The only thing harder than launching a live-service shooter in the current gaming industry ecosystem might be sustaining a brand-new massively multiplayer online game. Outside a select few mainstays, most fresh MMOs don’t stick around for that long. Book of Travels, a tiny MMO that originally launched in 2021, is about to suffer a similar fate. But in a twist, this is not a story about a promising game forever being lost to the ether.
Book of Travels is a gorgeous, small-scale MMO that makes the player feel like they are exploring a living, breathing painting. While Book of Travels features standard MMO activities like exploration, fishing, and bartering, much of its appeal lies in its open-ended, meditative nature. The developers compare the experience to something like Animal Crossing or Journey. The world operates under a specific schedule, and players can cooperate with one another to accomplish tasks. But not only are the servers small, there’s also no text chat. This allows player encounters to feel more magical than they would in, say, a typical toxic first-person shooter lobby.
Even negative Steam reviews for Book of Travels say the idea was a special one, but ultimately, developers Might and Delight couldn’t make it work. Layoffs and low player counts made ongoing development difficult, and the MMO never came out of early access. Now, as Rock Paper Shotgun reports, the game is being shut down — but this is not the end.
The developers are turning Book of Travels into a single-player experience that will cost $4.99 instead of the previous $29.99. Might and Delight are adjusting the game to make solo experiences viable as well. The studio is adding mod support, so die-hard fans can keep the experience alive in whatever way they want.
