Seven years later, Asheron's Call 2 returns

Asheron's Call 2 has come back from the dead: creator Turbine has opened a new server for the MMO seven years after it was deemed no longer profitable and shut down.

Anyone with an active Asheron's Call 1 subscription can play AC2 on the new Dawnsong server for free, Turbine announced. Take into account the server's beta status, though - there are kinks to iron out.

Oh, if you had an old AC2 character then I'm afraid they no longer exist. You'll need to start again.

Asheron's Call 1 and 2 belong to a pre-World of Warcraft MMO world, a world dominated by EverQuest and Ultima Online and, less so, Dark Age of Camelot. Asheron's Call 2 was released in 2002 but failed to outdo its predecessor - a bit like EverQuest 2 did with EQ1. Asheron's Call 2 servers were closed in 2005. But Asheron's Call 1 lives on 13 years later.

And look what I've found: why it's our 12-year-old review of Asheron's Call!

"If you like Role-Playing Games," we wrote like an Odeon advert, "then you will love Asheron's Call, you will make a lot of friends, and the more you learn about the game the more you will like it."

Turbine's flagship MMO today is Lord of the Rings Online, which celebrated its fourth birthday this year and released new expansion Riders of Rohan recently.

Turbine, now a subsidiary of Warner Bros., also recently snapped up the talents of Elder Scrolls and Amalur designer Ken Rolston.