ATLAS:Release

As the launch of ATLAS quickly approaches, here is a round up of the images we have been sharing across our social media.

As you travel the world of ATLAS you will come across many bustling freeports, each with its own unique culture and people. These areas are level-capped starter zones that allow you to learn the ropes and meet new players in a safe space before you venture out into the great unknown. Where the wind and destiny takes you beyond that, is up to the gods!

At a Western Tropical Freeport, a captain works on making repairs to her boat, while her Lieutenant buys some fresh fishing bait, under the stony gaze of an imposing Discovery Zone monument.

A High Desert Freeport bustles with activity mid-day, with adventurers from all over the ATLAS meeting to buy and sell goods, trade exotic items, recruit for forthcoming voyages, and tell grand stories of their legendary exploits!

An officer in a horsedrawn carriage turns away from a grisly public execution in a Freeport. The resulting uniquely-identifiable player skulls can be used to trade for bounties on them.

Battle for dominance on both land and sea. Form a company, claim territory and apply taxation and behavior rules to that which you own: be a benevolent governor, a feudal lord, or a ruthless dictator. Territory ownership is visualized on your dynamic zoomable World Map, with Fog of War obscuring uncharted regions and Shroud of War hiding enemy territories out of sight range. Contest other government's ownership of land, structures, or ships to expand your empire!

Deep within the Eastern Temperate region, an intense battle takes place as a Company furiously defends their mountain fortress against a cavalry charge aided by mobile field artillery!

Across a narrow inland river bridge, two naval officers duel unto death. The duelist able to load ammo quicker - both statistically via character progression, and also skillfully through active-reload mini-game - emerges victorious with a dual-wielding blast!

Out in the wilderness and away from the relative safety of the freeports are many adventures to be had. ATLAS has full Quest and Waypoint systems, with sub-quests and rewards, for major goals -- as well as procedural treasure maps and challenge zones to ensure there's always something new to find out over the horizon.

A well-geared crew engages soldiers of the Army of the Damned deep in a pirate's cave, on their way to valuable "Golden Age" artifacts of power.

Facing down a group of 'Soldiers of the Damned', a skilled warrior wields a powered-up two-handed mace for maximum attack power!

Having traveled to an exotic island filled with ancient Golden Age ruins, a veteran Pathfinder blasts a blunderbuss into the scaly hide of a Gorgon!

Explorers will voyage to over 700 unique landmasses across 45,000 square kilometers, with thousands of Discovery Zones, and ten distinct world regions each having their own unique resources, creatures, secrets, and environment hazards!

A team geared with gliders soar off the coast of a mysterious jungle island...

Deep within an uncharted jungle, a lone adventurer hang-climbs across a vast chasm on her way to lost treasure, while a wild bear and exotic bird roam far below.

Navigating the jungle river rapids on a rickety raft, an adventurous explorer spots some of the region's wildlife, including giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and tigers among others.

Command the elements with the ultimate winged beast.

Rustle up your crew and build the ship of your dreams in order to set sail on the open seas, and discover the world of ATLAS. Physically sail in real-time across the vast oceans with the proprietary server network technology.

A group of travelers takes a break aboard a roaming NPC merchant trade ship, to do some business with the pilot and relax while their weary bones.

A pirate raiding party engages in heated combat aboard a Royal galleon, seeking to commandeer the enemy ship, as an onlooker prepares to grapple over!

A Lieutenant frantically attempts to put out a deckfire after a 'liquid flame' attack - or was it from fire arrows? Or perhaps the Drake overhead? Buckets can be used to douse fire, bail out a sinking ship, transfer between containers, its uses varying by saltwater or freshwater!

A cannoneer does direct battle with the legendary Ghost Ship, after tracking its progress across the ocean for days to witness its rare appearance!

Be sure to check out our article in PC Gamer: Hands-on with the new pirate MMO from the creators of ARK