RPG Planet has taken a preliminary look at a new tile called Shadows of Reality, in development by Nevolution. There are two reasons Mac users might want to get excited over this little-known game: It utilizes the Unreal Tournament engine, and it will eventually become a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG. With other UT-based titles like Deus Ex and Rune being ported to the Mac OS with clockwork regularity, it seems likely that Shadows of Reality might be a good way for Mac users to get in on the MMORPG action that PC gamers have been enjoying for years.

It should be noted that Nevolution have yet to secure a publishing deal, but the preview at RPG Planet makes it sound like they shouldn't have too much trouble. Shadows of Reality will be a futuristic RPG and seems to have many similarities to Deus Ex, which can only be a good thing. Here's a quick breakdown of the game from the preview:

Nevolution has a grand project on their hands: a Massively Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), from a first-person perspective, which combines role-playing, character advancement, a live world, and lots of action, all in a futuristic, cyberpunk backdrop rich with story. Ambitious? Definitely. Possible? Maybe. That is why they are skipping the multiplayer part first, and creating a single-player game with the same backdrop. The single-player will be a stepping stone to build the MMORPG, and it's name: Shadows of Reality.

• An epic RPG storyline: with branching plots, intricate conversation systems and a large and varied cast of characters.
  
• Go anywhere in the fully realized and detailed city of North Cal; from the elaborate penthouses for the richest CEOs at the top of the world to the sludge filled sewers beneath the crumbling ruins of old San Francisco.
  
• Use an amazing array of cyberpunk technology and gadgets, including bioelectric implants, advanced weapons, cybernetic enhancements, working communication and information systems and even a set of expandable glider wings to move from rooftop to rooftop.
  
• The first truly realistic depiction of cyberspace in a game, where you truly can do and be anything you want, as long as you have the right code.
  
• Create any kind of character you like using a unique and powerful skill based system. If you want to be a doctor, jack into the medical simulators and learn 4 years of knowledge in 10 minutes.
  

There really isn't a reason why SoR, in it's single player form at least, shouldn't get at least a strong consideration for a Mac port. That is one strength of using the UT engine, that it's relatively easy to move content from one platform to the other (as already seen in cases like Rune and Deus Ex). Now, as for the MORPG I agree that the Mac users desperately need one -- I remember last year me and my wife fighting over the PC to play Everquest and wishing we could use the Mac for it as well and considering trying VirtualPC hehe. Probably we would have to wait to see if 1. We still use an Unreal-based engine for the MMORPG version of SoR and 2. if massive-online Unreal based games like Dark Sector are ported over to the Mac successfully with network code and everything intact. I imagine it might be a better chance when OSX is released, and making a MMORPG port native to that ...

Nevolution Web Site

Shadows of Reality Preview at RPG Planet

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