Over the last few days, I’ve had the chance to play around with the closed beta of Requiem: Bloodymare. Korean studio Gravity has been working on this new, mature-themed MMO for a while now, so I was looking forward to digging into a fresh experience. The question that I sought to answer was, of course, whether or not I would be willing to continue after the first ten hours. The answer? Despite the game’s unique features, my Temperion quest has come to an end for now.

Three races—the Turan, the Bartok, and the Kruxena—met me at the character screen. Opting for the good looking Kruxena girl, I was thrown into the strange world: gone were the high elves and magic, the forests and low-level wolves. Instead there was a gritty, gruesome, and bloody world full of twisted creatures and lurking evil. Mobs don’t just fall over when they die but explode with blood and limbs flying in all directions.

My adventure began in a dark, dank tomb of sorts, full of giant-headed ogres and mechanical, Big Daddy-like grunts. After quickly moving through the tutorial, gaining a few levels and a new sword, I made my way into the real world.