It’s difficult to talk about upcoming VR MMO, Ilysia, without mentioning Zenith.
True, there’s enough space in VR for multiple entries in any genre but, with Zenith’s January launch going down so well and developer Ramen VR grabbing headlines with continued investment, one has to wonder if Zenith hasn’t already eaten Ilysia’s lunch.
Creative Director Arthur Fogle doesn’t see it that way.
New Ilysia Interview
“We’ve always seen Zenith as Final Fantasy 14 to our World of Warcraft,” Fogle said when I interviewed him in UploadVR’s studio last week (full interview above). “Two products, fundamentally different companies, fundamentally different games. To us, we’re basically just these two products that exist happily together in the workspace.”
Ilysia is currently in the last days of its Alpha 2 testing and is now selling access to its first beta, due to launch later this year. Though the build only shows you a fraction of what the team has planned for even the first beta, it’s impossible not to draw comparisons between the two fantasy worlds, where players can meet up with friends, build their characters and head out on quests together.
“I’ve played Zenith,” Fogle adds. “At this point, I think most of us on the team have played Zenith. It’s got its fun points. It’s got its things I wouldn’t do. But it’s a great game otherwise. The art style is great. I think it’s a beautiful world. I’m really stoked for just the success they’ve had; series a funding, series B funding. It’s been great to see that there’s that much funding out there for VR studios making great products. For us it’s been a boom, we are getting an idea of our worth now for any future plans that we may have moving forward.
“But yeah, I would say there’s not really anything they do that I would say I want to do. And I don’t think there’s anything that we do that they probably say “We should be doing that.””
For now, Fogle says that comparisons between Zenith’s early access launch and the team’s second alpha are “a huge compliment” for the team. “It makes me excited for our continued future as a product and as a company and what we’re bringing to everybody,” he said.
