Before World of Warcraft, there was EverQuest. Then, after that in the same year in which WoW was released (2004), came EverQuest II, the follow-up to one of the most successful early MMORPGs and a success in its own right. Nearly twenty years old, as I am writing these words, EverQuest II shows it in terms of mechanics and gameplay but given the retro nostalgia inaugurated by games like Blizzard’s recent WoW Classic, does this title have something to offer modern gamers? Or perhaps enough to lure veterans back to private servers for some role-playing greatness? It depends on how much you value nostalgia or how aching you are to experience gameplay from nearly two decades past, but EverQuest II still remains a solid outing even to this day and should prove a fun time depending on what your reasons are for coming to the party this late in the evening.
How to Download EverQuest II
To download the game, click on the button that is located below this review.
The Game Review
First, let’s start by explaining that, even though EverQuest II is quite old, it is still very much alive in terms of the development of new content. Managed now by Daybreak Game Company (taking over from game creators Sony Online Entertainment,), the most recent expansion for the game dropped in December 2019: Blood of Luclin.
With continuous additions since its release in 2004, EverQuest II is perhaps one of the richest MMORPG worlds out there with more to do, see, and experience than most games. In fact, it joins the ranks of Square’s Final Fantasy XI, RuneScape, and perhaps Blizzard’s World of Warcraft in terms of having a depth of content and a legacy stretching back decades. That’s all well and good if you’re into it, but will you be into it if you’ve never played EverQuest II before? After all, the game is, at its core, still quite antiquated by some modern MMORPG standards.
It depends on what kind of experience you’re going for in the end. One problem for new players entering games on the scale of EverQuest II is that there are few people who are just starting out in the game. This makes for a very lonely experience in much of the early content and, at worst, until the endgame itself. That brings up a second issue with many older MMORPGs and that is the race to max out a character’s level at the expense of proving any kind of vibrant, living, and somewhat realistic world. EverQuest II suffers from both of these but making friends is still possible and is perhaps the best way to play the game.
The Bottom Line
From an all-around view, EverQuest II still holds up after all this time. It’s a fun game that should provide plenty of challenge to people more accustomed to the hand-holding of modern games. For veterans, things haven’t changed so much that this game won’t be like a homecoming for you. But you do have some catching up to do and, depending on your level of commitment, that could be a good or bad thing. Overall, EverQuest II is a very good thing, even now, and something to be experienced by all true connoisseurs of MMORPG games.
