Mechanist Games launched a closed-beta test for it’s City of Steam MMORPG a few months back, and I was invited to participate. I was pretty excited to jump in; I love the Steam Punk genre, and I really enjoy a good MMORPG. Unfortunately, I fell victim to the Curse of the Closed Beta. City of Steam sure looked pretty, but it played about as smooth as a T-Rex in a chicken incubator. I played for a few hours, hoping that I would work through the rough spots, but it was all rough spots! The tutorial was clunky and confusing, lag was horrible, and the game mechanics were barely there. I could see what they were trying to do with the game, but I was not in any way impressed.

I wish I had been a better beta tester, because I never went back after that initial play period. I was bored silly by the whole process, but I am willing to admit my mistake and give it another shot. City of Steam is going to a live beta on May 10th, and it looks like the Dev Team has been working really hard on smoothing out some of the wrinkles in the game (and it still looks pretty). For more information, and to register for the open beta, follow this link. I’ll see you in the City of Steam!