Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War
"Descent: FreeSpace" was well received as a single-player space simulation that integrated all the desired features of its genre, from competent AI wingmen, to the presence of large capital ships that not only dwarf the fighters piloted by the player, but also explode spectacularly when destroyed. However, the game's multiplayer mode was criticised, as it was plagued by lag and inaccurate tracking of statistics. An expansion for the game, which was less well received, was also released in 1998 under the title of "Silent Threat", and focuses on events after the main game's campaign with the player working for an intelligence branch of the Terrans' armed forces that later attempt to overthrow the Terran government. A sequel to "Descent: FreeSpace" entitled "FreeSpace 2", was released in 1999 to critical acclaim.
EverQuest II
The game is set in an alternate future 500 years after the events of the first "EverQuest", and is meant to run alongside its predecessor without interfering with its story. It features characters and locations from the original that have been altered by centuries of war and cataclysmic destruction. While the title did receive favorable reviews upon release, it was notably less influential to the genre than the previous installment and faced heavy competition from MMOs such as "World of Warcraft", released two weeks later. While originally subscription-based since launch, a free-to-play version with its own dedicated server was released in July 2010 called "EverQuest II Extended". In November 2011 the service was cancelled in favor of making all remaining servers free-to-play with microtransactions.