: The Rare MMO that Gets Endgame Right

With its endless complexity, diverse end-game content, and of course its stylish action, The LSOT AK feels like it's destined to remain somewhat of a phenomenon for quite some time. After all, it is one of the few MMOs that can finish the game correctly.

In 2019, Smilegate released LSOT AK, an action-MMO that quickly soared to the top of the Twitch charts and captured the attention of gamers worldwide. It was a true phenomenon.

However, access to MMO is mostly limited - it's only available in Korea and Japan, and a few months later, through a public beta in Russia. Nonetheless, the latter is still the ticket for many players: I played LSOT AK myself first via VPN, enduring the rough translations automatically generated by the beta while I pored over the endless complexity of the game I would delve into. The action role-playing game is now available in full form in Europe and North America. I've played more than 90 hours, and I haven't looked back. I'm fascinated and excited about the upcoming future content.

LSOT AK is an action role-playing game framed as an isometric MMO. While it looks and feels like a Diablo clone on the surface, it is a much more complex game that requires patience and dedication to understand its ultimate reward system.

Take its character classes, for example: LSOT AK has five of them, several of which branch into more advanced variants once you've obviously upgraded. For example, the Warrior has three subclasses to choose from, including the damage-focused Berserker, the support hybrid Paladin, and the tanky Gunlancer. there are no dedicated tanks or healers in LSOT AK, which makes for better gameplay. Each subclass has a completely unique gameplay style, which makes the end game content even more exciting.

Unfortunately, so far, character careers are gender locked, which is a shame because I would have loved to play as a male mage. The Korean version of the game has slowly started to implement other versions of gender locked professions, with a female berserker coming soon. It helps that character creators, while not as impressive as those in Korean MMORPGs like Aion or Blade & Soul, are more inclusive - especially when it comes to skin tones, which are managed by a hex code or color wheel rather than a pre-selected palette. But for a game that encourages multiple game styles, it's a shame that character creators and gender-locked professions impose restrictions on its player base.

Each of these courses comes with an origin story that largely gives way to an overarching narrative that is a useful, but ultimately generic story about good and evil. Unfortunately, the stories are also weighed down by poor voice direction and inconsistent localization. Subtitles often don't match what the characters say in speech, and sometimes explain the mission objectives in oddly obtuse ways. The story does gain more momentum once it starts digging deeper into the background of the demon priest Armen, the valiant Prince Thrain, and the transcendent Beatrice, but ultimately, it's less concerned with vivid storytelling and more concerned with promoting the game's exciting action.

You'll spend most of your time knocking demon waves into the dirt or running around the terrain in Ghostbusters style. As with most role-playing games, upgrades unlock new destructive ways to toy with, counter, or combo your enemies. However, LSOT AK takes it a step further by allowing players to assign unique passive abilities to individual skills. For example, while playing as a Paladin, I gave the Wrath of God ability an attack gain. The result was a huge explosion of lightning that also increased the damage of my allies. You can also add elemental gains, extended combos, modifiers, and reduced charge timers to your attacks. All in all, LSOT AK gives you multiple ways to customize your character to your sensibilities.

The character class also has many quality-of-life features. You can edit passive and swap skills at any time, and save your favorite presets to switch seamlessly in the field or in the dungeon.

The LSOT AK's character mechanics and combat unfold at a steady pace - reaching level 50 to learn the basics - but it's the end game that's the real challenge. While many RPGs struggle to provide meaningful stump content, it's in this area that LSOT AK thrives.

What's more, LSOT AK isn't a game you need to play a lot to earn rewards - once you've been out of the game for a while, the "Rested" experience bonus kicks in. The more rest experiences you have, the more likely you are to get rare drops from late game events. As someone who has very little free time, I love this system - even when my friends are racing without me, I never feel behind. This is another welcome facet of LSOT AK's handicap nuances.

And I haven’t even mentioned sea travel, field bosses, or timed battles. For its breadth of content, LSOT AK is huge, and learning its intricate system means rewards at every step over a long period of time. For what it's worth, after 90 hours, I've completed about 40% of each area and have placed multiple characters well into the second level of the stump content.

Unfortunately, there is so much content that brings an obnoxious amount of currency. You can get silver and gold by playing the game - but getting Royal Crystals requires real money. Crystals are the easiest way to get to Pheons, another valuable currency. Parsing these currencies is a chore in itself, and The LSOT AK will benefit greatly from cutting them down.

But with its endless complexity, diverse end-game content, and of course its stylish action, LSOT AK feels like it's destined to remain somewhat of a phenomenon for quite some time. Getting to the final stage can sometimes feel like a chore, and the economics of the game itself can be a headache - but the rewards upon arrival are worth the multiple treks. Smilegate and Amazon have managed to maintain interest in the title through its full release. The real test, however, will be in maintaining that momentum.