Black Desert

While Korean MMOs are frequently stereotyped as brutal grindfests, Black Desert does offer one of the most extensive crafting systems ever seen in the genre. While the active, combo-based combat is exciting, there are dozens of career paths to choose from in this dynamic sandbox MMO. You can be a merchant, a fisherman, or devote your entire life to building a massive beer production empire.

This is all due to Black Desert's intricate node system. Each region is divided into nodes that provide various resources, while city properties can be purchased and converted into blacksmith shops, fisheries, or storage depots. Instead of doing all of the heavy lifting yourself, you can hire automated workers who level up and have their own innate skills.

When you're first starting out, it's an intimidating system to learn, but the freedom it provides is unparalleled, and it's unlike anything else in the genre. Spending an evening tweaking your farms and leveling up your workers can be just as rewarding as taking down one of Black Desert's brutal world bosses. If that doesn't appeal to you, the node system also serves as the foundation for weekly guild wars, in which guilds compete to conquer various nodes for special bonuses, making BDO an excellent choice if you enjoy PVP as well.

Steam rating: 7/10

Release Date: 2016

Developer: Pearl Abyss

Payment Model: Buy to play

Buy now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/582660/Black_Desert/

Website: https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/