The apocalypse has come and gone, rage-infected monkeys or zombies didn't cause it, it wasn't super-heroes and it wasn't some jumped-up hippy blue dragon. It was caused by Icarus Studios in the form of the game, Fallen Earth, and now we just have to survive it.

Fallen Earth Gold (FE) has been out for about ten months now, and during this time it's gone from being a small MMO from an indy developer that was only available to buy online to being available in shops in physical form (along with various perks in-game depending on where you bought your copy). Recently, the devs behind the game at Icarus Studios released their "State of the Game" for FE, which included their upcoming plans for improving PvP, the ability to customizing vehicles and armor, a limited respec and more, all coming in their upcoming patch. Despite these things as well as a small but solid player base, FE seems to have slipped under the radar of many.

The year is 2156, and the human race is in ruins. Some time in the past, a virus known as Shiva ravaged every living thing on Earth, causing massive, fatal mutations to the majority of people and animals and leaving most of the survivorsdrastically changed. In the aftermath of all this, society collapsed, and when the dust settled the survivors were left to scrape out an existence in shanty towns and ruins dotted throughout the Grand Canyon where the game is set. You enter the game as a clone, spawned by LifeNet to help defend Hoover Dam in the game's opening tutorial, and later you are 're-cloned' as a kind of 'thank you' for your actions there. After that, the only real aim given to you by the game is to survive, and it's up to you as to how you do that.

With that in mind, FE is very much a sandbox MMO. From whether you choose to use melee weapons or guns, to what areas of crafting you focus on (if any) - just about everything is a valid choice in Fallen Earth Gold. Rifles, pistols, swords, big poles with lumps of concrete on one end - these are just some of the weapon options available to you, and all of them are effective. Furthermore, FE is unusual in MMO circles in its method of combat - instead of targeting your opponent and hitting auto-attack and a series of buttons while standing still, you actually use an FPS method of combat, adding an extra layer of skill in keeping your target in your crosshairs while you're attacking (and yes, headshots do bonus damage).