Dominus Automa is an MMO for People with a Life

Dominus Automa is an idle MMORPG that features some wacky game design for people who just don't have all the time in the world, or maybe people who'd just prefer not to grind all that much themselves. It's a relatively new idea that made some interesting strides in a genre I'd considered overall fairly stagnant for the most part.

MMOs have a few pretty hard rules, and Dominus Automa is looking to shatter some of those rules by making the game focus on setting up systems and conditions like Factorio, while still giving you the ability to be in control. This idle game will constantly run for your character, so you can do what you have to while it grinds away doing the boring stuff.

This was incredibly creative to see in action, and I even got some time with it on my own to experience the game from the very beginning, which gave me a better understanding of how things work. This preview will focus on the sort of changes the game is bringing to the MMORPG scene, as well as some things I personally really enjoy about the idea behind the game.

What is Dominus Automa?

At its very core, Dominus Automa is an MMORPG that takes shape in the form of an idle game. That may sound a little strange, and in a lot of ways it is really strange, but really it's just a new way to play an MMO that doesn't involve you being glued to the screen the whole time. This works out great, especially if you may have other obligations outside of gaming that aren't as easy to work around.

The way it works is much like a regular MMO. You'll create a character, pick a class, and then you're off to the races. The only difference is that your character is sort of their own person, not in a rogue AI way, but rather that you'll be telling them what you want them to do. You can do this through messaging apps like WhatsApp or Discord, or you can just type or talk to your character directly in-game.

They may admittedly have some sass to offer you if you aren't specific enough or if you spell something wrong, but they'll generally understand and head off to do what they can. Not everything is automated yet, but you can tell your character to do almost anything, and they'll teleport away to complete whatever task you've given them.

You'll still need to help them out a bit, and can get some finer control over the things they do in various combat situations, with conditions on various abilities. These can range from you or an enemy being at a certain amount of health before casting something, or you can make it based on distance. It can get as in-depth as you'd like it to, but the best part is you can have it do all the grindy parts you aren't interested in while you're gone.

Playing a Game Without Playing a Game

It's an odd concept, right? You wouldn't imagine something like this could work super well, but it's actually pretty nice not having to sit there and micromanage everything. As of right now, you can't control your character beyond setting up the conditions and giving orders, but there's plenty of time for something like that to change.

This makes the game a little more strategy-based and more about planning and coordination than anything else. Even PvP is governed by the conditions you have set up, so getting the best possible setup for your class is the best plan. It doesn't seem like death will be all that big of a punishment outside of slowing down your grind.

You can interact with your character while offline by simply messaging them and giving them something to do. They'll do that indefinitely until they die, at which point they'll respawn and keep going. It gives you a lot of freedom to play the game in the background or not even have the game open until you need to do something with other people.

There are still ways to interact with people and run things like bosses and dungeons, but it'll work a little differently as you'll be coordinating your builds and strategies rather than needing to physically log in together at once, although that's still probably the easier option.

A New Kind of Adventure

This was a super unique concept to me. I'd never even considered the idea that you could have an idle MMO to play without needing to play constantly. It helps to take some of the pressure off when it comes to MMOs that usually demand a good chunk of your time. It's not a game you'll have to sit down and play for hours on end, although that is still an option.

I will say it felt a little strange not playing as my character, but rather playing with them, if that makes sense. You aren't really your character, and instead, you're sort of like their god controlling them behind the scenes. It didn't last super long, but still, it caught me off guard at first.

It's still a really enjoyable experience, especially if you maybe have something else you need or want to do, but still want to enjoy a good MMO. It's got some old-school Runescape graphics, and while the low poly count probably won't change, the devs assured me they've got an artist working on making everything a little more unique.

This game has some really amazing creativity behind it, and it'll be interesting to see where the game ends up when it gets closer to release. While it's got a ways to go yet, I think the groundwork is already there for something that will be truly genre-defining, especially for people who lead fairly hectic lives. You can check out the Steam page to try and get into the playtest and figure out whether this could be something that appeals to you, and be on the lookout for the alpha starting in June.