Re-created from the original 2004 MMO of the same name, the Snail development team is now focused on gaining feedback from players in the upcoming weeks in order to hone game mechanics such as questing, leveling, dungeon design, and PvP mechanics.

Dark and Light's massive sandbox world takes the storyline beyond the traditional MMO, delivering a unique blend of MMO and survival mechanics. Players have the freedom to develop settlements, unlock magical abilities, fight for their tribes, or just enjoy exploring the world’s many distinct environments. Dark and Light's use of Unreal Engine 4 guarantees superb visual fidelity and advanced physics, providing players with a rich and stimulating gaming experience in an ever-changing virtual world.

Dark and Light is a persistent, living world, with a heavy focus on combat where movement and battle have shifted from third-person tab-targeting to an action-based FPS-style system. The game features active participation through dodging, where precise aiming along with managing skills and magical abilities are the keys to victory. Players need not enter the fray alone, as many of the world’s creatures can be tamed and used as mounts to gain a tactical advantage in battle.

Dark and Light features environments inspired by real-world locations, including volcanoes, snow-capped mountains, swamps, plains, forests, jungles and more. Additionally, Dark and Light showcases beautiful fantasy biomes, such as a series of floating islands where players will encounter more than 50 unique species of creatures as they traverse the landscape. These aren’t just mindless, cut-and-paste mobs either – each has been meticulously designed to fit seamlessly into their respective habitats and will behave as though they had naturally evolved in the world.

In the game, players have many options when constructing their home base -- such as utilizing a variety of building materials from straw and wood to metal and stone, purchasing housing in a chosen city,  or purchasing materials to replicate desired models. As another option, players can collect magical workbenches to craft special high-level materials that feature magical capabilities.

Dark and Light gives players the freedom to construct their home base virtually anywhere they want in the world. With only a few restrictions, such as building within existing cities or dungeons, players can pick a spot and start building their own fortress.

Building materials come in a variety of sizes and strengths and range from cheap, weak materials such as straw, wood, and stone, to more advanced materials such as metal or giant castle-sized components. You will start out by manually gathering simple materials like wood and straw with basic tools and progress to craft more advanced tools to mine stone and metal elements. There is a need to advance your magic skills to extract rare, valuable elements for high-tier building materials.

Adventurers who don't like the idea of constructing a home in the untamed wilderness can purchase housing in their starting city. But beware - the cities themselves aren’t completely impenetrable. City-dwelling players can help defend their home from foreign invaders by constructing unique magical fortifications. Each of the cities - Vardo, Zaharul, and Estel - have their own architectural style which players can study and emulate when constructing their base.

Building large fortresses requires a lot of resources so strategic building plans are important. Players can craft inexpensive “preview” materials that can be used to construct full-sized models before placing real materials. While it’s possible to build almost anywhere in the world there are a couple of limitations; the ground must be flat and the structures not too close together, to avoid overcrowding and griefing by blocking another player’s construction area.

Materials can be crafted anywhere in the world but there are special high-level materials that can only be constructed with a workbench or magic workbench. Getting your hands on these workbenches as soon as possible is important for any serious adventurer. The magic workbenches can create magical weapons, materials, spells, and generators that provide elemental energy, making it a critical part of developing a full arsenal of tools and weapons to help you survive in Dark and Light’s world.

Dark and Light is a departure from the traditional MMO with unique progression mechanics including:

• Mysticism and Magic – No matter which path a player chooses, they will incorporate magic into their skill set as they develop. A limited pool of skill is allocated to level up, making it crucial for players to plan early to ensure they end up with a character they’re satisfied with.
• Free Sandbox Exploration – Cut scene-driven storytelling and instances are emphasized over questing. After siding with a faction (which determines the player’s starting city), the world opens up, enabling players to develop their character the way they want. They can take the role of a skilled artisan, ferocious warrior, a happy-go-lucky explorer, or anywhere in between.

While it's possible to survive as a lone wolf, it's a long and hard path that many players won’t be able to handle. Dark and Light’s survival aspects can be extremely draining, as hunger, fatigue, illness and attacks from other players and wild creatures will take their toll. There will be no quests or tutorials, so learning about the world quickly is vital if players want to thrive. It is extremely important to support each other and grow together in order to progress.