The steampunk genre comes alive with the latest addition to the MMO universe, Neo Steam. JoyImpact’s very own MMO may remind you of the cult-classic game Arcanum. Neo Steam reuses Arcanum’s material of a magic-and-science motif and blends in the usual MMORPG elements. However, just like Arcanum’s demise, Neo Steam is on a downward spiral to obscurity.

Neo Steam’s story is briefly explained in the opening movie that disappointingly looks like an old Playstation 2 game. The premise is a conflict over a certain resource called “neo steam,” thus dividing the world into different nation-factions. It sounds strikingly similar to RF Online’s premise, but none of the hardcore PvP aspect. The mettle for resources has not been completely polished in the game, so players are stuck with faction-based PvP. Players from opposing countries can freely fight each other in neutral territory. The reward for player-killing is an item called soul crystal, having varied uses in the game. Apart from that, PvP is quite tasteless in Neo Steam.

Quests are a staple in any MMORPG. Sadly, Neo Steam doesn’t deliver well in this area. Quests relate players to the story, but only in bits of information. Most of the time, the quests are whimsical errands of the NPCs. In addition, these quests are extremely limited per level, forcing players to grind until another task is available. Another annoying feature was the NPC’s habit of sending the player a whisper whenever a quest comes up. Instead of adding a map marker for quest-givers, you’re forced to waste time looking for the NPC instead. The game’s quest tracker was a disappointment as well. It appears as a town NPC obscured and forgotten, listing all possible quests within a 10-level range. Surprisingly, the map markers for a quest appears as a flag on the mini map and a ray of light on the general area, telling you where your current quest is located, a thankful compensation for the quest blunders Neo Steam did.
Controls could’ve been handled better. Sure, there’s the thankful WASD and mouse movement. The keyboard shortcuts are also easy to remember. But Neo Steam’s overall controls are horrendously sluggish and inaccurate. There’s a delay between the button press and the character’s initiation and stopping of movement. You’ll feel a little “resistance” on the game’s end, making it difficult to adjust your character’s position. Attack and skills also have a significant delay in response, which makes timing a trial-and-error thing in every battle. Mouse usage also feels inaccurate. It would sometimes click a tile instead of a target or NPC; it doesn’t do drag-and-drop in shop purchases; and double-click isn’t calibrated at an optimal speed.

Neo Steam made character management very elementary, so much so, that it tests your patience or laziness in playing. Stats are automatically distributed according to your chosen build. Your skills are unlocked and leveled by using skill points and training points. Here’s where it gets frustrating and lazy. The training points are gained not only by leveling up the character, but also through “training.” Characters need to talk to their respective class specialist NPCs to enable training mode. Training mode lets your character sit inside a machine… while you do absolutely nothing. You gain training points the longer you stay idle. Whether this is a good thing or not remains in the hands of the waiting player.

Other features of Neo Steam include the typical guild and party systems. A pet system is also included as a default feature for every player. Crafting and upgrading of equipment is also a staple in the game, however most of the features are only accessible to the specific Machinist class. The game offers different races, mostly for aesthetic purposes only. The classes are available to every race, although some are frustratingly gender-locked. Otherwise, there’s nothing else special included in Neo Steam.
Aesthetically, the developers shouldn’t be proud of how Neo Steam turned out to be. The graphics look like an old Playstation 2 game, chunky and lackluster. There are collision problems causing some players to get stuck in walls and borders. Instead of smoothly appearing in the horizon, structures inevitably pop up instead. Adding insult to that, the sounds complementing the game are repetitive and boring, oftentimes leading to silent moments.
Overall, Neo Steam has a good premise but has been poorly executed. All the staple features found in an MMORPG were delivered in a mediocre manner. It looks impressive on paper, but it fails to live up to its hype. Sadly, just like steam, you can blow this game away.

The Good: Pet system, geographical quest markers, unique steampunk motif

The Bad: sluggish controls, lazy “training” system, limited number of quests

Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Gameplay: 4
Story: 4
Final Score: 5/10