Mythos detailed, will be free

Gamers on a budget who want to get their massively multiplayer online role-playing game fix will have another option later this year with Mythos. The MMORPG is being developed by Flagship Studios Seattle, the Pacific Northwest outpost of San Francisco-based Flagship Studios that was established in late 2006.

For the aforementioned cash-strapped gamers, Mythos will be free to download and free to play. Flagship has not mentioned how it will make revenue off the game, but seeing as how Mythos is essentially a test of the multiplayer technology of its other game--Hellgate: London--profits may not come from gamers.

The game is set in the land of Uld, where players choose between three races--Humans, Elves, Gremlins--and explore. The game will have a familiar feel to the dungeon crawler Diablo, which is fitting as many members of Flagship previously worked on the classic series. Most of the dungeons will be instanced, meaning that they will be randomized to give each party a unique adventure.

Mythos will be available only through digital distribution, and will be released in North America by PingO in 2007.