Monarch SEA, MU's Global Expansion, Launches Today

• MU: Monarch is out now in the SEA region, for Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines
• A port of the super-hot MMORPG from South Korea, it's been making waves
• The game will boast four new original classes at launch and a robust trading system

MU: Monarch, the international adaptation of the hit MU series, goes live today in Southeast Asia. We covered the pre-registration period of this game, which revives a classic MMORPG that was hugely popular in South Korea for an international audience, and now if you're in Singapore, Malaysia or the Philippines, you can give it a go!

The game will debut with four new original classes: the Dark Knight, Dark Wizard, Elf and Magic Gladiator. The launch celebrations will take the form of a raffle rather than the more familiar in-game rewards.

One of the biggest elements that MU: Monarch's promotional material has boasted about is the fact that the game has a robust trading system. With a randomised loot table, even extremely rare loot can be acquired from monsters. The intent is that these can then be traded to other players for the opportunity of some great tradeoffs in return.

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Balancing a player economy is hard, and introducing a new MMORPG to audiences is even harder. But Monarch is a game with a pedigree stretching back decades, which has proven extremely popular in the multiplayer-focused South Korean gaming market.

It's worth noting the original MU Online in South Korea was started in 2001 and is still being updated. This is a series with pedigree, and this new mobile version may be a litmus test for how the series will develop and spread internationally.

In the meantime though, why not check out some of the other major games we've spotted this year? Our list of the best mobile games of 2024 (so far) features picks from every genre, while our list of the most anticipated mobile games of the year marks out some of the best upcoming titles that we think are absolutely worth watching!