In South Korea MMORPGs are a dime a dozen, and even the smallest of MMOs there have enough subscribers to challenge most games here in the US. Within the last couple of years some marketing people over here got a brilliant idea to talk to the marketing cats on the other side of the world. As a result, we've seen MMOs like Lineage IIrelease over here. Thus far they've been primarily met with lukewarm fanfare, usually due to cultural differences like gameplay style and poor localization. Codemasters has decided to take this idea and go a step further: they nabbed a new game in South Korea that isn't centered around team PvP from the get-go, and maintains individualistic goals for solo and small group players.

That isn't to say there's no player-versus-player content in ArchLord. On the contrary the game's title and primary goal are one and the same: rule the world. ArchLord has decided to name one player ruler of the world on a rotating basis - once you and your guild or army of friends are powerful enough to take the throne. There is a sequence of events that must be achieved before a player can be named ArchLord, beginning with the attainment of level 60 (out of a possible 100). Once the future leader and his friends are level 60 they can begin questing to fight the massive fire demon. Slaying him (I am assuming the fire demon is male, but who knows?) is only the first step; then they must find all three race-specific strongholds and raid them for their archons. Archons are elemental essences, basically, and they hold pretty amazing powers. After you and your soon-to-be lynch mob have the archons and can claim to be the fire demon's slayers, you have the right to siege the ArchLord's floating castle and challenge him or her for their post.

And what's so great about being the ArchLord? Well, as mentioned you get a floating castle, but there's plenty more. People in power are always imposing figures (at least in fantasy, anyway), so your avatar will be at least double the size of every other player. Of course a king has his taxes, which you can set from atop your mighty floating throne. And should you choose to leave your floating bastion it wouldn't do to see you strolling down to town without fanfare or walking on dirt roads like a commoner, so you'll be given a massive flying dragon that breathes fire. And if the flame-breathing dragon isn't enough, you've always got a massive army that can be called on at any time. Tenure isn't too long on your post though... You get three weeks in relative peace, and then (presumably) many clans will start warring your floating castle to take you out.

Being the all-powerful ruler of the world is great and all, but what if you're not a warlord or a politician? Well ArchLordseems to retain plenty to hold others busy, and word is that even if you're a solo player, you can name an ArchLord candidate and your achievements will benefit their race to the throne. And there seems to be plenty to do, as well. The game is reporting over a million words of text, adding up to one hell of a laundry list of quests to be done. And the PvP is in a pretty familiar category, having none in starting areas and in racial capital cities, and the majority of the rest will be centered around parts of the ArchLord quests, so most players won't have to worry about PvP unless they choose.

The characters are fairly familiar, with Humans and Orcs being the primary warring races, and a third faction, the Moon Elves, thrown in for flavor. ArchLord uses a familiar system in which each race has specific classes they may play, and each class is a set gender. So in the world of ArchLord, called Chantra, all male humans grow up to be Fighters or Rangers, while all females are Mages. Orc children have options of Berserkers or Sorcerers for the boys and Huntresses for the girls. Finally, the Moon Elves, which look distinctly like silver-haired "regular" elves, are all bouncy and bubbly females with a choice of being Elementalists or Rangers.

So what do we have on the horizon? Another MMORPG, with yet another twist. This one's got some nice animations and pretty visuals, plus who doesn't want their own castle and a freakin' dragon? ArchLord should be entering beta testing very soon and will be hitting US and European shores in September.