Drakantos is set in Eldras, an original fantasy world brought to life through story-driven cutscenes with voice acting. Although Eldras is its own setting, it wears a clear Middle-earth-style influence, with dwarves, dragons, and elves among its peoples. The world is shared by every player on a server, and it serves as the backdrop for both the cooperative adventure layer and the competitive PvP Modes.
Kingdoms and Domains
Eldras is divided among several kingdoms and a demonic domain. The two biggest cities are Kasteron, the human capital, and Ereluna, the elven kingdom. Granular landmark detail for each place lives on the Cities and Locations page; the table below gives the high-level layout.
Kingdom or Domain | Capital or Hub | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Human Empire | Kasteron | The largest human city; home to a mage academy, a church, the Adventurer's Guild, an Aquarium, and the Coliseum |
Elven Kingdom | Ereluna | One of the two biggest cities; features a Throne Room and a Druid Temple |
Dwarven Kingdom | Garmorli | Dwarven home with mines, structures, and a palace |
Hell domain | Demonic realm | Home of demonic enemies and the Hellgates extraction mode |
Devlogs also refer to the lands of Derid, the various lands and villages that the Adventurer's Guild serves. Derid is most likely a continent or region within Eldras, but the exact relationship between Eldras and Derid is not stated, so treat the two names as referring to the same broad setting at different scopes.
The Open World
Eldras features a single open world shared by everyone on your server, just as in any MMORPG. This layer focuses on exploration rather than grinding. As you travel you will face world enemies, uncover chests and secrets, solve puzzles, gather resources such as ores and wood, search for pets, follow the main story, and take on side quests. Maps in the open world (and in Guild adventures) are covered by a fog that only clears as you explore, so revealing the map is part of the journey.
Quests in Drakantos are built to have real purpose: their rewards go beyond gold and experience to unlock systems, shops, artifacts, and exploration tools such as a climbing hook that opens up new areas. Some quests are tied to specific heroes or require certain knowledge, so part of the world is gated behind the hero you are playing. Most quest progress is horizontal and counts for your whole account. A day and night cycle runs in the open world and changes the enemies and challenges you encounter, in ways the developers have not fully detailed.
Starting Out
Each hero begins with a different prologue that introduces their story and personality and shows how they are drawn into the main plot, so the opening of your journey changes depending on who you pick. After the prologue, every player arrives in Fairdale, the shared starting village in the open world. The studio designed it this way so friends can meet up easily instead of starting in scattered regions.
Adventurer's Guild Missions
Alongside the open world, the Open World and Adventurer's Guild layer provides the dungeon-crawler side of Drakantos. From an Adventurer's Guild in any major city or village you can open a world map of available missions. There are 120 different handcrafted maps, all built by hand rather than procedurally generated, and missions rotate over time, changing both the map and the objective. Objectives range from clearing all enemies to collecting items, escorting merchants, rescuing villagers, hunting a wanted boss, or defending villages from invaders.
Enemies of Eldras
Over 150 enemy designs populate the world and its missions. Some enemies are empowered by pure or corrupted Erilith crystals, an elite-monster system that grants them a range of random abilities so the same foe can play very differently from one encounter to the next. The world also hides rare special mobs, such as the Mimic that disguises itself as a chest and a gold-dropping gnome you must defeat before it flees. The full enemy and boss roster, including the 16 major bosses, is covered on the Bosses and Enemies page.