Info about Heartwood Online:

Official game description:
JOIN OUR DISCORD
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About the Game
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**GAME FEATURES**
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**Heartwood Online** is a true cross-platform free-to-play MMO currently available on **Steam**, **Apple**, and **Android**. We plan to bring it to all major consoles as development progresses.  
Explore a vast and immersive world filled with adventure and exploration. Join forces with other players to battle fearsome raid bosses, uncover hidden treasures, and unlock new abilities and powers. Choose your path through crafting, PvP and PvE battles, guilds, politics, and a thriving player economy.
**CURRENT PLATFORMS**
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**DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP**
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*   **MOUNTS:** Collect rare and legendary mounts so you can move faster in style.  
*   **CLASSES:** Pick from Warrior, Rogue, Mage, or Priest. Each class has unique gear, abilities, and talents to help you fill a crucial role in a hunting party.  
*   **SKILLS:** Current crafting and gathering skills include mining, blacksmithing, woodcutting, carpentry, tailoring, leather-working. But many more are in the works!  
*   **EQUIPMENT:** Wear gear that suits your attitude and build path; fight with melee, magic, and ranged weapons.  
*   **GUILDS:** The current Guild management UI lets you fully customize aspects of your guild. Create guild tags and ranks. Promote, invite, and kick members. Coming soon: Guild bank, guild cosmetics, guild house.  
*   **PETS:** Collect pets to help you in battle and crafting, or just use them as a status symbol.  
*   **LEADER BOARDS:** Compete with others for the top position on a variety of monthly leader boards such as crafting, PvP, item collections, and more. Monthly leaders will be rewarded with prizes and specialty cosmetics.  
*   **PVP EVENTS:** Sharpen your blades for epic large scale player battles and other PvP events. Gain rewards for collecting bounties from wanted players.  
*   **PLAYER HOUSING:** Not just a place to store belongings, but an opportunity to showcase your creativity and style. As you walk through towns and forests, you'll see homes adorned with exotic furniture and intricate gardens. Showcase your achievements and trophies earned in battles, displaying them prominently in your home. Our housing system will truly set us apart from other MMOs, and we can't wait for you to experience the joy of owning and decorating your own space.  
*   **?????:** This isn't the end of the road though. We have plans far beyond this list, along with any amazing suggestions from our community.

Release date: 18 Aug, 2023

Categories: Cooperative Multiplayer, Competitive Multiplayer, Exploration, Crafting, Character Progression, Character Customization, Real-time Combat, Base Building


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging & Fun Gameplay (weight 0.59): Players consistently praise the game for its enjoyable and addictive gameplay loop, often highlighting its simplicity and accessibility for new players. Many find it a relaxing and entertaining experience, perfect for casual play or spending time with friends. The game's overall fun factor and potential are frequently mentioned.
- Top-Tier 2D MMORPG (weight 0.1): The game is highly regarded as a simple yet impressive 2D pixel art MMORPG, often cited as one of the best in its niche. Its accessibility makes it suitable for beginners or younger players, while still offering enough depth for genre enthusiasts.
- Satisfying Grind & Farming (weight 0.09): The game strongly appeals to players who enjoy grinding and farming mechanics, reminiscent of old-school MMOs. Many find the grind satisfying and a good way to relax or pass the time, especially for those who appreciate a more hands-off, repetitive playstyle.
- Strong & Friendly Community (weight 0.07): The game boasts a friendly, helpful, and active community, which significantly enhances the player experience. The focus on socializing and community events, along with an open trading system, fosters a positive multiplayer environment.
- Fair Monetization (No P2W) (weight 0.07): A significant positive is the game's fair monetization model, with players appreciating that it is not pay-to-win. Purchases are primarily for cosmetics or convenience items like inventory slots, ensuring a level playing field for all players.
- Immersive World & Exploration (weight 0.05): The game offers an adventurous and immersive experience, encouraging exploration and providing a lively, diverse world. Its challenging difficulty and minimal hand-holding contribute to a sense of discovery and active engagement, with some comparing it to classic RPGs like Zelda.
- Appealing Pixel Art Style (weight 0.05): The pixel art style is a major draw, frequently praised for its aesthetic appeal and ability to evoke nostalgia for classic retro games. Players find the graphics charming, well-made, and contributing significantly to the game's overall feel.
- Promising Content & Updates (weight 0.05): Despite being in early access or beta, the game already offers a surprising amount of content and is consistently updated with new features. Developers are actively improving the game, indicating strong potential for future growth.
- Robust Crafting System (weight 0.05): The crafting and resource gathering system is highlighted as in-depth and well-thought-out. Players enjoy the ability to create unique items and tools, finding the process exciting and crucial for character development.
- Flexible Play Options (weight 0.04): Players appreciate the flexibility to play the game solo or with friends, and the freedom to choose their preferred server. This adaptability allows for diverse playstyles and caters to both individual and group preferences.
- Seamless Cross-Platform Play (weight 0.04): The game's cross-platform compatibility (PC, mobile, Steam Deck) is a highly valued feature, allowing players to seamlessly switch devices and continue their progress. This flexibility is a significant convenience.
- Diverse Mount System (weight 0.04): The inclusion of mounts is a positive feature, with players enjoying the variety and the hunt for rare ones. Mounts add to the exploration and progression aspects of the game.
- Low System Requirements (weight 0.03): The game is praised for its low system requirements, making it accessible to players with low-end PCs or mobile devices. It runs smoothly, ensuring a good experience even on less powerful hardware.
- Nostalgic MMORPG Feel (weight 0.02): The game evokes a strong sense of nostalgia for players who enjoyed classic MMORPGs like Tibia, Runescape, and Ragnarok Online. Its design elements and gameplay mechanics successfully capture the essence of these beloved titles.
- Diverse Character Classes (weight 0.02): The game features well-designed and diverse character classes, each offering unique playstyles and abilities. Players enjoy experimenting with different classes and appreciate the variety they bring to combat.

Common complaints:
- Excessive and Unrewarding Grind (weight 1): Players consistently report that the game's progression, especially leveling and skill advancement, is excessively slow and requires an unreasonable amount of repetitive grinding. This leads to boredom, frustration, and a feeling of unrewarding gameplay, often making players quit.
- Repetitive Combat and Quests (weight 0.77): The game's combat system is criticized for being overly simplistic and repetitive, often involving just holding down an attack button. Quests are also highly repetitive, primarily consisting of 'kill X creatures' or 'fetch X items' with low drop rates, offering little variety or narrative depth.
- Insufficient Game Content (weight 0.76): A significant concern is the severe lack of content, including limited areas, quests, items, and overall activities. Many players feel the game is in a very early alpha state, not justifying its release or current monetization, and quickly becomes boring due to this scarcity.
- Performance and Balance Issues (weight 0.68): Players report significant performance issues, including severe lag and frame rate drops, making the game unplayable for some. Additionally, character and enemy stat scaling is unclear and unbalanced, leading to disproportionate difficulty and unrewarding progression.
- Poor Item and Gear Progression (weight 0.15): The game's item and equipment progression is poorly designed. Players often craft or receive quest rewards that are unusable due to high-level requirements, making early game progression frustrating and unrewarding. There's also a lack of variety in gear.
- Missing Core Features and Clarity (weight 0.1): The game lacks essential features such as controller support, localization for various languages, and a clear storyline. Character creation is minimal, and crucial game mechanics like stats and skills lack proper explanations or tooltips, making the game unintuitive for new players.
- Perceived Cash Grab (weight 0.09): There is strong sentiment that the game is a 'cash grab' due to its extensive and overpriced in-game shop, despite the game's unfinished state and lack of content. The absence of a proper in-game marketplace further exacerbates economic issues.
- Slow and Infrequent Updates (weight 0.09): Players are frustrated by the extremely slow and infrequent release of updates and new content. This lack of consistent development and communication from the developers contributes to a feeling of abandonment and stagnation.
- Developer and Community Issues (weight 0.05): Concerns exist regarding developer engagement with the community, with some players feeling ignored or that the Discord community is poorly managed. There's also a perception that the game lacks a true MMORPG community feel.

Gameplay feedback:
- Heavy Grind-Based Gameplay (weight 0.09): The game is characterized by its significant grind, requiring players to invest many hours to progress, level up, and acquire desired items. This core gameplay loop involves repetitive tasks like killing mobs, farming, and trading.
- Simple, Classic 2D Graphics (weight 0.08): The game features simple, pixel-based graphics, reminiscent of classic 2D MMORPGs or games like Stardew Valley. While some find it basic, others appreciate its old-school art style and straightforward design.
- Core Crafting & Gathering (weight 0.08): Crafting and resource gathering are central to the gameplay. Players must level up various professions like carpentry, blacksmithing, and tailoring, gather materials, and craft new gear to progress and update their equipment.
- Four Distinct Classes (weight 0.05): The game offers four distinct classes: Mage, Warrior, Priest, and Rogue. Each class has specific roles and uses different types of gear and materials, with some being essential for party composition.
- Class-Specific Crafting (weight 0.04): Crafting professions are tied to specific classes, with Mage and Priest sharing tailoring and carpentry, while Rogue focuses on leatherworking, smithing, and carpentry for their unique gear.
- Nostalgic MMORPG Feel (weight 0.03): The game evokes a nostalgic feeling of older MMORPGs, drawing comparisons to titles like RuneScape, Maplestory, and classic World of Warcraft, while being distinct from modern FPS or battle royale genres.
- Challenging Leveling Curve (weight 0.03): Leveling up in the game starts relatively fast but quickly becomes challenging, with the experience required increasing significantly even at low levels. Recent updates have aimed to slightly boost leveling speed.
- Basic Combat System (weight 0.03): The current combat system is basic, primarily involving auto-attacks and one or two skills, with no complex skill trees. The game is still in beta, suggesting more features may be added.
- Guilds & Player Economy (weight 0.02): The game includes a guild system and a player-driven economy where item values fluctuate based on scarcity. It also features a classless skill leveling system, offering flexibility.
- Open World Exploration (weight 0.02): The game emphasizes exploration and adventure within a large open world, providing players with freedom and opportunities for deep character development.
- Standard Character Stats (weight 0.02): The game incorporates various character stats such as cooldown reduction, critical chance, and armor, which likely influence combat effectiveness and character builds.

Performance notes:
- Game exit freezing on PC (weight 0.03): Many players report that the game consistently freezes or becomes unresponsive when attempting to close it, forcing them to use Task Manager to terminate the application. This is a significant inconvenience for PC users.
- Minor visual bugs present (weight 0.01): Some players have encountered minor visual bugs, such as misplaced character models or objects within the game environment. While not game-breaking, these issues can detract from immersion.
- Screen flickers during combat (weight 0.01): Players have observed screen flickering specifically during combat encounters with monsters. This visual glitch can be distracting and negatively impact the gameplay experience.
- Stable and accessible servers (weight 0.01): Players appreciate that the game's servers are stable and easy to access, indicating a smooth connection experience. This contributes to a positive initial impression.
- Mobile login works better (weight 0.01): One player noted that a specific account login issue experienced on PC does not occur when playing the game on a mobile device. This suggests the issue might be platform-specific.
- No issues on Linux (weight 0.01): A user reported that the game runs without any issues on the Linux operating system. This is positive feedback for Linux users, indicating good compatibility.

Recommendations:
- Mixed Recommendation & Caution (weight 0.32): Player sentiment regarding recommendation is highly mixed, with many advising caution due to the game's current state, while others suggest trying it due to its free-to-play nature. Some recommend it for specific player types or as a casual experience, but a significant portion advises against it or suggests waiting for improvements.
- Grind-Heavy Gameplay Appeals (weight 0.08): The game strongly appeals to players who enjoy a significant amount of grinding, farming, and slow-paced progression, reminiscent of old-school MMORPGs. Players who dislike these elements are advised to avoid the game.
- Awaiting Future Updates (weight 0.06): Many players express a desire for future updates and improvements, indicating that the game is currently lacking in content or polish. They are willing to return or re-evaluate their scores once significant changes are implemented.
- Strategic Gameplay Advice (weight 0.04): Players offer specific advice regarding gameplay strategies, such as how to approach crafting skills based on daily playtime, or optimal stat allocation. This indicates a desire for more guidance or a complex system that benefits from strategic planning.
- Demand for Language Support (weight 0.02): There is a clear demand for additional language support, specifically Japanese and Spanish, to broaden the game's accessibility and appeal to a wider international audience.
- Alternative Game Suggestions (weight 0.02): Some players suggest alternative games within the same genre, such as 'Curse of Aros,' 'Knight,' 'Ragnarok,' or 'Albion,' implying that these games might offer a more satisfying experience or are direct competitors.
- Solo Play More Rewarding (weight 0.01): One review points out that the game's mechanics seem to reward solo play more than group activities, which could impact the social aspect of an MMORPG.
- Positive Update Reception (weight 0.01): A single review mentions that a specific update is considered 'legit,' suggesting that some recent changes have been positively received.

Other player notes:
- Rebalance XP and crafting (weight 0.05): Players desire a rebalance of the experience system, particularly for life skills and crafting. Suggestions include skill trees for professions, alternative XP farming methods, and improved crafting interfaces to make progression more meaningful and less grind-heavy.
- Improve UI and controls (weight 0.05): Players request various quality-of-life improvements to the user interface and controls. Specific suggestions include mini-map icons, improved map interfaces, quick access menus for skills, visible XP/HP amounts, and auto-attack/weapon swap shortcuts.
- Enhance game ambiance (weight 0.02): Players suggest enhancing the game's atmosphere through environmental ambiance. This includes adding sounds, ambient music, and visual effects like moving water, birds, and a day-to-night cycle.
- Adjust stat scaling (weight 0.02): Players suggest adjusting stat scaling to make various character builds more viable and interesting. This could open up new gameplay styles, including different PvP strategies.
- Address shop prices (weight 0.02): Some players express concern over the high prices of items in the in-game shop, particularly mounts. Developers have indicated a willingness to adjust prices based on feedback.
- Add more language support (weight 0.01): There is a request for more language support, specifically mentioning Portuguese/Brazil and Turkish, to make the game accessible to a wider international audience.
- Not like other MMORPGs (weight 0.01): Players clarify that the game should not be compared to or expected to be like other well-known MMORPGs such as Entropia Universe, Ultima Online, Morrowind, or Runescape, setting realistic expectations.
- Bring back boss disputes (weight 0.01): Players recall and desire the return of 'boss disputes,' indicating that this past feature was enjoyable and contributed positively to the gameplay experience.
- More spells for Mages (weight 0.01): A specific player, playing a Mage, expressed a general dislike for RPGs but suggested adding more spells, indicating a desire for more variety within their chosen class.
- Review bombing by banned players (weight 0.01): A notable portion of negative reviews are attributed to players who were banned for breaking rules or engaging in real-world trading, suggesting a review-bombing attempt by a specific group.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.25): Players are primarily frustrated by the excessive and repetitive grind required for progression, leveling, and crafting, often feeling unrewarded for their time investment. This is compounded by technical issues, slow updates, unclear game mechanics, and perceived imbalances in class and economy, leading to a tedious and unfulfilling experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.24): Disappointment stems from the game's perceived lack of content, story, and meaningful progression, often feeling repetitive and shallow beyond the early stages. Players are also let down by slow updates, poor class balance, and the game's overall state, which many feel hinders its potential and makes it feel like a 'cash grab' or abandoned project.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.18): Satisfaction is largely driven by the game's addictive core gameplay loop, its suitability for casual play and passing time, and its simple yet engaging RPG mechanics. The positive community, cross-platform compatibility, and a non-pay-to-win monetization model also contribute significantly to players' enjoyment and overall positive experience.
- Hope (weight 0.07): Hope is centered on the anticipation of future content, updates, and improvements, particularly regarding game balance, progression pacing, and the addition of new features. Players express a desire for the game to reach its full potential, including better language support and a reduction in grind.
- Joy (weight 0.05): Joy is experienced through the game's fun and addictive gameplay, especially when playing with friends and engaging in old-school MMORPG activities. The game's simplicity, relaxing nature, and nostalgic feel also contribute to a generally positive and enjoyable experience for players.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement is generated by the game's engaging gameplay, its potential for future content and growth, and its non-pay-to-win model. Players are also excited by the challenging and entertaining aspects of the game, along with the anticipation of new features and updates.
- Boredom (weight 0.04): Boredom arises from the game's repetitive missions, monotonous grind, and lack of engaging content, particularly in the later stages. Players find the gameplay unrewarding and tiring, leading to a quick loss of interest and a feeling that there is nothing meaningful to do.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger is primarily caused by perceived unfair bans, poor support interactions, and what players view as disrespectful monetization practices. Strong negative reactions also stem from griefing, the game's overall quality, and its design, which some consider a 'cash grab'.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Enjoyment is derived from the game's addictive gameplay, particularly the leveling and farming aspects, and the engaging crafting system. Players also find satisfaction in social play and the overall visual appeal of the game.
- Optimism (weight 0.01): Optimism is based on the game's strong foundation and the ongoing development efforts, with players anticipating continuous improvements and positive changes in future patches and updates.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia is triggered by the game's pixel art style and its resemblance to classic old-school MMORPGs like Runescape, as well as other beloved titles such as Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Zelda, evoking a sense of familiarity and fond memories.
- Acceptance (weight 0.01): Acceptance reflects players' acknowledgment of the game's inherent grindy nature, its time commitment, and its limitations, particularly given its early access state. Some players are willing to embrace these aspects as part of the game's design.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arises from a lack of clear explanations for game mechanics, such as bans, and an overwhelming gameplay experience due to missing tutorials or unclear item availability. Some players also express contradictory feelings about continuing to play despite issues.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is driven by the expectation of future updates, new content, and the development of specific features like new map areas and PvP. Players are looking forward to what the game will offer next.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern is focused on the current XP system, the perceived lack of updates, and the risk of the game becoming unmaintained. Players also worry about developer priorities and the potential for real money trading to negatively impact the game.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Players express a desire for specific missing content, such as localization and new features like survival mode or buildable worlds. They also wish for alternative XP farming methods and more frequent updates.
- Interest (weight 0): Interest is sparked by the game's unique style, comparisons to other titles, and the appeal of daily activities and social interaction within the game world. Players are drawn to its potential or similarity to games they enjoy.
- Understanding (weight 0): Understanding reflects players' recognition of the game's design choices, its mechanics, and the limitations of a small development team. This indicates an acceptance or comprehension of why certain aspects of the game are as they are.
- Impatience (weight 0): Impatience is primarily directed towards the slow pace of updates and the extensive grind required in the game. Players are eager for faster progression and more frequent content releases.
- Addiction (weight 0): Addiction describes players' strong compulsion to continue playing the game, even if they wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others. This indicates a powerful desire to engage with the game despite potential flaws.}