Ultima spiritual successor Shroud of the Avatar has a release date

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Indulge your inner fantasy role-player next month.

Following three and a bit years of Early Access development, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues will launch in full next month.  

After promising a sprawling fantasy RPG that closely reflected the Ultima series, the Richard Garriott-led Portalarium successfully crowdfunded its debut venture to the tune of £1.9 million in April, 2013—accruing almost double its original ask. 

A year and a half later, Shroud of the Avatar entered Steam's pre-release initiative, and has since introduced a wide range of character customisation options, a housing market and functioning economy, multiplayer modes including PvP mechanics within a persistent world, and a single-player offline mode among other things.

Shroud of the Avatar launches in full on March 27, so mark that in your calendar if you fancy any the above. In the meantime, a free trial, which promises "a large amount of gameplay from the base game", can be downloaded directly from the game's official site. 

If you are planning to throw yourself into Richard Garriott's latest MMO, can I suggest you meet the bards whose dedication moved Lord British to tears? If you do, please report back.      

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show