A free browser-based MMORPG with no download

Most MMORPGs ask for a launcher and a large download before you see anything. Averse Lands runs in the browser you already have. Here is what that means in practice, what your computer needs, and where it falls short.

What “no download” means here

There is no client, launcher or installer. You sign in on averselands.com, press Play, and the game opens in the same tab. It is a full 3D online world, not a cut-down web version of something else: the same game everyone plays, with other players, monsters, towns, quests, dungeons, a battleground and a market.

Your browser still fetches the game's files, of course. It loads the place you are in first and the next areas in the background, and it keeps what it has fetched, so a second visit starts faster. You need an internet connection the whole time: the world lives on our server, and nothing runs offline.

Thousand Year Town’s square: players in every kind of armour by the portal keeper, a group talking on the paving, one back from a hunt with an axe in hand, names coloured by their standing — **Thousand Year Town’s square** · players from level 6 to 30 in a browser tab, most with weapons away, a few still drawn. On the High graphics setting. Staged in the local test game with test characters, each at a level, in gear and with a standing a real character could have.

What you need

A computer with a mouse and keyboard. Windows, a Mac or a Chromebook. You walk and fight with the mouse, and keys open your bag, map and skills.
A current browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari on macOS 13 or later. An older browser that cannot show the game's pictures is told so on the spot, with the names of browsers that work.
Graphics that can draw 3D. The game has High, Medium and Low settings, and G switches between them. Laptops with built-in Intel or AMD graphics start on Medium, and if your computer struggles to keep things smooth, the game turns its graphics down for you and says so in the chat.
A free account. The beta is small and invite-only for now: you apply with Discord, and once we approve you, you make your account and play.

The honest limits

Phones are not supported yet. A phone that opens the game is told it needs a computer. There is a phone test you can switch on, but it is a test; the cross-platform guide explains it.
A browser shares your computer. Dozens of other tabs, or a video playing beside the game, take memory and graphics power from it. Close what you do not need.
Locked-down computers may block it. A school or office computer can stop the site, or 3D graphics, from running at all. See the Chromebook guide.
It is a young game. The world is still growing week by week; the Updates page lists every change.

Is it really free?

Yes. The beta costs nothing, and there is nothing to buy in it: no membership and no premium currency. A shop is planned for later, and it will sell looks and conveniences, such as auto loot and extra stash space, never power. If you are coming from a game you had to install, start with how it compares with OSRS or with Tibia, Ultima Online and Albion.

Averse Lands is in a small, free beta. Apply with Discord and we read every application ourselves.

Apply for the beta