Six years ago, Ankama Studios showed players that 2D graphics and turn-based combat could be the foundation of one of the largest communities in the world. Now they're back for more with publisher Square Enix!

If this sounds like a rather odd storyline to base an MMORPG on, it's really because your adventures have very little to do with Ogrest himself. While most MMOs like to establish an arch-nemesis for players to conquer, Wakfu is really all about becoming part a nation to help restore the ecological balance of the world after Ogrest's nonstop tears flooded everything.

You heard me right.

In Wakfu, all resources are finite, and the only people in charge of replenishing and balancing those resources are the players themselves. In other words, if you cut down a tree for resources, not only will that tree never grow back again, but if you decide to cut down all of the trees in the entire zone, then you could literally make that tree extinct. The same goes for monsters! On the other side of it, however, all players with the right profession can also replenish the plants, trees and monsters in an area by "planting" more of them. As a trapper, for example, I was taught to extract "monster essences" from the critters, so that if I ended up killing too many of them (thereby upsetting the balance of ecology in the zone), I could also plant more to bring those population numbers back to their healthy numbers.

Of course, Ankama has also put in some safeguard measures for those players who decide to wantonly eradicate key parts of Wakfu's ecology, as each zone is under the jurisdiction of a clan leader. These NPCs have their own idea of what, ecologically, the zone should look like. Doing actions that move the ecology of the zone closer to the "desired" level (i.e., helping to cull an overpopulation of Gobbals in a zone, or replenishing a dwindling supply of trees) will earn players citizenship points, which gives them access to certain political features of Wakfu. Alternatively, if a player decides to work against the wishes of the clan leader by really mucking up the system, they can go into negative citizenship points. They will then be declared as "Outlaws," and all other players will be able to attack that player.

In essence, this system of balancing ecosystems and placing responsibility upon the player community is a perfect representation of what Wakfu is all about. While there are your classic dungeons to be explored and treasures to be found, Wakfu is really focused on creating massive communities of players who can work together (or not) to restore balance. As to whether or not players in this day and age can really contribute to this vision remains to be seen, but Wakfu is certainly a refreshing interpretation of the MMORPG genre.

Chris "Pwyff" Tom, Senior Staff Writer