Cabal Online is a free to play MMORPG created by popular Korean developers, ESTsoft. Cabal Online is set in the mythical world of Nevareth, a world of peace and prosperity that was ripped apart by the evil entity CABAL. There was little left of the civilizations that once thrived across the world, but out of the remaining survivors, 6 Force Power masters rose up and combined their powers to help rebuild the world of Nevareth. Only a few years of peace passed before the masters learned of CABAL’s plans to return to Nevareth and wreak destruction once more. It is up to you, the player, to thwart his attempts and save the world of Nevareth once again.

As is typical with MMORPG Games, your first action in Cabal Online will be to create your character. There’s a decent variety of choices available including Warrior, Blader, Wizard, Force Archer, Force Shielder and Force Blader. I’ve always found myself fond of over-sized weapons, especially ones of the 2-handed variety, as such I chose Warrior as my class for this new player experience review. The character customization is quite in-depth considering the game was originally released 6 years ago. You can choose your characters class and gender, as well as basic appearance options such as face and hair styles, and color. As you confirm the creation of the savior of Nevareth you’re greeted with an interesting prompt that gives you the opportunity to join the new player guild. A guild of 500 players that was constructed to ease new players into the game, a vital feature for a game as in-depth as Cabal Online.

After you’ve loaded up the game, you will undoubtedly notice the huge amount of players. I chose a lightly populated server and a quiet shard and there was still hundreds of players at the starting village. This gives you a real feel of purpose, knowing you’re not playing a game that died years ago, instead you’re playing a game that is still attracting hundreds of new players every day. If you’re able to find your way through the crowds, you can start the tutorial. It’s very basic, you’re asked to visit several NPC’s that give you basic information on the game. Takes a few minutes but eventually you’re sent out on your first combat quest.

Combat is where Cabal Online really excels, it’s fast, fluid and the animations are top quality, especially for a game as old as it is. I was hardly at level 10 and I already felt like I was ready to take on CABAL myself, I was critting like a beast, hitting 4-5 monsters at a time and farming red level difficulty monsters like I was 20 levels above them. That was until I was introduced to my first + level monster. Various monsters in the game have a tougher version that is noticeable by the “+” displayed next to it’s name. After destroying dozens of this monster, I shrugged and thought it wouldn’t be a problem. Alas, I was mistaken and was soon laying in a pool of my own egotistical mess. Although being dead is never good fun, it was nice to know the game had a rare monster spawn system, they’re stronger thus they provide better rewards. Plenty of other MMORPG Games have this feature and I think it really helps when you’re grinding, knowing you have a small chance of getting something really special, if you’re up to the challenge.

There are plenty of other interesting features that I didn’t get chance to experience during my new player review. Cabal Online is famous for it’s Nation PvP system, an end-game PvP situation that combines PvE elements with hardcore PvP. I’ve seen plenty of videos and the general feedback from the players is that it’s one of Cabal Online’s best features. Other interesting aspects of the game include speed bike type mounts, highly dangerous PvE dungeons and enough equipment and items to make any hoarder happy.

Overall, Cabal Online’s fluid combat system combined with the unique item and monster systems makes it a great play for any MMORPG Game fan. Those that are strong enough to reach the end-game will be met with glorious PvE and PvP opportunities, making Cabal Online one of the most content filled MMORPG Games to date.

Rating: 8.0

by Smith