If you’ve not played Realm of the Mad God yet, then you’re seriously missing out. A retro dual-stick-style shooter featuring warriors, necromancers, rogues and other classes, it at first seems as though this wouldn’t be something you’d classify as an MMORPG.

But you’d be wrong.

The recent popularity surge in roguelikes, roleplaying games that are harsh and unforgiving, have certainly influenced the way in which Realm of the Mad God works. No longer do you simply rez at a graveyard – if you die, you die. That’s it. Your character is consigned to the bin of oblivion, and you must begin again. This isn’t World of Warcraft. This is hardcore.

Then again, it only takes an hour to hit max level (20), if you know what to do, and truly, this is a community MMO in which “knowing what to do” means finding the biggest group of players in a 85-player-max instance and using the power of the horde to crush the many mobs and minibosses storming around, leaving perma-dead players in their wake.

However, every so often, you’ll find that Oryx, the Mad God himself, will teleport you to his dungeon, and you and everyone else will have the chance to kill him to grab some sweet loot. It’s exciting, and those of you who raid will know the satisfaction of watching Oryx drop after you and many others throw your tiny little spells and attacks his way.

It’s also browser based and free, so a great way to keep you entertained during those slow days at the office like Partypoker.es does. Investing some change in game currency is helpful in order to purchase pets and other special items to give you something of an edge, in addition to – and this is important – extra character slots, as you only start with one. Want to roll an alt and keep your level 20 rogue safe? Well, it’s to the currency system with you.

Check it out at realmofthemadgod.com. You may find that it’s just the quick-fire MMORPG you’ve been looking for.