This ancient MMO is getting sound 25 years after launch

One of the oldest MMOs around is getting a major new feature for its 25th anniversary, as developer CipSoft has confirmed that Tibia's sound update will land next week.

If you're not familiar with Tibia, it's an MMO developed in Germany that launched way back in 1997, years before the likes of Everquest or RuneScape, and months before even the venerable Ultima Online. Tibia isn't the first MMORPG, but it's one of the very few online games of its era still running today.

For that quarter-century, however, Tibia has had no sound effects or music. Earlier this year, the devs announced that an upcoming update was set to change that, offering a brief clip with a cacophony of appropriate noises playing during battle. You can see - or rather, hear - it for yourself at the 5:38 mark in the video below.

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Now, the developers have revealed that this update will land on September 27, and they've confirmed that, yes, there will be options for how you want to play these sounds.

"It was crucial for us to provide you with choices, to give you various options to customize your own sound experience, to decide which sounds you want to hear and which you might want to mute," the devs say in the announcement. "This allows you to set the pace at which you want to explore this new and fresh aspect of Tibia. It is up to you when and how much you want to hear of Tibia's sounds and music."

It might, er, sound a bit funny to offer that many assurances to longtime fans over a feature as basic as sound effects, but over the course of 25 years, Tibia's players are sure to have developed some very ingrained listening habits while playing the game.

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