Paradox Interactive wants you dead. Why death matters in new MMO Salem

Paradox Interactive wants you dead. For good. In an age of respawns, restarts, Vita-Chambers and phoenix downs, the Swedish publisher has announced that its upcoming MMO, Salem, will offer no mercy for fallen players beyond the ability to mourn their old lives and start over from scratch.

Announced during Paradox's press event in New York this Thursday, Salem will be a free-to-play MMO set in early day New England that tasks players with surviving the hardships of pioneer life in 'the New World' by any means possible. As the title suggests, the experience will include witchcraft and other dark themes that, according to Game Designer/Creative Director Bjorn Johannessen inan interview with PC Gamer, will draw heavily from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Tim Burton and Edgar Allen Poe. Among its more macabregameplay elementswill beSalem's 'permanent death' feature which, as Johannessen eagerly explained, will mean that, %26ldquo;When [your character] dies, he stays dead This is unlike many MMOs where you reincarnate in one form or another, but in this case if you die, you stay dead.%26rdquo;

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Permanent death is a video game concept that sounds like great fun on paper, but can be a huge, inconvenient piss-off when it actually happens. It'll be interesting to see how far Paradox is willing to take this concept, and whether or not permanent death will mean assuming an old life under a new name or actually having to relive the horrors of being a complete newb.

Jan 21, 2011

Source:PC Gamer

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Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.