This immersive old-school MMORPG captures the magic of early World of Warcraft, and it's turning veterans into pigs to help new players out

There’s nothing quite like taking your first steps into a shared universe. Whether it was the early days of World of Warcraft that first drew you in, or the likes of Neverwinter Nights, EverQuest, Ultima Online, or Runescape, the tangible sense of exploration and discovery is what made the best MMORPGs truly special. Nowadays, the focus is typically much more on guiding the player through those early hours and making sure they know exactly what they need and where to go. Project: Gorgon is a throwback to those magical experiences, stripping out guardrails to immerse you in its fantasy realm. It’s just hit 1.0, and developer Elder Game is about to launch a fresh-start server with a rather unique twist.

Project: Gorgon first entered early access back in March 2018, and it’s been quietly plugging along with a small but dedicated community ever since. Eight years on, and the 1.0 launch is here, with a raft of additions including all-new character models, the arrival of the capital city of Statehelm, training to level 100 “and beyond” for all of its combat skills and most crafting skills, and a variety of new systems.

Elder Game says it wants Project: Gorgon “to feel as if you’re immersed in a whole new virtual world.” It doesn’t guide you to its secrets, but includes lots of natural-feeling mechanics that you can intuit. NPCs each have specific goals and will reward players that help them. Shopkeepers maintain a persistent inventory, meaning you can buy any items that other people have sold to their store. You’re able to inscribe items, write books, and leave notes that other adventurers can read.

There are no pre-determined classes in Project: Gorgon. Instead, combat skills are “entirely free-form” and you’re able to learn as many as you want. Combine standard favorites such as sword or staff combat with the likes of animal handling, necromancy, battle chemistry, or unarmed grappling. You can even employ strategies in battle such as fighting fire mages near a lake so that you can douse their flames by jumping into the water.

Sometimes, your choices can have long-reaching consequences: become a druid and you can transform into various animals, but you must vow to protect nature at all times. Adopt lycanthropy and you’re able to turn into a powerful wolf – but it’ll be forced upon you for three days with every full moon. Committing to either of these is permanent for your character, so make your decision carefully.

Speaking of animal transformations, another fun foible of Project: Gorgon is that you can be shapeshifted into all manner of creatures through various potions, enemy spells, or events. These aren’t simply temporary debuffs, but persistent effects. Whether you become a cow, deer, spider, pig, fox, spider, or something else, it’ll last unless you go through a rather involved process to remove it.

These beast forms might technically be curses, but they’re also viable ways to play, complete with their own ability sets. Cows make great tanks, for example, capable of shrugging off enemy attacks and chewing the cud to heal themselves. Pigs can act in a support role, able to heal and buff allies, punt enemies around the battlefield, and even inflict fear on their opponents with a squeal.

All of which brings me to the new ‘fresh-start server’ that’s expected to open in the coming days. Elder Game announced this in response to the massive surge of interest for Project: Gorgon 1.0, as a way to account for the divide between newcomers and long-time veterans. “We heard from a lot of players that they won’t be buying until they can start on a fresh, clean server.”

The new server will be the same in every way, but characters will not be allowed to move between it and the old realm. The developer isn’t stopping there, however. In an attempt to put a bit of a dampener on any expert players looking to race ahead in the fresh-start world, anyone whose account was made before December 1, 2025 and who has racked up more than 40 hours of playtime will be forcibly transformed into a pig for the first week. Unlike the normal beast form, this effect cannot be removed.

“We’re calling this the ‘support pig’ effect,” Elder Game writes, “because the pig is an excellent group-support skill, and we’d love for you to help support newbies this way (but of course your actual actions are up to you). We hope long-term players see this for what it is: just another challenge for you to conquer. Even with this extra wrinkle, we still expect to see level 50/50 players dancing in Serbule by the end of the second day. But they’ll be pigs.”

Project Gorgon 1.0 is available now on Steam, with a 25% discount available through Wednesday February 4. Expect to pay $18.74 / £15.74 if you buy it now, or $24.99 / £20.99 after the sale ends. You can also download a free demo that allows you to “explore a large part of the game and learn dozens of skills.” You’ll be capped to level 15, but your character can be kept if you decide to buy the full thing.

If you’ve already been playing on the existing server, you’re free to keep going on your old character. Elder Game says it decided against a wipe for 1.0 back in 2021 because “it became clear that too many players were ‘waiting for after the wipe,'” and it made testing too difficult. If you’d rather hold on for the fresh-start server, it should be made available within the coming week.