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Good day everyone, today we're taking a plunge into the medieval muck with Life is Feudal
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MMO. Initially the creators dangled a shiny sponsorship before my eyes. Tempting indeed
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but after delving deep into their world, I chose the path of a stalwart knight, opting
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for honesty over gold. So unsponsored and unbridled, let's embark on this truthful
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journey through a land of dirt, toil and intrigue
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Imagine a realm where chivalry is dead, but bureaucracy thrives. Welcome to Life is Feudal
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a sprawling sandbox MMO that doesn't just simulate medieval life, it throws you in the
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stocks and demands you build your own key. From humble beginnings, armed with naught
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but ambition, you'll chop, craft and charm your way from a lowly peasant to a lord or
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lady of the manor. Now the heart of this game beats within its daunting complexity. Fancy yourself as a bit
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of a mason? Carve out your corner of the world brick by painstaking brick. Or perhaps you're
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more of a Machiavellian type, scheming your way through the ranks, using the political
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system to elbow your way from commoner to noble. You'll navigate a world rife with
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economic skirmishes and territorial disputes where every player's choice seeds the future
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of this digital domain. Guilds are your bread and butter here. Joining forces in true medieval style, you'll forge
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alliances, defend your turf and occasionally, if diplomacy fails, knock some rival helms
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together. It's an evolving tapestry of player driven narratives where your deeds could either
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sow peace or kindle wars. Life is Feudal made its initial debut with Early Access in January 2018, but was discontinued
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in 2021. However, with a new publisher at the helm, the game made a comeback in 2023
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It has now transitioned to a subscription based model, costing $11.99 a month, but no
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initial purchase fee. This new pricing strategy is designed to ensure the game's sustainability
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explicitly avoiding any pay to win elements or microtransactions, while also infuriating
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players who previously bought the game. So strap on your armour, sharpen your wits, it's time to delve into Life is Feudal, an
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MMO that promises a banquet of medieval experiences, but might just turn out to be a battlefield
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Our adventure begins with a rather fetching cutscene, complete with a voiceover that sets
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the stage. I see the star of our hopes. Shortly thereafter, it's on to the task of character creation. Here, you're invited
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to pick a race, though you might find the diversity somewhat lacking, as all options
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bear a striking resemblance to one another. The customisation options are, frankly, underwhelming
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You could end up with a face that looks like it survived a skirmish with a dog, or a particularly
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nasty encounter with a swarm of bees. While the character models themselves boast impressive
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detail, it's the personalisation options for players that fall regrettably short. Next we venture forth to the tutorial island, the land of beginnings, where the game teaches
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you to toddle before you trot. I must confess, a slight mishap occurred when I tampered with
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the graphics settings, turning the whole world invisible. A quick re-log was the only remedy
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to this problem. Once the world was visible again, with my character's head hung low, perhaps a touch
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of medieval melancholy, I spotted something quite fantastical floating mid-air. A rather
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anatronistic sight, reminding me of a magician's misplaced prop. It seems the developers couldn't
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resist adding a bit of whimsy. Consistency be damned. Ah, then we get on to the questing. Imagine if Shakespeare decided to hang up his quill
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and take it easy. The dialogue with NPCs is unvoiced and uninspiring
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Has thou spoken with the elder, they ask. And upon your affirmative, they nod and ask
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no more. A trust exercise that stretches belief. And what grand task does this elder
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bestow upon us? Cleaning chicken droppings and fetching eggs, of course. Because nothing
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says epic adventure quite like poultry housekeeping. But on we trudge through our authentic medieval slog, crafting tools from the very essence
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of the earth. A peculiar aspect of interaction here is the incessant suggestion to left-click
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on everything, only to be rewarded with a riveting inspection of the object. It's a
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marvellous way to practice one's finger-clicking, I suppose. Dare to open the inventory and
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you're met with chaos. A veritable jumble sale of items with no sense of order or decency
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Overlapping icons, mismatched sizes and the glaring absence of a grid system. It's enough
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to make a grown knight weep. Nevertheless, equipped with a laughably oversized fishing
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rod and a newly crafted axe, I venture forth. I somehow manage to wear a tree as a fashionable
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yet impractical back accessory for a solid ten minutes. Moving on to hunting, I became a veritable tracker, following animal signs with the persistence
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of a bloodhound. Only to find that my quarry was as elusive as a satisfying plot twist
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in this game. The hunting saga concluded not with a triumphant feast, but with a face-off
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against a surprisingly aggressive deer. After a ballet of mis-aimed throws and axe swings
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it turns out my quarry had more fight in it than previously suspected. Yes, this seemingly
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doctile creature turned, charged and sent me to my untimely demise. There I lay, struck
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down not by dragon nor knight, but by Bambi's vengeful ancestor. Truly, life is feudal is
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full of surprises and death by deer is apparently among them. Thus, armed with a scant tutorial
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and a fleeting sense of purpose, I boldly set off for the mainland, skipping the remaining
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quests in favour of a direct voyage on a peculiar arrangement of floating boats. Upon arrival
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the fun relentlessly persists. It quickly dawns on me, much like a medieval epiphany
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that my stomach was protesting its emptiness. A mysterious green bar had been lurking in
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the corner of my screen all this while, unexplained and unnoticed. Only to reveal itself as my
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hunger meter, an unfortunate oversight or perhaps a cruel twist of medieval fate, I
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was left as clueless as a monk in a brothel. Stripped of my possessions and donned only
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in what can generously be described as a medieval nappy, I faced the wilderness with nothing
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but my wit and an unfathomable hunger. Scrounging the ground, I summoned forth mushrooms as
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if by arcane wizardry, only to discover that my culinary journey was just beginning. Who
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knew that the brink of starvation would have me yearning for a dish to make Gordon Ramsay
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weep with envy. My quest for a simple meal of mushrooms and potatoes turned into a Homeric
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Odyssey. I needed fire, but not just any fire. I needed a legally sanctioned fire
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on a plot of unclaimed land. The real estate market here is as brutal as the feudal justice
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system. After much toil, a fire was birthed on my tiny sliver of the realm. But alas
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the cooking saga continued. Water was now needed. My aspirations of tossing a potato
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into the flames were dashed by the relentless realism of the game. The nearby well-attempting
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oasis turned out to be private property. Thus, in a fit of desperation, I decided to run
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Run towards the promise of the sea, hopping against hope that the salty expanse wasn't
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yet another asset owned by the realm's elite. As I ran through this expansive, laggy map
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a sense of desolation set in. No players, no enemies, just an empty, sprawling canvas
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with the occasional deer making a cameo appearance. My previous session echoed this loneliness
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with the global chat as deserted as the landscapes I traversed. Finally, I spotted what looked to be
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a human silhouette on the horizon. I slowly approached, hopeful for interaction, but was
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met instead with my demise. Thus ending my journey not with a bang, but with a whimper, or rather
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a stealthy stab. Life indeed is feudal. Reflecting upon my hours spent in this world
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I am compelled to confess, life is feudal and I am not destined to be companions on the path of
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virtual escapism. Despite my usual enthusiasm for MMORPGs, from the retro charms to the slickest
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modern iterations, this game left me cold. With scant direction post-tutorial, a glaring absence
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of community and a gameplay loop that revolves largely around just surviving rather than any
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form of enjoyment, it felt more like a medieval simulation of existential dread than a game
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Perhaps if I had persevered, I might have forged a life of material gathering and homestead building
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yet in some ways my untimely death felt like a merciful release from a world where living
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felt more burdensome than dying. In the stark landscape of life is feudal
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it seems, there was little indeed worth living for