Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted

Long-running crafting MMORPG where players can be dragons, build towns from hundreds of structures and mix many schools.

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Overview

Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted is a fantasy MMORPG that first launched in 2003 as Horizons: Empire of Istaria and has been owned by the small studio Virtrium since 2007. Its most unusual feature is that players can choose to be a dragon, with its own progression, flight and an underground lair to dig out.

There are eleven playable races. Progression uses schools instead of fixed classes, so a character can train as a warrior, then a mage, then a crafter. Crafting is deep, with multi-stage item production, makers' marks and many trade skills, and players and guilds raise whole towns from more than 100 building types. The world is shared and mostly PvE, with PvP limited to set areas such as the Isle of Battles.

The game runs on Windows. Free Access accounts can play one character up to level 15 in each school, while paid access or a monthly subscription opens more characters, land and lairs. Content updates still arrive, most recently in 2026.

Developer: Virtrium
Publisher: Virtrium
Release date: Unknown
Status: Released
Business model: Subscription, Freemium
Platforms: Windows
Official website: istaria.com
Also known as: Horizons: Empire of Istaria, Horizons