A 25-year-old MMO is finally getting sound

In 1997, four German students put their hobby project online: 2D fantasy MMO Tibia. In the years that followed, millions of players in hundreds of countries would log onto Tibia (most of them in Brazil and Poland, where it was most popular), and its creators would found development studio CipSoft. Tibia would become famous for its depth and secrets, with mysteries like a door that wasn't opened for 12 years contributing to its ongoing appeal. It's still being updated today. As the latest Tibia news post informs players, "Next Tuesday, September 27, your game experience will be enriched by sound."

Tibia's developers have been working on audio for the previously silent pixel-art MMO for the last year. Explaining why it took so long, they say, "It was crucial for us to provide you with choices, to give you various options to customise your own sound experience, to decide which sounds you want to hear and which you might want to mute. This allows you to set the pace at which you want to explore this new and fresh aspect of Tibia. It is up to you when and how much you want to hear of Tibia's sounds and music. You can change your settings as you please and choose whatever sound experience you prefer."

The arrival of sound will be preceded by the premiere of Tibia's anthem, "a musical composition which embodies the history, the spirit, the heartbeat of Tibia." You'll be able to hear the Tibia anthem via YouTube on September 26 at 8pm CEST.

"After 25 years," Tibia's community managers say, "this is quite a step but it is one worth taking. We encourage you to be curious, to venture out to traverse Tibia's soundscapes like the adventurer you are." You can sign up for a free account to play Tibia on its official website, and if you're wondering what was behind that door that wasn't opened for 12 years, well, the answer was actually a bit disappointing.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

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