Lapisium – the mineral that had brought Kyrenia North from the Middle Ages into a new mechanics-filled era – was not as perfect as it seemed. Archie, the person who had the control of most of the world’s Lapisium supply, became the most powerful person in Kyrenia. However, he was neither a fair nor merciful ruler.

His iron-fist rule made him very unpopular among his people and they tried to engineer his downfall, but Archie was not helpless either. With his incredible wealth, he had recruited anyone who was willing to bury their morality for coin and had amassed a huge fleet of zeppelins and mechanical beings to do his bidding. All seemed lost... that was until you arrived. Would you be able to save the people from Archie’s tyrannical rule in Kritika Online?

To uncover the rest of the story, you needed to play the game, but to do so, you required a character to play as. The game offered 4 different character classes, including generic classes like the burly Warrior and the agile Rogue, to the scythe-wielding Scyther and a Mage who was proficient in both shooting out magic and bullets. There were advanced classes you could unlock at level 15, and you were also free to create more than 1 character. That being said, the character customization in this game might not have been as extensive as some other MMORPGs (Hint: Echo of Soul), mainly due to its fixed gender, but it was sufficient for you to create a character that was uniquely you.

The core of any MMORPG was its gameplay and I’ve got to say – Kritika Online excelled in that aspect. With its fluid action-based combat, you were able to perform some incredible maneuvers like evading enemy’s abilities or changing direction in mid-air while jumping to avoid danger. There were also combo abilities that were unlocked when certain skills were linked up, as well as other combat details like that “Back attack bonus” which you could use to maximize your damage.

Questing in Kritika Online was very similar to Dragon Nest – it was stage/instance-based. Unlike most open-world questing, you had to enter instances to complete your quests. Each instance had 4 difficulty levels which unlocked one after another. If you realized you needed help with any of the instances, you could use the Party Search option to band up with other players.

The best part about these instances, though, was its boss encounters. Most of these encounters were preluded with a short but powerful cinematic, and well, bosses were the only enemies in the game with multiple abilities in their repertoire of skills. These challenging fights definitely kept you on your toes! There were also plenty of other PvE-styled instances like the Crusade Instance, the Ether Stage, or the Boss-only Stage that you could enjoy. For PvP, though, Kritika Online might have been a bit lacking in that department. They offered an Arena-based PvP which players could only queue up for after level 60.

Similar to most MMORPGs, in Kritika Online, you had to constantly upgrade your character, be it in terms of its skills or equipment. Skills in this game could be improved by investing skill points which could be earned with every level up. On the other hand, you could add soul stones to your equipment via the Jewel Funie to buff it up, or you could simply strengthen it with stones and runes at the forge. You could also salvage unwanted items to clear up space in your inventory for parts, or you could sell them off at Auction for some extra cash.

Interestingly, Kritika

Online had this Fatigue points system that helped you regulate your playtime. Every instance you entered would consume some of your points and once you ran out of points, you wouldn’t be able to play and would lose your Fatigue Payback Buff. Don’t worry, though – your points would be refreshed daily.

Kritika Online was definitely an MMORPG that appealed to fans of Dragon Nest. The gameplay was pretty similar between both types of games, but the graphics in this game looked a lot more mature. That being said, the MMO lasted only around a year and a half before it was finally shut down. Thankfully, another publisher, ALLM Co Ltd, picked up the game and relaunched it under the title, Kritika: REBOOT, but that attempt is also quite short-lived.

The latest reiteration of Kritika Online, known as Kritika Global, is rebooted by the same publisher and essentially features the same gameplay, but you might want to be a bit wary if you're a spender. There has been plenty of complaints that the publisher has refused to issue refunds for the same game that they have "rebooted" at least three times before. In addition to the "no refunds" policy, they did not allow spenders to restore their purchases in every reboot either.