“Name accepted. Welcome, Akuma Severo, to Armies of Tulgatha. A survival MMORPG with arena and strategy elements. All your gold can be transferred to the real world with a single click of a button. Now you can fund your lifestyle the way you want. Your next step is a guided tutorial, but after that, the lands of Tulgatha are yours for the conquering. Enjoy the game.”

I’ll be honest, I really felt they hadn’t updated the entry message in a long time. Money transfer and in-game work had been a major feature since two years post-launch. Oh well, what’s the point in updating your entry message when you know everyone is going to play. The message could have been “Hey buddy, fuck you.” and people would not only still play, but they’d still pay for extra content with a smile on their face.

I blinked – and the game world appeared before me. It was an idyllic, sunny day with leafy woods stretching behind me, and green fields in front. The feeling of grass caressing between my fingers, and dirt sliding as I shifted position was all so real, even though they were things I’d never felt in the real world. Plumes of smoke rose from a village in the middle of the fields. They say there’s no smoke without fire, and that was definitely the case. Five or six small houses, and two larger ones, were on fire. I was lying on a dirt bank, watching the village burn. Had I done this?

I held a long, gnarled walking stick in one hand, and I was wearing flowing white robes with a gleaming yellow breastplate. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting after the warlock I’d just created. I wasn’t saying I wanted to be evil, but I had definitely been… in a darker colour palette. Still, at least I didn’t have any flint or tinder, so it couldn’t have been me that started the fire. Wait, didn’t I? I checked my pockets. Nope, nothing.

I saw a few people dash between two buildings. Then I saw a man chasing them. Or at least, I assumed that was why he ran after them brandishing his sword over his head. I started to get up. I didn’t know why I got to my feet – there was no way I could get there in time, and I was only one guy, but I had to do something!

A hand came down hard on my shoulder, and I jumped at the shock.

‘Woah, calm down Severo!’ a man’s voice chuckled. ‘You’re on edge. Don’t worry, it’s normal your first time. We’re here to protect that village. Save the people. Make the world a better place. Or at least, that’s my dream.’

I turned around to face him and saw two others behind him dressed in the same uniform. A gleaming yellow breastplate, with pristine white cloth covering them head to toe. Aside from the man addressing me, the others seemed carbon copies of each other with not a hair out of place. Okay, so we were in a group together. I didn’t know what we were exactly – we could be a cult? Cults always wore silly robes, so maybe we had turned to worshipping demons and that’s how I become a warlock that wore all white? Good back story!

‘Uhh, yes, good. I mean no. It’s fine. What’s the plan?’

The man looked bemused by my response but didn’t say anything further on it. ‘Stay focused, stay with us, and stay alert. Also, stay behind us! I’ll tank whoever comes our way, and the three of you do all the damage you can.’

Hmm. This tutorial NPC just said he was going to "tank" something. Seemed a bit meta, but I rolled with it. I looked above the man’s head, and when I focused, words appeared. His name and job. The same appeared for the other three.

‘Okay, Koif. I’m ready.’

We were all members of the Pristine Guard. I didn’t know what that was, but I guessed we were guards. We guarded stuff. This village, presumably, although obviously we hadn’t done a great job so far.

I crawled down the bank towards the group and got to my feet. Koif took a shield from his back and drew his sword. The other two had spears.

‘Now, we don’t have unlimited stamina, so we’ll only sprint when it’s life or death in combat. Until then, we’ll stick to a gentle run. Let’s go.’

Right, they definitely had to have some of their words swapped. “Stamina”, “in combat”, those weren’t normal words. Maybe they were breaking the immersion only for the tutorial?

The three crested the hill and started a very reasonably paced jog towards the burning village. I looked behind us. A sparse forest that would provide just enough cover to make for a pleasant walk in the sun. I wondered if I could ignore what the tutorial clearly intended me to do and run off to explore. Then I remembered I didn’t even know how to attack, so I followed the rest of the Pristine Guard.

We were running through fields of…

Koif held up his hand and crouched. The others followed suit, and so did I. We managed to get our heads just below the plants.

‘Severo, you’ve already managed to see our nameplates, but discovery won’t always be so easy.’ He grabbed one of the surrounding plants and bent it to be in front of his face. ‘If you focus on this, what do you see?’

“Nameplates”. Okay, there was definitely no mistaking that they were ignoring immersion and just teaching game mechanics. I focused on the plant and it began to, ever so slightly, glow. I’d selected the item. A word hung above it, but it was obscured. ‘Umm, nothing. It's just a blurred line.’

‘That’s right.’ Koif nodded. ‘That is how everything will appear until you gain knowledge of the specific item. That can happen organically, or you can study. Let’s try it now.’

I realised that this must be a dynamic tutorial. This was happening because I’d tried to pay attention to the fields we were running through. Awesome!

‘Is now really a good time to start studying?’

The soldiers groaned, but Koif smiled patiently. ‘We’re going to try the organic knowledge first, if that’s okay with you?’

‘Oh, right. Yeah.’

Still holding the plant, Koif said, ‘Severo, this is wheat.’

The instant he said it, the blurred word resolved itself into “wheat”. Neat.

‘Some people would already know this, but presumably you didn’t grow up on a farm. You probably have a city background. This won’t have a huge effect on your gameplay, but it’s something to keep in mind.’

I nodded. ‘Okay, thanks.’

Letting the plant spring back, Koif motioned for us all to continue.

We were running through fields of wheat. I supposed that if I wanted to, I could be a farmer, so perhaps this kind of knowledge was in the game for a reason. Also, I’d be sure to steer clear of any hanging vines or mushrooms with blurry names as I wandered through forests. They’d only be a selectable item if they could help me or, more likely, hurt me.

When we were over halfway to the village, more villagers sprinted between buildings. Again, they were followed by the bad guys, only this time, we were spotted. Three of these ransackers turned to face us, and one ran off deeper into the village.

‘We don’t have a healer, so we need to be careful,’ Koif said. ‘I’ll tank the two on the left, and you three take care of the third ransackers before moving onto my targets.’

I wanted to ask how, but the ransackers had wasted no time hanging around, and were almost on top of us. Koif ran in, and a faint white wisp of a line ran between his shield and two of the enemy. He must have taunted them. The third one kept running towards the two spearmen and me.

On the one hand, I saw no reason why I should need to be up close to attack, but on the other hand, I still didn’t know how to attack, so who knew? Not knowing the penalties for death, I let the two guys with sharp spears go first.

As the three ransackers hit our lines, everyone just kind of stood at a respectable distance and hopped on the balls of their feet.

‘Don’t worry,’ Koif said, ‘combat will normally be a lot faster than this, but for our first fight, we’re slowing it down. Death can be very punishing, so we don’t want that to be your first experience. Your combat abilities will activate now. Check your Heads-Up Display.’

I hadn’t noticed a HUD until he said it, but sure enough, there was a very faint outline to my vision. Once I’d noticed it and thought about it, it became more opaque, and I could see that it was pretty sparse. There was no health, mana, energy, stamina, or anything like that. I had a compass, and six boxes along the bottom of my vision that were numbered 1 to 6. One of them glowed a bright purple, and much like the rock on the character selection screen the corruption etched away a symbol.

‘If you want to do something normal, then you just do it. Try it now. Run up to your ransacker and hit it with your staff.’

I swapped my staff to a two-handed grip instead of the old-man-walking-stick pose I’d fallen into and charged the enemy. One of the spearmen moved aside, presumably feeling the might of my furious charge, and I let loose a mighty swing. I hit the enemy on the arm, and he let out a grunt of minor annoyance. A small number pinged away from his nameplate. “2”.

‘Good shot!’ Koif shouted. ‘Well, it was okay. Don’t worry about it, you’re not a frontline hitter anyway. Try something else.’

I was still standing next to the very actively shuffling, but not really doing anything, enemy. Not knowing exactly what Koif meant, I kicked the guy in the shin. Again, a small number flew away from his nameplate. “1”. The ransacker locked eyes with me and was clearly pissed off.

‘Great job, Severo! You’ve done the most damage, so you gained aggro, nice. Mundane actions like swinging your weapon don’t require a dedicated ability. This is a big advantage physical attackers have over spell casters. To cast even your most basic spell, you’ll need to use an ability which takes up one of your most valuable resources. Ability slots. You only have six slots, but you’ll have dozens of abilities. It will require careful planning to decide what your preferred loadout is. You’ve just had your first ability unlocked. Focus on your ability to use it, and then aim carefully.’

I took a few steps back from the ransacker and looked at the first ability. Shadowbolt. It didn’t say anything other than the name. No idea of damage, cast time, anything. I used it, and my arms flung out, one to the side and one in front, and I felt my mouth move as unknown words spilled from it. A bolt of pure shadow that seemed to dim the bright sunshine around me grew in my rear hand. A second later it jumped to my front hand and released itself, smashing into the house behind the ransackers.

‘That’s the stuff,’ Koif said encouragingly. ‘Try again but remember to aim.’

Fair critique, I felt. I used Shadowbolt again, and this time made sure that my front hand, which seemed to be there purely for aiming as the rear hand did the channelling, was pointed at the pillager.

Again, the shadows dimmed the light, formed in my hand, and then shot forth – but this time the bolt hit its mark. The Shadowbolt spread through the enemy, causing him to shake violently, and for the briefest of seconds turned him a midnight black. Once the spell had dissipated and the colour had returned to the pillager, there was a hole in his clothes where the bolt had hit. A number jumped from his nameplate. “36”. That was a much more respectable number!

The ransacker must have felt so too, as he promptly collapsed.

‘Spearmen, come help me with these two,’ Koif said. ‘Severo, you should notice that your screen is flashing red.’

Sure enough, the edges of my screen had indeed begun to flash red. ‘What does that mean? I didn’t take any damage.’

‘Red for danger, black for death. In Tulgatha, there are four things that differentiate a level one from a level one hundred. Stats, skills, gear, and abilities. Stats are your baseline – things like Strength and Mind. These basic stats dictate how well you can perform skills, and how much damage your abilities do. Gear adds protection and buffs to these numbers, which in turn means you can do more damage and take more swords to the face. We’ve covered abilities, and obviously the more variety the better so you can prepare for any situation. Skills are things that come naturally to you, like perception, or stealth. Everyone can do these things, but some can do it a lot better than others, and they only level up with practice and repetition. Want to be the stealthiest rogue? Then you have to walk around a lot of people and not get noticed. Gear can boost stats, skills, and abilities. But let’s focus on your perception skill right now. When you perceive an unseen threat, perhaps a trap or an incoming blow, your screen will pulse red. Look behind you.’

I spun around, and sure enough, there was an enemy right there, sword raised and about to come down on me. Koif's exposition was easily the most roundabout way of saying “look behind you!” that I'd ever heard.

Luckily the fight was still paused, so the killing blow was stuck above the enemy’s head.

‘Find and use your second ability, and then brace yourself for a hit.’

A new rune appeared on my ability bar. Shadow Skin. I really hoped that I got an ability without the word shadow in it soon. I liked sticking to a theme as much as the next guy but come on.

I cast the ability while my hands did their autonomous thing in a slightly different position, and I muttered some words that in a different time and place would definitely have had me drowned as a witch. My vision darkened for a few seconds and I could see shadow engulf my hands, crystallising and then turning invisible.

The ransacker sprung into action and his sword came down hard on my shoulder. The blade didn’t bite into flesh, my screen didn’t flash black, the pain feedback didn’t activate. A wave of darkness rippled over my body, but that was it. Well, hey, I had spell armour. Nice.

Koif chimed in. ‘There are different types of defensive abilities, but that one is straightforward. Okay, let’s finish these ransackers off.’

I cast a Shadowbolt, intending to one-shot this sneaky guy, but in the middle of my cast the enemy smacked my front hand out of position and the cast stopped. Not just slowed down but stopped. Damn. I tried to cast Shadowbolt again, and the enemy knocked my hands out of position and then whacked me with his sword.

I didn’t have any other abilities yet, and this pillager was just going to follow me if I ran. I was suddenly seeing the downsides to being a caster when you didn’t have any friends to hold aggro.

Koif had said that mundane actions didn’t require abilities, so what could I do? I swung at the pillager, and he jumped back to avoid my blow. I quickly tried to cast Shadowbolt again, but that single step back hadn’t given me enough time. In fact, as the pillager had stepped in to knock my hand aside once more, he overstepped and hit me hard enough to make me stagger to the side. These abilities and mundane actions weren’t set in stone then. They had physics attached and adding momentum to an ability increased its potency. Such a small and simple feature, but it made my brain click into gear. I had to imagine everything I saw with my eyes was real and not a game. I wanted this guy to get away from me, so with the entire world of possibilities at my fingertips, I would… push him.

It wasn’t a skill or an ability, it was just something I could do. I braced my staff in two hands, and lunged forwards at the pillager, shoving him back several steps. His arms flailed as he tried to keep his balance, and I wasted no time in Shadowbolting his head. The shove hadn’t produced a damage number, but the Shadowbolt did. “32”. Slightly less than last time. So there was an element of chance behind the damage system, which presumably meant critical hits were part of the game. Good to know.

By the time I’d finished with my stealthy guy, the others had already begun looting the bodies of their own quarry.

Koif came over to me. ‘I hope you’re not squeamish, Severo, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time rifling through dead men’s pockets. Let’s take a look, shall we?’

Like an eager Australian wildlife presenter, Koif waved me down, excited that I was joining him in looking through the dead man’s gear.

I selected the corpse and picked the “loot” option. A separate window opened, showing his containers. This guy had “pockets” and a “small battered pouch”. Both had a grid next to them that I assumed indicated how much each could hold. The game was pretty intuitive once you accepted a few basic things and just went with it.

‘You’ll see that the grids start blank,’ Koif began. ‘That’s because you don’t know what’s in them yet, obviously. Select one of the containers on the menu, and then “search”.’

I did as he said, and my hands started searching the body without my having to do anything. The developers had opted for an interesting mix between complete immersiveness and automating the gameplay.

Koif continued talking as I looted. ‘If you’re a purist, you can disable these menus, but that’s your choice once the tutorial is over. Now let’s talk about gear. Gear is the best way of powering up. There are no level limits, so in theory a level one player could equip the best gear in the game and he’d be able to beat a poorly geared high-level player. You’ll have to find out the nuances on your own, but just remember this: gear is good.’

A new player can beat a high level one? Seemed weird and unbalanced, but okay. I’d finished looting by now, but the ransacker only had three coins of an unknown currency in his pockets, and a damp bandage in his small battered pouch.

Koif and I joined the spearmen, and we advanced up to the house from which the group of ransackers had emerged.

‘Another thing to know is that all quests are free form and hidden.’ Koif kept a close eye on how things were unfolding in the village square, but my view was only the back of a spearman. A much more sensible place, yes, but also far less interesting. ‘You will earn bonuses by doing what you want to do, but you will also earn negative effects from the logical consequences. Choosing to defend this village will give us a bonus to reputation with a certain faction, but if these ransackers are aligned with another faction then we will lose reputation with them. Now let’s go grind that rep and try a full speed fight.’

Koif took off around the corner, and the spearmen followed without hesitation. I braced myself. No pausing during combat now. I cast Shadow Skin and charged. As soon as I’d rounded the corner, I saw the full scale of what was happening. The village square held six ransackers surrounding a large group of villagers, most of whom were on their knees shaking with fear. The rest were lying face down in the mud – a fate they would all soon share, as the biggest ransacker swung his curved blade down onto the next innocent villager.

Koif and the spearmen were almost upon the enemy, leaving me unseen. I knew that attacking an unengaged enemy would pull aggro to me, so I’d focus on Koif’s targets, burst them down with Shadowbolt, and stay out of harm’s way. If the spearmen did the same, then we could probably take care of this and get some good experience from saving the villagers. I assumed that was a quest, but who knew? Maybe this game didn’t reward you for saving people.

The soft white line ran between Koif and the first three ransackers who moved to meet his charge. The spearmen began attacking, and now that the combat was at full speed, I saw just how lethal it was. One of the spearmen caught an unlucky blow on the way in and fell from the single hit. It hadn’t even been aimed at him, but it deflected off Koif’s shield and slit the man’s throat. I needed to find out just how durable my Shadow Skin was, because without it I was the definition of fragile.

With no time to waste, I cast a Shadowbolt and let it fly towards the enemy. It missed, blowing a hole in the wall of a house on the other side of the square. Right, aiming! This time I focused on where the pillager I wanted to hit was standing instead of what I was casting and fired again. The hit landed, and the pillager fell with a shriek of pain, the actual damage number lost in the confusion of battle. The spearman and Koif had finished off the other two, and we were preparing for the next wave. Four ransackers charged, and Koif engaged. I was about to line up another killing blow, but a voice from behind made me jump.