Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa is a game whose development has fascinated me for quite some time. What other MMO relies heavily on co-operative NPCs and engages the player in a war over three planets against an AI? Having player factions fight it out as often as not leads to disasters like Shadowbane where one guild eventually dominates, or the combat and/or control are limited to a single area, like with Dark Age of Camelot and World of WarCraft.

Even in instances the combat never lets up, with constant reinforcements of friendly AI fodder coming through drop ships, to damage and distract the smaller and bigger baddies out there. The instances provide the player with the opportunity to battle and feel like the hero, as if it were a singleplayer RPG, while the shared areas give the MMO experience.

There are some interesting design choices with Tabula Rasa as well. While the game shuns the true action-oriented gameplay where the player’s actual aim and dodging ability matters, it does simulate the experience fairly well considering the game mechanics are all dice rolls. Also, there are seven classes in the game, but character cloning permits the player to make a copy of his character at certain levels before he has to choose a class, so he doesn’t have to start over if he wants to experience every character style. Clan-based PvP is planned, but it will be consensual and it is undetermined what kind of effects it will have, if any.

Of course, Tabula Rasa promises much, but how it turns out remains to be seen. How deep is the front? Is full control of any world by either side actually possible? What kind of variety can be expected in instances, and will there be repetitive instance grinding?