Pretty hand-holdy and not very impressive from the outside. If you told me this game released in 2012 i wouldnt question it

This game is not fun. Forget Runescape and every other MMO, just look at inside of a vacuum. The skills seem to feed each other and themselves purely for the concept of making the number go up.

You cook food, this allows you to cook higher-level food. What do you do with it? Sell it to the store to buy more ingredients to cook more food.

You want to catch fish? There's a fixed number of fishing spots. When you level up, the lower leveled fish disappear and are replaced with higher leveled fish. What do the higher level fish do? Let you cook higher leveled food to sell to the shops.

On every level, this game feels hollow. Like it's missing something, like there's no reward for the grind.

To all the people saying "You're mad because it's not runescape!" Lots of great games aren't runescape. This one in particular just sucks.

So much of this game just doesn't make sense, even for an Early Access.
This is closer to an alpha product, as many of the systems are just not thought out and need to be entirely reworked.
They also made a poor choice to monetize this with a sub already, and also for charging people a higher rate for buying a year of EA vs. people who pay for it month-by-month.
Combat is boring. All the professions are practically the same. The gameplay loop never changes despite doing different activities. ITS ALL THE SAME THING.
Just overall braindead implementation. Hope they can turn it around but in my opinion they should entirely rework this mess and refund everyone who purchased a sub. I was sold on this game because I figured "there is no way the guy who made Runescape could ♥♥♥♥ this up" but here we are.

Let me start by saying I respect Andrew and his team for trying something different with Brighter Shores. But respect only gets you so far—this game feels like a fever dream of half-baked ideas smashed together. Is it ambitious? Maybe. Is it fun? Ehh, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The episodic design is the star here, or at least it’s supposed to be. On paper, it sounds innovative. In reality, it’s like watching a Netflix show where every episode deletes your progress and asks you to start over. Instead of building a character you’re invested in, you’re grinding through disposable content that feels about as meaningful as clearing out your email inbox. And the rewards? Reskins. Lots and lots of reskins. It’s like the devs hit Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V on the reward system and called it a day.

Then there are the skills. Oh boy, the skills. Imagine being handed the same puzzle over and over, but every time you solve it, someone scrambles the pieces and says, “Do it again.” That’s what Brighter Shores feels like. Skills like gatherer, forager, and the multiple combat types are reused so many times, it’s almost insulting. Add that to the grindy nature of the game, and you start to wonder: is this fun, or is this Stockholm syndrome?

And let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: combat. Clunky animation locks, RNG gearing, and a weird damage system that make every fight feel like you’re struggling to stay awake, let alone understand why they designed it this way. Boss fights? Buggy. Movement speed? Turtle-tier. It’s like someone sat down and said, “How can we make every moment of combat feel just a little more insufferable than the last?”

The sad part is, this game had potential. You can see glimpses of it buried under the grind and frustration. But right now, Brighter Shores is less of a bright future and more of a dim flashlight with dying batteries.

So, is it worth playing? If you love grind for the sake of grind, sure. Otherwise, it’s hard to recommend until some serious overhauls happen. Fingers crossed it gets there, because right now, it’s a ship lost at sea.

The Gowers and Fen Research are listening to the players and eventually this will be a big title!

if you have debilitating ocd and enjoy assembly line work, you may like this game

DOWNLOAD ITTTTT<3

Lets get EVERYONE in the world of brighter shores. all the hours we invest will be more then worth it once pvp - boss raids and much more are released ! lets be the ones to run the scene ;)

that gathering crafting loop tho

This game needs far more than just a PvP system and special attacks. I spent six hours searching for something enjoyable but found nothing. It’s like a barren playground—no equipment, no fun—just an empty space where you aimlessly count your steps, walking in endless circles.

I played this game on day 1 in the hope it was able to seperate itself from runescape. After playing for a while the opposite happened, i found myself wanting to feel more runescape dna in the game. Its worth a shot to anyone with an open mind. I enjoyed the ways skills work but didnt enjoy the episode related skills, id rather be given all skills and get better gathering points the further you get into the game. I can see why andrew gower went the direction he did but i feel like i miss the proper open world settings. Its far from a bad game and its constantly updated so im sure it will only get better, although im off it for now i will return in future to see which way the game goes and i recommend anyone to give it a good few hours to give it a chance and see what the game has to offer