Many years later, the survivors of the great cataclysm awoke in the remnants of their old world. Inside hollow rock realms, known as Shards, floating in the magical Deadspell Storm, this civilization is now fighting for survival. Guided by an ancient entity calling itself the Oracle, players will need to uncover the many secrets that lie hidden in the depths of the past and the unknown expanse of the present.

WarCry: Many games have a clear ancestry in terms of other MMOs that have inspired them. What MMOs inspired Spellborn?

Marco van Haren: Spellborn was created because of the teams frustrations with the current  MMO market. While we played and enjoyed many of today's offerings, we think there are some fundamental issues in most games that need to be addressed. So some of the current MMO conventions were thrown out of the window and replaced by our take on things. The end result is a big NO to Orcs, Elves and useless time sinks and a big YES for player freedom and the emphasis on player skills.

Exclusive ScreenshotWarCry: As a European company, you seem to have planned to hit the European markets first. What are your plans for North America?

Marco van Haren: We have every intention to launch in the US as well. We are currently finalizing discussions with US publishers and we hope to reveal our US launch plans in the near future. While there will be a delay between the EU and US releases, we can ensure that the delay will be short.

WarCry: Spellborn has an extremely distinct art style. How did that style evolve and what do you believe it adds to the game?

Marco van Haren: We wanted steer clear of the current trend in MMOs that tries to offer realistic graphics. We wanted to create a graphic style that oozes atmosphere to create a stronger feeling of immersion. When you create an MMO that you want players to enjoy for many years, you need to create a style that isn't too dependent on the current trend in graphic technology since these types of graphics tend to age less forgiving. We used the European comic style as a basis for our graphics. Our concept artists have a comic background resulting in a more organic style and more coherence. Of course our graphic coders came up with some interesting modern graphic effects, but these are only used when they enhance the atmosphere.