The Chronicles of Spellborn is an MMORPG set in the Deadspell Storm which is all that remains from the Ancestor world, as it is now called, after the Great Collapse. Within can be found several new places to live. The Shards: gigantic domed caverns containing the sheltered lands of yore within. The Fragments: smaller pieces of the world ripped apart and floating through the Storm with little shielding. The Raftyards: man-made structures of large rocks and boulders, kept together with rope, Levium-crystals and a bit of luck.
In this world the Daevi and Humans born into it are known as the Spellborn and united under the society called the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices. And from their point of origin within the Shard of Quarterstone they ventured deeper into the Deadspell marking the beginning of the Age of Spellborn.
But before the player can enter the world called Deadspell, he has to create a character by choosing between the two races and one of three disciples (Warrior, Rogue and Mage) which divide themselves in three more branches after the character reaches level 5. The mage for example can then choose to be either a Runemage (a typical mage), an Ancestral Mage (similar to a Warlock) or a Void Seer (similar to a priest). Of course the player also chooses the look of his character including the armor and weapon he will carry since neither armor nor weapons have any stats on their own and don’t necessarily need replacement. Instead these items have sign-slots with which the player can increase his stats. Even non-visible items like rings don’t carry any stats but instead increase the amount of signs the player can carry.
After the character is finished, he enters the world and embarks on a journey for experience points by killing enemies and fulfilling quests for the inhabitants which will eventually lead him to the maximum Fame level of 50. At each level he gains several attribute points to invest in his main attributes Body, Mind and Focus and gets access to additional skills and spells and at certain levels to additional skill-slots. But every character also has a second experience bar called the “PeP Rank”. This one only increases by successfully killing things and advances until level 5. At each level gained, some character attributes increase. On level 1 is the base level of all State Ranks (which influence movement speed, damage output and attack resistances) increased by one for example. But upon death the current PeP Rank is decreased by one level if it was higher than 0 before death while the Fame level stays the same.
The main unique feature of the game is the real-time combat system which requires the player to manually aim and evade the targets attack. Attacks are performed by placing the action on the rotating Combat Bar at the bottom of the screen. Each column on it can hold five skills and there are six Tiers available once the character has reached level 50. After a spell or an attack has been performed, the Combat Bar always turns one Tier further. This allows the players to make use of up to 30 skills but also requires tactical planning in the ordering of these skills.
Not only because of the different cooldown periods each skill has and the time limit on which the Combat Bar automatically returns to Tier 1, but also because it is possible to perform combos by inserting a Combo Start and an Combo End action into the columns. Between these two actions the player can perform any skill he has and will do additional damage once the Combo End has been successfully triggered. But the combo ends automatically fails when an action misses the target or the time limit has been reached and the Combat Bar resets.
The game also features PvP-zones, in which every one hunts every one, PvP-arenas and a crafting system that not only allows the creation of individual weapons and armor but also allows the player to change the color of his gear when he has the corresponding dye available.
