After a bit of playtime after release I would like to inform you, the reader, about what is to come or further inform you before you start your adventure in the world of Lost Ark.

Even though my review is marked as 'I recommend it' think of it as more of a neutral perspective as I will be talking about the positives and negatives of this game and I will try to give a non-biased and objective opinion.

-Main Storyline-
After reading the story of this game I would say that it's pretty hit or miss, It is a standard "You are the hero" story with a few twists and turns in the setting once in a while but one of the main issues with it is that there are only a handful of characters that are constructed and well-written whereas most of other characters are often bland and give a feeling of emptiness. The game does offer a 'skip' button, excluding some main story cutscenes if you are here just for the gameplay.

Lost Ark includes cutscenes, a pretty handful of them, which are nicely animated, feel crisp and oftentimes make you wonder if you are actually playing a singleplayer game, long story short, they are at least worth checking out the first time they roll.

-Quests-
Okay look, you signed up for an MMORPG you have to expect the continuous and painful process of "Go There, Kill That and Come Back" but in this game it is done to an extent that makes me want to close the game after a few hours of playing said missions, to say the least, I have seen games do better with less.

-Leveling-
Since I talked about the quests let's get this out of the way, it's not good, the first time you climb to level 50 should take around 15-20 hours, which is not bad per se, what is not good is everything I mentioned before about the quests themselves BUT to give credit where credit is due, the game does offer what is called a PowerPass which essentially is a instant level 50 ticket which you get when you first hit level 50 and is for other characters that you might want to create, the best part? It gives you 2! In all seriousness though, it is good to have a mechanic like this in case you want to maybe swap classes once in a while.

-Combat-
The Combat I would argue that is the best thing about this game, It is a Diablo based combat system and is one of the things that keep me in this game, the thing that teases me about the combat system the most is that sometimes it can be jokingly easy and sometimes it can be really hard but at the end of the day it's that feeling of power that you get when you make a big mass of enemies just to send them all 1st class ticket to Valhalla with the use of a singular AoE spell, okay that was a little bit of me but let's forget it happened.

-Classes-
Lost Ark offers a pretty good variety of classes each with it's own unique playstyle and moveset whether you like a more tanky "Give it everything you got!" build or a more offensive and spell-based damage build but I do feel bad for you Priest mains out there because, in this game, you'll have to settle with the Bard.

-Overworld-
The Overworld is beautiful with perfectly used colour palettes to nicely fit the environment and setting of the current area that you play in, although the quests of this game are such that make the areas feel forgettable which is rather sad because It's been a while since I encountered such variety of different and unique settings in a single game.

-Dungeons-
The Dungeons are another thing that is really good about this game, each dungeon has a unique mechanic of it's own whether you are riding a hoverboard or exalting spirits with a lamp but if we are going to be honest you can't have an MMORPG with uninspiring, bland and forgettable dungeons, no dungeon feels like the last 2 and that's a really good thing about this game.

-Farming & Gear-
One of the most heated topics about this game and the thing I dislike the most honestly, to cut things short, it's P2W, you can basically buy every item you need to upgrade your gear with the click of a button, and a fine check at the end of the month, if you are a F2P player you might aswell go cry in the corner as you get day-locked and yes the game does include a daily limit to which you can get the materials to actually upgrade your gear and speaking about upgrading your gear the gear upgrading, or rather gear honing, itself is a tedious task as upgrading your gear can fail, YES ladies and gentlemen you can press a button to upgrade your gear and have a sweet 40% of getting nothing in return but of course we do not compensate for anything be that the case. It is evil and it gives a gacha-like feel to it which I personally, and most of you, don't or won't like.

-PvP-
The PvP part I enjoy playing and have had quite a lot of fun playing it but should be treated as a niche as most characters are more powerful than others and I don't think the developers are willing to put hours and money into balancing the PvP side of the game, but you should try it.

-Endgame-
The Endgame gives me mixed feelings, it is a constant cycle of doing your daily Chaos Dungeon runs and Abysmal Dungeon runs then upgrading your gear just to do it all over again, the Chaos Dungeons are all about those massive waves we all love to send flying and the Abysmal Dungeons are the more souls-like bosses of the game but I can't help but think that the game makes you feel like you work a 9-5 most of the time, I mean, what did you expect, really? It's all about that Gear Score isn't it?

-Overall Thoughts-
I believe that Lost Ark is a fine game if you want to give it a go, it is free after all, and it is perfectly fine and understandable if it's not your type of MMORPG or game at all, personally I am annoyed when sometimes the game straight up feels like an MMORPG for mobile with all these gacha elements attached to it but overall I believe that with a couple of friends you can have a great time be that for an hour, ten hours or even a hundred.