This gorgeous new pixel-art MMORPG with vibes of '90s classic Tibia comes from a solo dev, and it's free to play

If you've ever questioned why the '90s MMO often pops up as you browse Twitch categories, Ethernia might be a modern way to understand why.

Beyond a big dinner plate and presents in the vicinity of a sporadically lit fake tree, if there's one holiday tradition I can't let go of, it's settling down with one of the best MMORPGs when there's nothing else left to do. But which do I frequent? Well, usually the sort I associate with a holly, jolly Christmas of the past - bumbling around Elewyn Forest in World of Warcraft is usually how it goes, but Old School Runescape's Christmas jingle takes me back, too. Yet, after catching wind of Ethernia, a promising 2D MMORPG set to launch in the festive period, I'm inclined to give it a go instead.

Ethernia, an ambitious retro-inspired MMORPG and delightfully colorful adventure (despite how the trailer preview below paints it), is a lone developer's passion project that's primed to pop on Saturday December 27. A beta from a few months back caught the attention of enough people to have the Steam Discussion page eager for more - and more they're set to get.

So, what is Ethernia? Its store page bills it as a "2D pixel art MMORPG with real-time combat, gathering, crafting, and immersive storytelling." And, well, that's about all it needs for me to give it a shot. Gathering especially. Details are dropping fast as the big day approaches, with the core class mechanics for its active combat system revealed just yesterday.

It wasn't until last week that Pugna Studio settled on the date, and let's just say I'm hoping it releasing in the very last week of the year means it had a clutch completion moment and isn't just being put out to tick the "met the promised release date" box. If it's the former, with said lone coder still chatting with players about potential controller support as I write this up, then signs suggest we're set for a well-supported festive launch.

"No fixed classes" is the sort of gameplay draw you don't see enough nowadays. And with calls to "be an Archer who channels elemental magic" or a self-sustaining "tank that heals allies," I'm sold. Again. One thing to note is that Healer, Crafter, and Tank are billed as separate class trees, making it easy to imagine the remaining four (Druid, Archer, Mage, and… Dark Mage) being damage-focused roles you can customize with the skill and attribute system.

Whether you'll be able to easily reset your skill tree is a question they could do with answering, but learning the hard way feels like a long-lost tradition in MMORPG gaming these days that I'm ready to welcome back. It's free to play, so there has to be a catch somewhere down the line.

Ethernia launches on Steam on Saturday, December 27, 2025. Grab it here if you're up for some retro-inspired MMORPG shenanigans reminiscent of Tibia over the holiday period. Just note the AI disclaimer at the bottom. It's light, noting that all in-game assets were created manually but that "certain marketing and store materials were partially assisted by generative AI tools to support the solo development process." That includes animation work in the trailer, and text-to-speech voiceover in an earlier gameplay demo, but it's important to keep in mind when making your decision.