Salem is a Java based free-to-play MMORPG for PC, subtitled the Crafting MMO, currently under development by Seatribe and scheduled for release during 2013. It is the spiritual heir of Seatribe’s first MMO Haven and Hearth, borrowing many features from its predecessor. The game is set in a fantastic 17th century New England featuring witchcraft and lovecraftian creatures. This world is persistent and mutable, meaning player characters will be able to make permanent changes to it by destroying and building landscape and houses etc.
Gameplay in Salem is focused on all manner of crafting (farming, building, invention and so forth) and developing required character skills for doing so. It also features free-for-all PvP combat with the possibility to permanently kill player characters. Taking place in the time of the first Pilgrims, Salem lets you live as an explorer in the new world; building your settlement, learning new skills and maybe fight with your neighbours. The only place in Salem not built by the players is the main city Boston, which is a safe-zone where one can meet other players, trade, converse and enjoy the social aspects of the game. Outside of Boston only wilderness awaits, and the further you come from civilization the darker and more dangerous the world around you becomes. Until you reach the deep lumberwoods and no longer have to fear Pilgrims but instead witches and hidebehinds…