Review: Fallen Earth gets social with taverns

My MMO gaming attention is still on Fallen Earth right now. It’s a nice palate cleanse from all the high fantasy that I have played over the past few years, plus the game shows a lot of promise. I don’t think that it will ever reach the mountaintop that is World of Warcraft, but it might just do well enough to be the niche hit that EVE Online is.

Patch 1.2 just dropped this week. Let’s stop for a second and realize that the game has only been out for three months and has already reached its second major update. Icarus studios are small, compared to other game development companies. I am convinced that updating the game as much as they do, they must have their programmers and QA department strapped down with their eyes propped open Clockwork Orange style.

Regardless, the big feature in patch 1.2 is what they are calling the Social Patch. The full patch notes can be found here, you will need to sign up for the forums to read them, though. There are two big highlights in the patch notes.

The first big update is camps. This is a new trade skill tab (because the 7 they had before the patch was clearly not enough), that lets you set up a temporary base of operation. Not only will the camp give you a temporary buff, but it gives a chance for players to set up their own spots in the game world. So if there is a quest area that you are farming or are prepping to take over a conflict town, then an advanced breach head can be established. This is a fascinating idea for in game dynamics.

The second big update on the social side is taverns. Reclaimed underground bunkers have been turned into casinos, with slot machines and video blackjack. I did a brief video walkthrough on the taverns here.



Finally, Fallen Earth Lead Designer, Lee Hammock, was on the Lagwar podcast this week, and the podcast is almost 90 minutes of the most animated interview that I have heard in quite a while. Not only is the podcast itself great, the interview itself is quite good. It can’t even be described, just experience. If you haven’t played this game yet, this podcast might just change your mind.