Overview
Metaware is a browser role-playing game where an AI acts as the game master, so the player types what their character does next and sees what happens1. A player might bribe a guard, start a fight, run, or charge, and the AI narrates the outcome in a world the developer wrote1,2. The developer compares it to a tabletop role-playing game, where one storyteller describes the world and reacts to the players, with some features of a classic computer RPG added2.
Metaware is a playable beta and the work of a single developer, Ofir Geller2,3. The writing is his, while the game master is a large language model, the kind of AI behind chat assistants2. Cardano comes in only at the checkout: the credits that pay for play are bought with ADA, Cardano's currency4.
Key Features
- Type your own actions. Players type what their character does, such as bribing a guard or charging into a fight, and the AI game master narrates how the scene plays out1.
- A world written by a person. The writing in Metaware is human, done by the developer, and the AI's job is to narrate what happens inside that world2.
- A different story each time. The basic facts of the world vary between games, and a familiar character can act differently in a new playthrough, and the developer says no two stories should play out the same2.
- Dice rolls you can see. Arcanum RPGs, an AI RPG review site, saw Metaware show a twenty-sided die roll next to the number needed to hit and the reasons behind it3.
- A painted map, an inventory, and a fishing minigame. Screens on the Metaware homepage show a painted map of a walled river town, an inventory with equipment slots and a coin purse, and a fishing minigame1.
What to Expect
The game opens with a hook: you have no idea who you are or what brought you to the western edge of a crumbling empire1. The developer's advice is to start by working out where you are and how you got there2. In Arcanum RPGs' hands-on first look, some events and quests were scripted to give a thread to follow, while most of what happened was up to the player, which made Metaware feel closer to a visual novel, a story game told mostly through text and pictures, than a game board3.
Metaware runs in a web browser and needs an account with a working email address4. It is not designed for phone screens, and mobile support sits on the developer's roadmap2. The game is for adults aged 18 and over, and its stories can include violence and other mature themes4.
Play is pay-per-use, because the AI game master is expensive to run2. Playing uses up prepaid credits, and those credits are bought in ADA4, sent from a Cardano wallet3. A purchase is final once the transaction confirms on the blockchain, the shared public ledger that records Cardano payments4. Credits cannot be cashed out or turned back into ADA4.
The developer does not name the AI model behind the game master and may switch it at any time2. Players are charged according to the price of the model in use, so savings from a cheaper model are passed on to them2.
