Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen’s New Look Receives Mixed Reactions From Fans

Visionary Realms didn’t quite get the reaction that it expected when it unveiled Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen’s new hand-painted look. While the community didn’t completely hate the idea, they had mixed feelings at best, particularly over the less-gritty art style.

The studio, however, was quick to defend its decision to overhaul the fantasy MMORPG’s visuals in its September newsletter. According to the devs, the update visuals will not only allow the game to age better but also improve overall performance, smiling wolves be damned. The new art style will also allow the developers to create new assets much faster, thereby saving on time and resources that can be better used to develop new features and content or improve existing ones. The studio said that they’ve managed to create four to five times more assets in one month compared to when they were using more realistic-looking visuals.

Visionary Realms also hopes that the revamped visuals will set the game apart from other MMORPGs and give it its own unique identity. “We feel our previous style felt a little too generic and appeared much like many other RPG-style games on an indie-friendly budget,” the studio explained. “With its own identity, something that can be identified as Pantheon, the recognizability and accessibility increase.”

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on word on whether the studio will be hosting any pre-alpha tests this October.