I emerged from the end of the dark tunnel spattered with blood and with five more goblins added to my kill tracker. It had been smart not to go down the tunnel wounded—the little buggers popped out from the shadows unexpectedly and had ganged up on me twice. It was only thanks to my quick reflexes and an excess of caution that I’d avoided further injuries, but despite the danger I was really starting to enjoy the combat of this crazy game. I’d thought action fantasy games like Dark Souls or Skyrim were the pinnacle of fun in-game battling, but those games had nothing on getting to use your real, actual muscles to chop through bad guys.

Now I stood in another wide, dusty room just like the previous one, only this time I was surrounded by suits of stylized armor on mannequins that lined the walls to my left and right. Polished steel platemail gleamed on some stands, while colorful feather-adorned leather or gold-embroidered purple robes draped across others. Across from me was a portcullis lowered over the entrance to another dark tunnel, and my HUD blinked to a new instruction: “Choose your class.”

Finally, I was going to get some armor! But class choice could be really important for more than just armor, since I had no idea how permanent it would be. Some games were more skill-based and allowed you to mix and match abilities freely, creating a custom build that suited your playstyle. Other games locked you the initial path choice and gave you thematic skills and abilities only for that class. I wasn’t sure which type of game this was yet, and I also didn’t know if respecialization would be possible later.

I scanned carefully through my options, not even surprised any longer as my HUD gave me details about each choice as I studied the equipment sets. There were eight classes to choose from, four on each side: Two tanks in plate (Paladin and Warrior), two DPS classes in leather (Rogue and Monk), two support classes in cloth (Priest and Wilder), and then one cloth DPS and one leather support class (Mage and Druid, respectively). Interestingly, each one also had an initial stat layout listed above them, giving me a new lens into how the game worked. There four stats listed were pretty standard: strength, agility, spirit, and vitality, and it was obvious what each one meant even if I couldn’t be certain how they impacted the game world yet.

Historically I tend to enjoy playing tanks and DPS classes the most. I like the versatility and fun offered by casting classes in lots of games, and it was even more tempting to play a wizard-type class in a game where I could literally shoot magic out of my hands. I imagined laughing gleefully while torching enemy goblins with streams of molten flame, and that was almost enough to sell me on “Mage” from that mental image alone. I walked over for a closer inspection of the gold-embroidered robes worn by the Mage mannequin. My HUD spouted more details as I approached:

Mage

Cloth | Spellcaster/DPS

Mages are arcane casters which can specialize in various spell schools over time and branch out into more specialized classes like Evoker, Illusionist, Necromancer, and others.

Starting Statistics:

Str: 10

Agi: 10

Spi: 30

Vit: 10

I liked the sound of specialization, and it was good to know that more classes were available in the game than the eight I saw here. There was one wrinkle here, though, and that was that combat was a lot more dangerous in this world than I was used to in other games. It’s fine to play a glass cannon clothie when getting ganked just sends you on a quick corpse run, but I remembered how much it had sucked when the goblin shattered my knee. For all I knew, dying might be real here—why not?—and using any class without good defenses would mean I’d have to play an avoidance and cover game. And what if I ran out of mana? Mages were ultra-vulnerable a lot of the time, especially early on. Until I had evidence to the contrary, I should assume that I was putting myself in real, life-threatening danger with every combat.

But since it was clear I couldn’t avoid combat in this world, I should probably pick a class that offered either more durability or some healing powers. I’d already seen the power of healing magic with my Mend spell, which had been pretty amazing. So maybe I should be looking at the priest classes instead? I turned to examine the Druid leathers, which were colored in rich shades of green, red, blue, and purple, and had beads and feathers attached to them.

Druid

Leather | Melee/Spellcaster/Support

Druids are diverse spellcasters which are equally comfortable in the thick of combat or on the back lines. They can heal, call down damaging nature spells, or transform into animals to fight alongside their allies.

Starting Statistics:

Str: 15

Agi: 15

Spi: 15

Vit: 15

Jack of all trades and master of none, huh? That appealed to me, too. Versatility was always a good option when you didn’t know what you’d be dealing with, and the even stat spread on the starting statistics suggested that I could develop this class however I liked. But there were two problems: first, if Brianna had come before me, she had almost certainly chosen to play Druid. I knew my sister better than anyone else in the world, and if Brianna had the slightest chance to run around in an actual panther form, she was going to jump at the chance. She also liked playing support classes. If I caught up to her—when I caught up to her, I forcibly reminded myself—doubling up on a single class might be a mistake, assuming we’d have to find or fight our way out of here.

Second, while versatility is nice, it’s secondary to survivability as the prime choice for dealing with unknown unknowns. With no possible way to anticipate what was coming, the more durable I could get, the better my odds of surviving to become strong and versatile. That meant that Rogue and Monk were right out, and Priest was probably a bad idea for the same reason that the Mage was. Wearing cloth and possessing primarily support spells wouldn’t help me strike out on my own and find Brianna. I was settling into a choice of either Warrior or Paladin, and of the two, Paladin made the most intuitive sense, provided they also had healing magic in this world. But before I went to examine the Paladin armor, I stopped in front of the Wilder gear, curious about the one class that was unfamiliar to me.

The armor for this option was still cloth, and it was listed as a support casting class like the Priest, but I noticed that its point spread was split between vitality and spirit, which seemed like a strange choice for a spellcaster. The gear itself was kind of weird too: a deep blue shirt with a V-neckline embroidered in silver thread, with grey cloth pants and black boots—it was almost a generic adventurer look.

Wilder

Cloth | Spellcaster/Support

Wilders are spellcasters who draw their magic and abilities from the world around them and support their allies through a wide range of possible skills. They can specialize in numerous unique disciplines, including Psionics, Rune Magic, Blood Magic, Wyrm Calling, and others.

Starting Statistics:

Str: 10

Agi: 10

Spi: 20

Vit: 20

Under other circumstances, this was the class I would have chosen. I loved games that allowed me to experiment with wacky, off-the-wall skills and put together killer builds that no one expected to work well, but which I usually somehow made work by sheer skill and thoughtful planning… usually. While I was curious to know what I could do with things like Psionics and Wyrm Calling, playing a wacky, off the wall class I had no idea how to use was a straight-up terrible idea when my real life might be on the line. Plus, it was possible that those abilities wouldn’t be closed to me later if I still wanted them.

No—For the moment, my best bet was probably to play my other favorite class (when I’m not DPSing): a Paladin.

Now before you accuse me of being some weak-kneed, bubble-hearthing newbie, hear me out: I was role-playing as paladins long before World of Warcraft players made it cool to bash on them, and not the stereotypical holier-than-thou lawful good moron, either. I loved the concept of the Paladin at its very core: a holy fighter sworn to his sacred path, sacrificing his own life in the name of something more important than himself, and so committed to his cause that his god grants him mystical powers in the pursuit of his quest? If you can’t see why that would appeal to me on a fundamental level, you haven’t been paying attention. Mixing it up in full plate while striking down foes with righteous fire was about as awesome as you could get, not to mention that most of the heroes of my childhood—Arthur, Galahad, Lancelot—arguably fit the same archetype of the holy knight.

As I approached the shining silver plate mail with an emblazoned heraldic shield that signaled the paladin class, a small shiver ran through me. Yeah. This was the one.

Paladin

Plate | Melee/Spellcaster/Tank

Paladins are a holy hybrid of priest and warrior, but more than the sum of those parts: they boast powerful anti-undead abilities, strong defensive magic, and cleansing holy fire. They can further specialize in many different disciplines, as well as renounce the light to follow the path of a Shadowknight.

Starting Statistics:

Str: 15

Agi: 10

Spi: 15

Vit: 20

Now we were talking. This would give me the durability I was looking for, and having “anti-undead capabilities” and “strong defensive magic” didn’t sound too shabby either. I didn’t want to waste any more time, so I looked for a way to “choose” this class. I tried touching the armor, and as soon as my fingers brushed the polished steel, a confirmation box popped up in front of me. It was still so weird to have boxes popping in out of nowhere, apparently unsupported, but I shook my head and jammed the “Confirm” button anyway.

A golden circle and shower of sparks surrounded me, and my HUD congratulated me on my choice. Thanks, I guess, HUD?

The other seven mannequins vanished, and suddenly I was wearing the steel suit and had a red and black heraldic kite shield strapped to my left arm. It was as abrupt of a transition as the shift into my hero-body had been, and no less cool. The plate was strong but lighter than I would have expected, and it flexed in all the right places to offer me good mobility. I felt way better about getting into fights with branch-wielding, unarmored goblins now that I was protected from head to toe in thick, metal armor. I even had a mailed helm with a crossguard over my nose to protect my face, and I wished there was a mirror handy. I bet I looked bad-ass, even if none of my armor had stats. It all just identified as Tier 1/H, whatever that meant.

The scrolling marquee on my HUD had some more updates for me, as well.

Learned new skill: Light Healing (10MP | Heal up to 30HP. Mends one damaged limb outside of combat.) [Replaces Mend]

Learned new skill: Smite (5MP | Stun an enemy for up to 3 seconds with holy fury and deal magical damage that scales with Spirit. Harms undead for 3x damage.)

“Nice,” I said. Now I could heal myself during combat and stun my enemies. I was finally starting to feel a little more like a super hero, and a little less vulnerable. I even had a belt and sheathe for my sword now!

Then a spine-chilling roar that reverberated through the tiny space, making my stomach turn flips. I spun cautiously, sword and shield raised, as the barred portcullis across the room began to retract into the ceiling with a grinding scrape. A sound like steel clashing on steel echoed down the dark passage toward me, and from the gloom emerged a huge, mean-looking orc. He held a wicked, curved blade in either hand, which he banged together to make the rhythmic clashing noise I’d heard. A menacing growl rumbled out from the bottom of his throat, and I swallowed nervously and tightened the grip on my blade as my HUD identified him.

Orc Warrior

LVL: 3

???

Goblins with sticks were one thing, but that thing had two swords, a mail hauberk, and stood three inches taller than me! Not to mention I was still level 1, as far as I knew. I licked my lips and raised my shield, getting ready to charge him. I had no doubt it would be a tough fight, but between my new armor and spells, I could probably defeat him. Probably.

His red eyes glinted at me as he roared again in challenge, raising both of his blades. Sweat broke out across my back. I’d have to stunlock him with Smite and hope I could finish him before I ran out of mana.

You can do this, Michael, I told myself. They wouldn’t throw more at you than you could handle…

I began to circle him warily, arming sword at the ready, mentally preparing to use my spells. I wondered why he hadn’t engaged me yet. What was he waiting for?

And then I saw something that made my blood run cold.

A flash of movement in the gloom behind him—the clink of mail, the scrape of gnarled toe-claws on stone. Two more orcs, with the same strong builds and the same menacing weapons, stepped out of the darkness to flank him.

I took a deep breath and sighed. Now I was fucked.