Dungeon Runners Reborn enters public alpha: NCsoft’s MMO returns after 17 years

Dungeon Runners Reborn, an unofficial return of NCsoft’s action MMORPG Dungeon Runners, went into public alpha today. That puts the long-dead PC MMO back online for the first time in 17 years. Expect bugs, crashes, half-finished systems, and features that just aren’t there yet. Even so, the Dungeon Runners Reborn team says it reverse-engineered the original server backend so it could run with the original client, which makes this feel a lot more like a restoration than a remake.

Dungeon Runners first launched in May 2007. It mixed free-to-play, Diablo-style loot combat with a fantasy setting that didn’t take itself too seriously. NCsoft pulled the plug on January 1, 2010 because the game wasn’t profitable, reportedly after the team had been reduced to just three people. This revived version is supposed to remain free, with no monetization attached. The usual legal gray area around unofficial MMO revivals still applies, of course, but the Dungeon Runners Reborn developers say they’re in talks with NCsoft, the same company that recently licensed City of Heroes: Homecoming. So far, the response has been encouraging, including public praise from at least one developer who worked on the original Dungeon Runners.

If you used to play, or if MMO preservation matters to you, this early alpha is probably worth downloading rough edges and all. You can jump into the public alpha now through the Dungeon Runners Reborn project and play Dungeon Runners on PC again.