Astonia III
A solo-developed fantasy MMORPG that ran for over 12 years.
Astonia III is a fantasy MMORPG released in September 2001, developed as a solo project by German programmer Daniel Brockhaus as a sequel to his earlier game Mercenaries of Astonia. It transitioned to a monthly subscription model with a one-month free trial at the end of that year. The game's official servers were shut down in late 2014, after which Brockhaus released the source code online.
Quick Facts
- Publisher
- Intent Software
- Designer
- Daniel Brockhaus
- Released
- December 31, 2001
- Genre
- MMORPG
- Modes
- Multiplayer
- Platforms
- Windows
Facts from the source article.
History
Daniel Brockhaus created a small MMORPG titled Mercenaries of Astonia in December 1998, supporting up to 100 concurrent players as a hobby project. Due to growing popularity and a desire to expand, he developed Astonia III, which offered better graphics, more gameplay elements, and improved netcode for hundreds of players per server. Alpha testing began on September 13, 2001, to eliminate bugs and test new features. By the end of the year, Intent Software moved the game to a pay-to-play model with a one-month free trial, and the official servers supported multiple mirrors for larger crowds. Player numbers steadily increased through 2002 and 2003, and Intent Software expanded the game with new locations, gameplay elements, and options. A new server called Astonia 3.5 was released, receiving varying reactions, and both versions remained online simultaneously. In late 2014, Intent Software shut down the official servers after more than 12 years, and Brockhaus released the source code for all his Astonia projects, encouraging fan-made projects with restricted revenue options. The first revivals, Astonia Resurrection and Ugaris - The Legend Recovered, launched shortly after the source code release in 2014, followed by Astonia 3 Invicta (later Astonia Invicta Online). In the 2020s, two additional revivals appeared on Steam: Astonia: The Return of Yendor (later Astonia Remastered) and Astonia Resurgence. In early 2023, Brockhaus collaborated with community developers to update the game client, replacing DirectDraw with SDL2 to support resolutions up to 4K, and adding a minimap, hotbar, and mouse-hovering UI enhancements, released on GitHub.
Reception
In June 2002, IGN previewed the game, stating that the smaller online world impressed with its large amount of content, particularly quests, and that the major motivation for advancing a character was to see the next quest. Adrenaline Vault gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, noting that while not the prettiest title, its gameplay provided good variety and customization. Computer Gaming World reviewed it in March 2003, also awarding three-and-a-half stars out of five, comparing its look to Ultima Online before its 3D transition and its play to Diablo before cheating became rampant, concluding that sometimes the old ways can be the best.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Astonia III released?
Astonia III was released on December 31, 2001.
What platforms is Astonia III available on?
Astonia III was released for Windows.
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