25 There is a very good weapon in Morrowind called the spear of bitter mercy. You get it by stabbing a flying tentacle cow to death with a fork.

Finally... an mmo where I can be a homeless dude

I think a good way to explain why 35% of people dont have the first achievement is because its not mac supported despite claiming it is. see if you never play the game you dont get added to the achievement percentage but I tried playing it and managed to open up the first window but the play button just flat out doesn't work on mac and the graphics are broken for that first window as well.

Holy shit, I knew I recognised that name! I went to school in a small town nearby and did work experience as a game tester at Hunted Cow when I was like 12! Fond memories of figuring out dev commands and giving myself the most powerful gear possibly to break the game. Thanks for reminding me of this!

This game was my first approach not only to mmo but to videogames in general. So many adventures, it was amazing at the time and it's just a shame that i saw a game with a great potential dying. Now its trace only remains in my vanishing memories ... :(

This looks like a game i could've dumped hundreds of hours into as a kid between the age of 8-11 and i'd grow up with some really fond memories. And upon trying the game as an adult i would of realized it was all just nostalgia, BUT i did have fun as a kid so thats all that matters. That's how Neverwinter was, played it for like 120 hours, lots of fond memories and when i tried it again as an adult it just felt horrible, but man i did have fun back then. Wish my mind was still as innocent and adventurous.

I met some of the devs irl years ago, a couple of them judged a local game jam I entered They're all nice folks, shame they can't really support Eldevin, it's a very small team!

I have to say I love that Josh's videos are long. It gives room for genuine commentary and humor. I much prefer longer videos.

It's like a holiday every time I open KZfaq and see a new 'Worst MMO Ever.' Great series!

I'm impressed it took slightly less than 20 hours to find the first real bug. Usually you'd find one a lot sooner. I would classify the wall bounces and dungeon minimap zooms more as bad design

Husband: Eldevin, what's wrong? Eldevin: Nothing. H: No, really, I can see you're upset. E: I'm fine. Everything is _fine_

A game that is dead with a few dozen players at most is always a sad affair. I would also like to nominate "Grand Fantasia" for the series, a MMO I played a bit as a kid. I only remember the Terror Bird Mount, a beach, and slimes.

I remember this. When RS3’s newer graphics were still kinda new I used to take screenshots of this game (and sometimes Albion online) and tried to fool my friends into believing they were leaks of upcoming content

This game has a delightfully low-poly look. I wish more games would try to work with lower-poly models and spend their effort on a good game experience, rather than trying to max out my resolution for cheap thrills.

You know an MMO has been dead for many years, when Josh Strife Hayes logs in to cover the game and his name is not taken yet.

5:55 idk why but this made me burst out laughing 😂 “you press B to open ability book… B… for Bilities” 😂

Still waiting for you to play a female character and name it josephina slays

It's really sad to see that it never received the love it deserved. During the month I played it, I did have fun compared to other popular games, it had a super friendly atmosphere with absolutely no scammers, RWT spammers, or beggars. Plus, it was great for passing the time.

I've been waiting for you to cover this game almost as long as I've been waiting for the devs to emerge from abandonment hell and revive this gem. I had a phase with this game for about a year and even though it's already been dying at that point, I've had the most fun with an MMORPG since the nostalgia days of old Runescape and for some reason Lineage II. There were like a hundred people online during peak times and I've known every single one of them. It was such a cozy experience. Global chat was just chilling, everyone was super helpful to me as a new player which spurred me to also be nice and helpful to new players when I got hang of things...the community was crazy chill and cozy. Then everyone stopped playing slowly but surely and moved on to other games, as is the custom with dying online games... Wish I could go back to those days. Aside from the community, I actually really enjoyed the dungeon system and the crafting had solid potential as well - but at late game it shows just how unfinished it all is and that really, the only skill that matters is alchemy so you can stock up on good potions. The "wildy" area for PVP was fine, everyone always met up there for the Plasma Lord boss and even PK'rs were chill until the raid was over - overall the area was a good way to implement a high-risk/high-reward system, but with how unbalanced the classes were, PVP just wasn't interesting. The talent/class system was again pretty good, you could experiment with it and even respec every now and then which worked for the PVE experience, but with PVP you only ever saw mages or mage/healers or assassins, everything else got erased by them. As a tank, I had been completely useless in PVP (and solo gameplay too) so I usually just stayed away...although then I made a paladin build and it was fun to troll the PK'rs with constantly tanking and healing up damage while kiting them around the whole island for a long time before duying. Good times.

41:40 that crossbow sound effect is the royalty free one used for old Roblox.

"It's impressively fine." High praise indeed.

Oh I used to play this all the time. It was fun and plenty of stuff to do. Community was super friendly and helpful.

I love how every video Josh makes always makes me want to try these games! Out of sheer curiosity just to see if i like the games or not, and unironically some games covered in this series i really liked! Fallen Earth Classic being my favorite MMO. And i might give this one a try

Great video! I hope you'll cover Champions Online sometime. It gives me similar vibes of everything just being 'fine', but superhero MMOs are rare enough that 'fine' is good enough simply because it satisfies my craving for the genre.

12:00 "it's a pretty big red flag when joke items are getting added to the game" meanwhile Diablo IV on launch: BUY AT KFC TO EARN A GIANT IN GAME CHICKEN MOUNT

The "plank cutting" reminds me of a game called A Tale In The Desert. It's a stat building, crafting, base building, puzzle solving and exploring (no combat) MMO set in ancient Egypt. The servers reset, and everyone starts over from scratch, like every other year. I'm not currently playing so no idea how "old" the current running game is. Unless things have changed since I played last it has 24 hrs of free play time that you can divide up over several days/weeks. After that there is a monthly fee OR a big pack whole year fee that comes with extra decor stuff. Super small player base, especially if it's been a while since reboot.

31:57 That solitary voice line combined with the jovial music was one of the funniest things I've heard in a while for some reason. XD

I don't think the name of the series has ever actually been answered. What do you think is actually the worst mmo played on the series so far?

35% of the players not making it from download to tutorial made me laugh out loud

This game had so much potential, it pains me. i remember when it launched, and i actually had fun playing it. It's sad to see it in such state.

just imagine a world where games like these with charm and engaging game loop would not have a cash shop...

The 'training arc' where you get an axe, a bow and a spell does not only feel like fable - the lost chapterst, no.. the area also heavily reminds me of it!

I'd love for Josh to take a look at Dofus. It'd fit in perfectly in the series I think.

A game almost totally devoid of quit moments. That is remarkable, all by itself. Unfortunate that it's "just fine" and nothing more.

I loved playing eldevin, i have over 200 hours from when there used to be 300-400 people online per day still. I miss it a lot. Wish the devs had not abandonded it as it was very good

It’s always a good day when a 45 minutes video is posed while making food

this is one of the best game i ever played. dungeon time attack was fun. pvp was fun. sadly they didnt update it. lots of people love this game. 3200hrs played.

Even before finishing watching this, I remember trying this game and it being a very forgettable experience. Able to craft and make stuff where I eventually got lost in what I was doing and probably overfilled my inventory which is usually a quit point for me when inventory limits what can be done.

Fallen Sword was Hunted Cow’s flagship for years. It’s a 2d browser MMO jam packed with micro transactions, but also really unique. They announced Eldevin and people were really excited to see their take on 3D, but they were a small team and had to out source the art. There were many delays and they posted publicly complaints about the contractors they hired to do their 3D work. I wonder if that’s why every animation is so good.

I think best part of Josh doing these games is when there is something missing or just doesn't work he is like Bob Ross "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents" with his this is old and/or outdated but maybe they will fix it later while talking about a game that has been abandoned for over 5 years

First, I thought the ending was going to be the water animation / 10, as that was what Josh said represented "fine." Second, I...I kind of want to play this now... Third. "It's the kid at school that was nice to everyone, that no one hated, but no one really liked either." So.... me?

God the Herosquest "brodeswode" reference is so niche nowadays and i appreciate you making it

I didn't know about the Hearth Stone, But the "Home Stone" appeared as a rock with the word "Home" on it in Kings Quest II all the way back in 1986. And I doubt that that was the first time.

I was an avid player of this one, so sad that the dev just abandoned it when its already so hard to get attention toward an mmo in the first place

This is actually a very good MMORPG that is basically abandoned for years it's a shame the people who own this have no vision nor ambition because they could be making a looot of money with this game, especially if they were to do what jagex did and make a mobile client.

There are so many MMO games we never knew it. Thanks to you we're discovering the new MMO games even if they aren't new

I like how you say "welcome" in your videos. Makes my view feel appreciated.

Transmorphers is one of their best IPs. It developes its own lore and is really worth a watch.

Nothing restores my hope for humanity like the welcoming community of a hyper-niche MMO (or really hyper-niche anything really)

Oh I've had that same invisible mouse issue with my Streamlabs and certain other games as well. I generally have switch between windowed fullscreen and fullscreen mode and it'll work with... one of those.

The hopscotch background is like that one kid in the group who works super hard on their portion of the project while everyone else has agreed to put in minimal effort

Mission accomplished. 32K sets of eyes on this game and a discussion starting about it. I think if even 1/3 of you DL this free to play game and give it a shot and experience it for yourselves, you might be surprised by it. There is a lot here to like.

"game which lets you clip head into sheep's ass" is the best opening Josh has done, truly a masterpiece of all time

22:40 is literally the most jarring sound, why was this approved O.o

I got to play test this game as a student, and it looks a lot different from what I remember. Also, some fun experience with the studio. They told me to come on a set date and when I did, no one was expecting me, good thing someone showed up to let me in 'cause there was no contact number. Later they told me to go for a lunch break and I got locked out, so I went home and never came back. Also, at 10:02 - My character got stuck in that exact pen and there was no way for me to get out and there it remained forever.

"Every merchant is either dead or lost" to be fair, one dude just had marital issues

I've played it and it's a very fun game, but has like zero population, and no support from the devs. It's a shame.

I remember playing this when it came out. I don't remember why I ever stopped playing, but I did havea few fond memories of playing. Especially the crafting. I maxed the crafting out.

Judging from the portraits in the throne room ( 25:03 ) George III is somehow connected to Eldevin

I like how many times he says "please change this" or "please update this", as if the devs are just waiting for new suggestions x) They're still busy with that auto-run request from 9 years ago, sorry!

That is great timing, actually... I can make good use of bottled catharsis right now, which these always provide

There is actually a sword called the Blade of Mercy in Dragon Age - it's the name for the sword of Archon Hessarian, the Archon who took pity on Andraste when she was burning on the pyre and killed her with the sword to end her suffering rather than letting her burn to death. Then a bunch of Tevinters made replicas (as seen in Dragon Age 2, where Hawke can find one and gift it to Fenris)... but since you noted that there already seemed to be some Dragon Age influence, I figured it was worth pointing out lmao

38:40 - Strangely enough, this quest is more involved. I went back to Eldevin after this video (after testing it out briefly about 8 years ago), and stumbled upon this quest. I did it in the evening (at least that's what I think - it was fairly dark in the city), entered the house through the side window, and the painter said "It's enough for today.", then extinguished his fireplace and went upstairs, leaving the painting unattended. I've left through the same window, and never had any interaction with the painter, nor the guards. I wonder if yours just bugged out or something.

Hoping to see Mabinogi on here at some point. Not that I think it's one of the worst MMO's I've ever played, but I want to hear Josh's thoughts on it as a whole.

I used to play Fallen Sword for years and was waiting to play this game. I remeber seeing their early development videos on Eldevin and waited patiently for its release. Alas, things got busy irl and i totally forgot about this game until i saw this video.

FusionFall also did the "start in the future, go back to the past" thing but it was awesome then because the future was a much, much larger portion of the game (essentially an equivalent to osrs' tutorial island) where you had quests to build the time machine you use to go back to the past and start the game for real

I love these videos so much. Thanks for the hours of entertainment. Can you make one about TIBIA?

I have never wanted to play an MMO, but I sometimes like to observe as an outsider, and I have enjoyed this series of videos. In a way, mediocrity is the worst. If something is impressively bad, it will at least be memorable, and it might be funny on top of that, so it can be enjoyable for all the wrong reasons and might even become a timeless cult classic. If something is mediocre, then it is destined to be forgotten.

My body is ready

Josh, I'm surprised you hadn't noticed or perhaps just didn't mention, but this game looks as if the base of it's soul is derived not only from other MMOs, but also Neverwinter Nights. The inventory, the look of the game, the dungeon crawl feel seems very similar, even items dropping into a bag which you need to pick up looks quite similar.

That saw was the most unreasonably loud sound effect I’ve ever heard. Thanks for including it at the low volume you did.

I donʼt think the video has finished premiering yet but Iʼm at a bit less than 10 minutes in and I already have a guess at the final rating. It sounds like this game is Fine/10.

I used to play this a lot when it came out, I really liked that game, it was the first game since Runescape that scratched the same itch... but then it just kinda died, which made me really sad 😞

I love how you played the wood sawing sound effects at their original volume. My ears do have blood coming out of them though.

I do love the viewing spike right at Josh dancing in the theater.

That thumbnail... the game clearly needs raytracing.

I used to play on a couple of the games HCS made before Eldevin. Literally as soon as Eldevin released their more popular browser mmo Fallensword took some serious player hits (understandably, people just went to try out Eldevin.) Incredibly sad to see it just dead now. Very genuinely miss those times but that was a solid 10 years ago now.

Good god that timber sound was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time

I don’t even play mmos anymore BUT , listening to your videos while I clean is relaxing asf man. Good shit

"Designed to run off the good decisions other games have made.." Worked for World of Warcraft... (Only being partially flippant.) They did it with a Blizzard budget and eye for polish, but fundamentally yeah.. Same thing. A game doesn't *Always* have to be or do unique things to succeed.. But it does need to do them better. Can you imagine a game like this with a Blizzard budget? Great video, as always!