After 26 years, one YouTuber has somehow revived a completely dead '90s MMO

Do you remember watching a video a few months ago, in which YouTuber 'Bind' spent 30 days in a dead MMO? It's been viewed by 3.7 million people, so I'm willing to bet that some of you were among them. I watched it, enjoyed it, and then moved on with my life. It was a fun story, a time capsule of game design from another era, but I thought no more of it. It seems that other viewers had different ideas, however, as now the game has a new lease of life. Its servers are busy, the towns are bustling, and Dark Ages is thriving.

In his original video from May, Bind is surprised that 1999's Dark Ages still has servers running, considering that its once-passionate playerbase had dwindled to a few dozen die hard fans. However, he had a great time in the MMO game, despite the post-apocalyptic feel.

Dark Ages' English version wears its Chthonic influences on its sleeve, as US designer David Ethan Kennerly cites The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath as a particular inspiration. However, the eerie emptiness of a truly dead MMO evoked more Cormac McCarthy than H.P. Lovecraft.

Still, for just $9.95 a month, Bind purchased a subscription and set out to discover the wonders of this game. In just the second minute of his original video, he says that one of his options—if the game is great—is to "do [his] best to help revive it." It felt like a throwaway comment at the time, but his wish came true.

Despite being no closer to his lofty goal at the end of his first video than the start, the very existence of his mini-documentary was enough to turn the tides of fate. What was a frail, sickly game, sustained only by a handful of regular players, has got out of bed and decided to run a marathon. Dark Ages is back.

As well as attracting new players, Bind's video caused countless veterans to renew their subscriptions after decades away. "It almost felt like a new game release," Bind says in his follow-up video, posted a few days ago. The old players welcomed thousands of new recruits, updated the Discord, and were generally ecstatic that their favorite game was seeing so much love.

But this goes deeper. Bind describes Dark Ages as a "player-run" game, which means that more players means more religions, more politics, a better economy, and of course community events. The more players are online, the better all those features are. Original developer Nexon isn't updating the game, and KRU Interactive, which now operates the servers, has "practically disappeared" since a 2020 update which boosted the resolution to 1024 x 576. This game needed players.

With a sudden influx of players and KRU suddenly supporting the game again thanks to that, Dark Ages is as good as it has ever been. It went from a handful of players a week, to averaging 400-500 players at any given time, peaking at twice that number. That may not seem like a lot, but for a game from 1999 with little support from the developer, it's an incredible feat.

If you want to play some similar games, our picks of the best fantasy games are a great place to start. If you're loving that retro vibe, the best old games might be for you.

Have you started playing Dark Ages, or returned to the MMO, thanks to these YouTube videos? Let us know on our community Discord server, where readers and staff hang out.