The lucky folks at Ten Ton Hammer got an early, exclusive look at Shroud of the Avatar’s Release 1 alpha build, and their impressions of it are very positive indeed.

Those of you who are able to log in to Shroud of the Avatar at present — Developer+ backers have this ability — will of course be familiar with the “chicken room”, which is for now the sum total of the world of New Britannia that players are able to explore. The room is notable for the handful of chickens milling about it it; a chair is also present. And, as Ten Ton Hammer points out, there’s a reason for this odd introduction:

In this simple room, you’re exposed to the quintessence of what Shroud of the Avatar is. It actually heightened the experience of wandering the larger world a short while later, which everyone else will have the opportunity to do on Thursday.

In the chicken room, you notice texture on everything. The walls, the chair, even the torch has an interesting texture to it. Then as I wandered the city of Owl’s Head, I noticed that the same level of attention to detail was paid to textures everywhere. In a sense, it was that short time in the chicken room that I think drew my eye to something you might normally over-look, and I think it likely to be the point.

And it gets better from there. Although the game is still in a very early alpha state, the world evidently feels promisingly alive already:

As I meandered around the city, I saw the expected NPCs and they somehow seemed more living and dynamic than in most other MMOs I’ve played, and I just can’t place exactly why. Part of it, I’m sure, is the system Shroud of the Avatar uses for talking with NPCs. Rather than a clickable pop-up dialogue box, in Shroud the player simply types what they wish to say into local chat and the NPC responds. I like that system a lot, but I do worry about a town full of players yelling at each other and at NPCs, thus making it more difficult to have that conversation. …but then I guess that’s sort of like real life as well.

Another thing adding to the sense of the world being alive is the sky in Shroud of the Avatar. As day turns to night, players will be treated to a nocturnal treat on par with Skyrim. The shattered lunar debris eases over the horizon, and you really have to stop a minute and look. You realize that as dangerous as night will be in Shroud of the Avatar, you’ll likely find yourself braving it for the chance to star-gaze a bit.

In my case, I pretty much spent all night taking in the darkened environment in the safety of Owl’s Head, which is when I saw the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in an MMO. As the sun rose the next morning, I saw birds.

Here’s a reference image for the above, by the way:

The game’s lighting systems also get singled out for some conspicuous praise:

Fire in a primitive culture is supposed to exude a sort of sense of security, and they seem to have captured that well already in this game. Wandering around the city at night really seems to show off that aspect of the game.

What it also shows off is the difference between covered and open flames. Covered lanterns give off a fairly consistent light while open flames flicker and cast interesting shadows. Again I find myself comparing Shroud to Skyrim, and actually find Skyrim losing a bit. As well as the lighting in Skyrim had been done, I just think that the guys at Portalarium have managed to exceed that fairly recent standard.

Here’s a day/night comparison of what I assume is the main gate of Owl’s Head:

There is a certain…promising warmth to the torchlight, isn’t there?

Do click on through to read the rest of Ten Ton Hammer’s commentary. And if you’re lucky enough to be in on the Shroud of the Avatar alpha test, get ready for what appears to be a real treat later this week!