Ilysia is an upcoming VR MMO that hit Kickstarter earlier this month with a modest budget of $60,000. It seems developers Team 21 Studio have struck a chord with the VR community, as the Sword Art Online-style MMORPG has recently doubled its funding goal with only a few days remaining in the campaign.
Creating an MMO for VR is a tall order, however Team 21 Studio is hoping to bring their ambitious project to life on all major VR headsets, including PC VR, Oculus Quest, and PlayStation VR. The game is expected to release to backers sometime in 2021.
The funding campaign is set to end on October 4th, but it’s already unlocked a number of stretch goals along the way, including additional starting races, multi-user mounts, additional starting zones, a pet & mount breeding system, and full-body tracking support.
Here’s how the studio describes Ilysia:
In Ilysia, players will travel alongside one another or embark on solo journeys as they quest, fight, grow, and explore a multitude of unique areas with their own set of challenges throughout their adventures. These zones will present an increasing challenge of monsters, quests, dungeons, world bosses, caves, and large outdoor cities, all waiting to be explored, conquered, and to have their secrets revealed. Live the wonder, excitement, and glory days of MMOs like never before, in truly immersive VR.
Ilysia is said to allow players to explore each area without limits, letting you climb rocks and trees, explore caves, discover secrets and treasures distinctive to each area which include things like unique armors, weapons, and items that the player can then use or sell.
According to Team 21 Studio, there’s also plenty of beasts, world bosses, and both megalithic ‘Guardians’ and ‘Titans’ to contend with, which can be done via both melee and ranged weapons. PvP combat in Ilysia will be entirely optional for players, the studio says.
Players will be able to pick a number of different humanoid races such as Humans, Elves, Dwarves and the possibility of animalistic races in the future too. There’s no rigid class system to speak of, as leveling is done through the game’s 24 skill trees, which lets you pick up any weapon or activity and level up with that specific skill.
If you want to learn more about Ilysia, check out the game’s Kickstarter campaign for a wealth of information surrounding the game’s finer points. We haven’t gone hands-on with the pre-alpha yet, which was available at the start of the campaign, but if you want to see some of Ilysia in action, check out YouTuber ‘Matteo331’ for an insider look at the pre-alpha.