I absolutely adore Atlus. In this industry there aren't enough companies taking risks to bring something new to the gamers out there, but Atlus likes taking risks on niche titles, which might not always appeal to the masses. It's ironic then that Atlus' newest project is Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent – a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game. I was lucky enough to be one of the first few members of the press to explore the game and I'm here to give you the report on what I witnessed and how the game played.

Summoned Beast

As I logged in for the first time, I found myself in the Kingdom of Elerd playing a pint-sized Pom Artificer (one of the second advancements for the Machinist class). The Pom are but one of the six different races in Neo Steam, which also include the Humans, Elves, Lupine, Tarune, and Lyell. Once your race is decided, you're then able to choose one of four base classes to start off as: Warriors, Mystics, Machinists, and Scouts. After your character advances enough, each class then branches off, letting players choose one of two new professions to continue with. Players would be wise to choose carefully, because with a level cap of 110, you're really going to be spending a lot of time with your character of choice.

Players won't be alone on their quests, as every player is joined by a special pet, which grows and levels with you. The pet levels partly by just being summoned and joining you in the world, but its happiness is also affected by the care you give it in terms of food. Feed your pet food and keep him happy and he'll always do what he's told. If your pet's happiness meter reaches zero then he'll refuse to even allow you to summon him. Your pet will chow down on about anything dropped from monsters, so if you loot some materials you don't need, you can always feed it to your pet to keep them happy and growing. At first the pet is just a little speck on the screen, which is only really helpful at quickly teleporting you back to your last save location. As it grows and matures, it will take on one of three different forms, depending on how you want to use them in battle; players can have their pet become an attacker, healer, or thief to fit their personal play style preference. Beyond the feeding of your pet, you won't have to micromanage their health while in the field, as they can't be the target of enemy mobs, and thus won't receive any damage.
My Prize Mount

Besides your pet's teleport ability, the game is filled with a number of cute, cool, and fun personal mounts and public transportation systems. If you're trying to get a pickup group going, it's only a few quick hops and jumps thanks to all the options Neo Steam provides. When it comes to the mounts, there are a number of options available to the player, as there seemed to be a larger than usual variety when it comes to MMOs. As our party mounted up to journey out of town, some adventurers were atop white puffy looking bunnies, and some rode blue looking toad creatures with rocky spikes on their bodies. As we finished off the press tour, our guides challenged the members of the media to race around a fountain in the local square, promising a special mount to the winner. I'm happy to report that I really know how to ride the heck out of my toad, as I finished first and was the proud recipient of a Cloudsweeper mount – the mount is a cool amalgamation of a broom mixed with machinery and done in a design that reminds me of Star Wars' land-speeders in Return of the Jedi. Yes, I nerded out. The first permanent mounts a player can receive are at level 20, which is attained by completing a quest. A player can snag themselves a mount at level one if they'd like, but that falls into the game's micro-payment plan (more on that later).

For journeys requiring a greater distance to cover, Neo Steam features three different sets of personal transportation. Zeppelins are giant blue airships that take players between the different continents and to the land of Taxn. The subways and submarines allow players to quickly jump between major towns and into the PvP realm of Riall. Finally, if you want to jump between local towns and major landmark attractions, players can hop into a steam powered balloon and go for a quick ride. Up until now I've never thought about MMO public transportation before, but Neo Steam really makes the act of traveling fun and exciting. Depending on what transportation mode you choose, you're next greeted by a lovely cutscene depicting your mode of travel. Watch as your zeppelin sails the skies as other zeppelins join you to your sides. Watch as the subway train zips by support posts until directly coming at you. Watch as the submarine dives into the water and propels itself through the tranquil blue of the sea. The cutscenes aren't long and they are recycled, but it still felt more real than other MMOs. The steam balloon rides are more interactive, as you can freely spin your camera around your ride, and look around and below you as you pass over areas you've actually strolled across before.

Steam Balloon

As you explore the world of Neo Steam, you start to see the world is very split when it comes to the nations. The Elerd are very close to the planet and are tuned to the frequencies of the earth. The Elerd have harnessed the power of magic and technology to create some wondrous machines. Bright blues, whimsical housing, and green fields dominate their nation. The Rogwel nation is completely different, as they've used the power of technology to rape the earth of all they need, and so their nation is much more about industrial looking architecture, smoke stacks, and barren wastelands and nasty bodies of water that have been abused. Outside of the individual looks, each nation even has its own language. Of course, when you're speaking to each other it's in whatever language you're personally typing in, but should someone from the other nation see you, your speech will come off as a jumble of strange symbols with no reasoning behind them. It makes perfect sense that two different nations wouldn't understand each other, but the language barrier also comes into play during PvP scenarios, allowing opposing nations to openly call out commands, without having to worry about an opponent reading what you're doing.

Speaking of PvP, there are several options for players who need a little more human interaction than the computer can give. On the smaller side of the PvP scale, specially made arenas have been created, giving wannabe fighters their very own Thunderdome to compete in (two men enter…one man leaves). The arena fights are one-on-one, but people can still be involved by watching the fight from outside the arena. The PvP arena we saw even allowed the winner of a match to stay in, never having to leave until they're bested in combat. Up next, two nations can battle it out over the PvP zone of Riall. In Riall, players start out in specially marked staging areas, which keep them safe from the other nation. Once a player exits outside of their safe zone, any member of the other nation that comes after them can kill them. It's a fun way to battle each other, plus with the shared monsters of the zone being worth more experience points, you can believe both sides will be battling for their XP. Finally we have the assault PvP, which allows players to go to the opposing side and attack one of their leaders. Besides having to contend with the leader and their guards putting up a fight, you can also expect other players of the opposing nation to come running to help their leader, as each leader gives a nationwide call to rally whenever they're under attack. There was no opposition to defend us during our own personal attack, but it was easy to see how hectic and action packed this scenario could be when needing to juggle both human and computer controlled opponents looking to stop you.

Mount Up

On a side note, I also need to add that PvP is never a requirement, so if you would rather spend your time soloing quests or partnering up with people, you can do so without ever having to dip your foot in the war between the nations.

Fans of MMOs will be right at home when it comes to the controls and combat of Neo Steam, as it uses some of the same commands that others before have used too. Players can move forward and backwards with the W and S keys or either using the left-mouse button to click to where they want their character to go. Meanwhile, the right-mouse button is used for everything from interacting with an NPC to using one of the skills on your hot bar and engaging an enemy in battle. Neo Steam is also pretty friendly when it comes to computer specs, as the requirements don't seem to be too high at all. Plus, the game features options to help further tweak your computer, allowing either more or less in-game details to help make your game look better and run faster.

Finally, as I promised earlier, we come to the pricing model – IT'S FREE! Like most free games, however, a premium item mall has been included for those who would like to buy some early advantages or extra goodies to tweak the look of their character. The price point is currently 700 crowns for each real world dollar spent, with most items seeming to cost about a thousand something, with the more costly items being in the 10,000 range by what I could see. A lot of the items were of the dress variety, adding extra panache to make you unique, ranging from things like rocket packs to butterfly masks to magical backpacks. When it comes to the dress-up items, left clicking on the item in the mall will instantly place it upon your character in a little side window, allowing you to see how it will look before you actually put your hard earned money down. I've been there before when it comes to micromanagement MMOs, so being able to see an item in actual use is a huge plus for its system.

Giant Moss Monster

There are still a lot of questions when it comes to Neo Steam, as we didn't get to see how crafting works, how engaging the quests are, how the advancement of the game actually feels as you progress from level 1 to level 110, etc. Of course the game isn't finished or even in beta yet, so things like graphical polish, errors, and bugs can be forgiven. Rome wasn't built in a day – as the saying goes. I did have a lot of fun though exploring the world and its gameplay during our tour, and I hope it won't be the last time I get to either.