MMO 98

About

MMO 98 is a single player strategy game. It was developed by BiteMe Games and was released on April 1, 2026. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

A short incremental game about running an MMO games studio, upgrading your server infrastructure and expanding your audience to all over the world, all from your oldschool desktop. Expand your game's infrastructureUse your game's earnings to reinvest into your game's infrastructure to support the ever increasing playerbase. Manage your global capacityExpand your servers globally, dealing with…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 187 reviews

gameplay19 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

The game offers a relaxing and nostalgic Windows 98 aesthetic that many players find charming and enjoyable.
The gameplay loop is simple yet satisfying, with engaging incremental mechanics that appeal to fans of the genre.
The music and overall presentation are well done, contributing to a pleasant atmosphere and immersive experience.

The game is very short and lacks content, with most players experiencing all it has to offer within an hour or two.
Progression and balancing issues cause the gameplay to become repetitive and shallow quickly, reducing long-term engagement.
The developer announced no plans for major future updates, limiting replayability and leaving the game feeling unfinished.

gameplay
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
63%
5%
The gameplay offers a simple, nostalgic incremental experience with a fun management loop and some rewarding mechanics early on, but it quickly becomes repetitive and shallow due to a lack of meaningful progression or new mechanics after initial runs. Many find the loop short, grindy, and lacking variety, while some appreciate the theme and aesthetics despite gameplay flaws. Overall, it feels like an extended demo with limited depth, needing more innovation and balance to sustain long-term engagement.
- “The gameplay loop seriously incentivizes rapid iteration on games.”
- “Trying to develop a good sequel as well as maintaining your current MMO takes attention and effort; to me it is a very rewarding gameplay loop.”
- “Really well polished, fun gameplay loop, and many upgrades to keep you hooked.”
- “The gameplay loop doesn't change for a 'new game' you create.”
- “The upgrades don't have any real significant impact on the gameplay, which means each new game feels exactly the same.”
- “Other incremental games introduce new mechanics over time, or the gameplay drastically changes at some point.”
graphics
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
44%
17%
The graphics and aesthetics of the game are widely praised, with a strong emphasis on nostalgic 90's PC visuals and a classy, engaging UI that truly carries the experience. While visually impressive and complemented by music, some users note that the visuals may suggest deeper gameplay than present, and occasional readability issues with text. Overall, the game's standout feature is its distinctive and appealing art style, even if the gameplay itself is considered simplistic.
- “The UI and visuals are fantastic.”
- “The heart and soul of this is the visuals though.”
- “Aesthetics and music carry the experience, worth it just for that.”
- “The last thing I expected from a game with the title and aesthetic that this game has was a gameplay loop that has me pumping out randomly generated nonsense as fast as possible, and that was a genuine disappointment for me.”
- “The aesthetic is classy, there are a few little toys to play with (including a functional game of minesweeper that's quite barebones even by minesweeper standards) while waiting for numbers to go up, and failing that, you get your own clippy/bonzaibuddy desktop gnome to keep you company.”
- “I wanna specify that my main reason for not recommending is that the gameplay is flawed itself but the aesthetic is also very important for a clicker game since ultimately every clicker game is basically the same exact game with a different coat of paint on it.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
36%
The music in the game is widely praised for its relaxing and fitting soundtrack, often highlighted as a key element enhancing the overall chill and nostalgic Windows 98-themed atmosphere. Many players find the soundtrack to be a standout feature that complements the gameplay experience, even if other aspects are considered less engaging.
- “The game has a beautifully crafted Win98-adjacent theme; the soundtracks are fitting and relaxing.”
- “Chill game, the music is perfect and I like the loop of upgrading and maintaining while trying to beat Minesweeper.”
- “Aesthetics and music carry the experience, worth it just for that.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a slow and repetitive grinding loop with minimal gameplay variation and rewards, making progression feel tedious and monotonous. Frequent restarts and repetitive tasks, like re-buying the skill tree and fixing world data centers, exacerbate the grind, especially in subsequent playthroughs or when aiming for achievements.
- “The game starts off very slow and grindy, offering basically no reward for anything you do with minimal gameplay changes.”
- “Even if you do everything right, the most amount of data you can get each ascension is about 45 to 50, and pushing past that is stupidly slow, forcing you to restart and click a ton over and over to get back to where you were, then grind out 50 more units of data.”
- “You're incentivized to release new games frequently, which makes rebuying the skill tree tedious.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
The monetization of the game is widely criticized as a cash grab, with users feeling the full game offers limited content despite a relatively high price. Additionally, the inclusion of ads and microtransactions contributes to the perception of an unfinished product focused more on profit than quality.
- “But the full game is not much longer than the demo itself, £10 for a game that lasts 2 or so hours. I was excited for the release as it seemed like a genuinely fun game when I played the demo, but it has become clear it's obviously just a cash grab.”
- “I wanted this game to be good, but as far as I'm concerned, you released an unfinished product that's just a cash grab.”
- “You made a video with a title saying 'we release an incremental after 100 days of work' or something, and I think this advertisement would be cool if the game offered more than 1 hour of content.”
story
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story is minimal and indirect, relying on repetitive online chat and virtual assistant interactions that lack depth or interesting content. However, the game's theme evolves into a satirical corporate horror narrative, depicting a rise from indie success to soulless corporate greed, which some find compelling despite limited traditional storytelling elements.
- “Mmo98: the game where you start as a humble indie developer who strikes gold in relevancy, popularity, and player engagement—only to let it all go to your head, lose the plot entirely, and slowly reshape yourself into a hollow and soulless corporate machine that serves shareholder interests rather than the people who made you successful in the first place.”
- “I found myself just wanting to revisit Game Dev Story.”
- “A compelling story?”
- “There's absolutely no story, lore, secrets, or fun interactions here.”
- “The game starts as a humble indie developer striking gold in relevancy and popularity, but then loses the plot entirely and slowly transforms into a hollow corporate machine serving shareholder interests rather than the players who made it successful.”
- “What begins as a fun incremental game quickly turns into a corporate horror story, now featuring battle passes and quarterly season updates that shift focus away from gameplay.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers little to no replayability, as noted by multiple users. While some acknowledge that not all games need to be endlessly replayable, this title lacks features that encourage repeated playthroughs.
- “There's no replayability to it.”
- “Replayability?”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's optimization is notably poor, with performance upgrades arriving too late to be effective and causing unnecessary slowdowns. The introduction of an unoptimized 4K texture pack severely impacts performance, especially for budget systems, and cannot be disabled, making optimization a distant memory.
- “None of the performance prestige upgrades seem to have any use, as they are obtained long after the issues they address are no longer a problem; you unlock upgrades to abilities you haven't even unlocked yet.”
- “Performance drops occur frequently.”
- “Optimization is a distant memory.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere and setting are well-crafted and contribute significantly to its unique feel, successfully achieving the developers' intended mood. While generally praised, some players feel the overall experience falls slightly short of their expectations.
- “The little things like that add to the atmosphere the devs were aiming for, and it's done well because of it.”
- “Setting and atmosphere are good, providing a unique vibe to the game.”
- “The atmosphere and setting set the game apart from the pack, creating an engaging environment.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the humor in the game, especially well-localized jokes, which are rare in smaller indie titles. Specific elements, like the gnome character, are highlighted as particularly funny. Overall, the humor contributes positively to player engagement.
- “Funny enough, players never seem to actually quit.”
- “I can only recommend games to my friends here if they are localized, and it's pretty rare that smaller indie titles with text/humor based jokes get a translation, so I appreciate that.”