By Following four years of creation and a victorious Steam early access debut, Erenshor has transformed into a delightfully peculiar single-player MMO crafted by one individual. That singular creator, Brian “Burgee,” mentions that Erenshor’s Steam launch “exceeded my expectations and sales targets by a long shot,” allowing him to concentrate more on game development after envisioning something like this for many years – or, to be precise, decades.
Burgee, as he is known on the internet, informs GamesRadar+ that he’s attempted some iteration of Erenshor “five or six times” through various perspectives and game engines throughout the years. He genuinely began to invest more time and aspirations into the venture when it began garnering attention online.
This wasn’t his inaugural game, nor his first title published on Steam, but Erenshor has been the first to gain such traction. His initial Steam release was a 2D shooter named Azure Sky Project, which he now, somewhat regretfully, labels a “very difficult, nearly inaccessible” game.
“It began as just a conventional open-world RPG, and I was somewhat emulating the early MMO landscape, and I had this notion to perhaps simulate other players being in the game,” Burgee states regarding Erenshor. “I brought it up to the individual who is assisting me with the marketing for this project, and he took it and ran with it. He began discussing it with others, gauging interest, and that’s when everything, you know, all the attention transitioned to Erenshor at that point. I was dedicated to the concept, and from there it just sort of lifted off.”
Burgee is passionately against microtransactions – “I despise buying a game and then being presented with a barrage of other purchases needed to experience the complete game” – and remarks that fond reminiscences of Everquest significantly influenced his vision for Erenshor. Ironically, he has not engaged in another MMO since. “I believe they had a solid formula for combat, challenge, and overall game sensation,” he says of the classic from the 2000s. “And I’ve tried to infuse a lot of that sensation into Erenshor. And I think I’ve come pretty close.”
Welcome to Bellwain Island – Erenshor Seasonal Content – YouTube
“I was raised in an area with very unreliable Internet, and I frequently ended up playing solo during my time in Everquest, discovering many ways to appreciate that experience. I think many players didn’t. They were drawn to the group dynamics and the raiding aspects of Everquest, and I’m just aiming to share a segment of that experience now with Erenshor.”
I mentioned that I ultimately stopped playing Final Fantasy…
14, one of my few MMOs, after approximately 250 delightful hours or so owing to increasing pressure to seek and assist groups. Burgee believed “there’s significant pressure in games to have the ideal build or to achieve the optimal DPS. And I think, by nature, MMOs come with a considerable amount of stress for many players who aren’t seeking that in their couple of hours of gaming they enjoy each night. Removing that is somewhat part of the charm of Erenshor too.”
“For me, in an MMO, a portion of the experience is revisiting content, mastering it, not rushing to transition to the next significant setpiece, and the storytelling in most MMOs I’ve experienced is considerably more understated. You’ll discover snippets of lore. You will come across subtle hints and dialogue, but it’s not cutscenes. It’s not, you know, extensive inter-character dialogue within the game. That’s essentially the vibe I’m aiming for here. If you decide to spend your whole night in a single dungeon farming for a rare drop, you will still have made progress and depart with a sense of fulfillment. And that embodies the gameplay loop I was targeting.”
That loop evidently struck a chord with players. At the time of writing, Erenshor has close to 1,200 reviews with 94% positivity on Steam. Burgee recently unveiled the revised roadmap, addressing issues like endgame challenge and diversity, combat speed, and a major aim: the inaugural raid, currently slated for late 2025 or early 2026.
Erenshor sold over 10,000 units in a single day, which was “more than my first week target,” Burgee states. “That was a day filled with excitement, followed by a sleepless night, and the entire week involved just adapting and implementing minor patches and adjustments. Yet it doesn’t feel real, to be honest. I am genuinely living the dream at this moment.”
It surpassed 30,000 copies sold in its opening month. “Every game developer fantasizes about launching a title, and suddenly their traffic skyrockets, people are discussing it, and there are streams galore,” he remarks regarding the launch. “While there was some anxiety over public reception, a significant part was just the fear of missing out on anything.”
As it began to gain traction, Burgee emphasized that, despite numerous player requests, he does “not intend to add multiplayer” to Erenshor, keeping it as a proudly single-player interpretation of massively multiplayer online gameplay. The greatest irony in all this is that players have done just that, with Erenshor co-op by modder Mizuki receiving fairly regular updates.
“While I certainly cannot endorse this mod in any official capacity, I believe it’s remarkable and definitely worth mentioning,” Burgee remarks.