Funcom finally managed to get Anarchy Online onto Steam. The game originally came out back in 2001, and Funcom has been evolving it and upgrading it ever since.

The MMORPG is one of the first of its kind to offer players massive, open-world adventures. Funcom had some breakthrough features, including giving gamers the opportunity to partake in massive guild-versus-guild fights to control massive spaceships that loomed overhead.

The ancient MMO is now available for Steam users to mess around with, including being able to create a character from up to 14 different character classes, as well as being able to customize skills and abilities. Anarchy Online was renown for allowing gamers to be able to modify and customize their characters to suit roles not typically found in MMOs, such as being able to be a trader, or an engineer or a mech operator.

Anarchy Online was also one of the first MMO games to sport player-housing, guild construction and other elements of the sort.

Combat in the game was typical tab-targeting that was featured in most other MMOs, but one of the defining differences is that in Anarchy there was melee combat for those who enjoyed hand-to-hand martial arts, as well as long-range combat for those who liked using pistols, shotguns or sniper rifles, and then were was mech-based combat, and even cyber-punk style hacking manipulation.

Anarchy was definitely a janky MMO but it also had some really innovative features that are rarely used in games today. Vehicular transport was also a big factor in traversal, giving players an opportunity to ride around on futuristic bikes, or fly around in personal planes.

With the game now on Steam I’m curious if Anarchy Online‘s player count will be revived? You can play the basic trial right now by heading on over to the Steam store page, or you can purchase the various bundles… if you’re so inclined.