uru-ages-beyond-myst posts

Over the years we have seen a number of high profile MMO games bit the dust. The Sims Online, Shadowbane, The Maxtrix Online, and Tabula Rasa are just a few examples of titles that tried and failed to find an audience. Until this week we would have also put Myst Online: Uru Live as one of those titles but it seems this game has more lives than a virtual cat.

Cyan Worlds' adventure-themed MMO has already had two lives; as a multiplayer component for Uru: Ages Beyond Myst that didn't get past the beta stage. GameTap revived the game on their service in 2007 but shut it down a year later due to lack of subscribers. Now Cyan has turned Uru Live into an open source game project and have launched a free-to-play server (although they are taking donations). Will this unique way to relaunch an MMO succeed? Good question.

The classic DRM-free PC game web site GoG.com has been adding games from Cyan Worlds' classic Myst series for some time and today they complete their cycle with Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. This title is now being called Uru Complete Chronicles as it adds two expansion packs to the original game.

While designed as a single player adventure game, it was also supposed to be the basis for Uru Online, an MMO game that never got out of beta in its original incarnation. Gametap tried to revive the MMO version but that was also shut down a year after launch. Uru Complete Chronicles is now available for $9.99.