I’m not super knowledgeable with how it works, but it is essentially a system for seamless jumps between multiple servers “meshing” them together so there is zero noticeable lag time between them. There isn’t a single loading screen going across multiple star systems, which is a pretty significant achievement, especially given how detailed the game itself is.

I’ve never played World of Warcraft or really any MMO, but it is my understanding that there are areas to load into new places (a short black screen on entering a building, a “portal” to another zone, etc.).

It definitely is actually “playable” now, and I’ve had a good amount of fun playing it this year, but it certainly isn’t ready for release or anything.

That said, the network infra they have created is pretty cool: 600+ player servers with relatively little issue, and the goal of 1000 long term is quite a feat of engineering.

They fucked themselves overpromising so much back at the beginning by giving the release dates they did while using like, Unity or something, and now they have the infra/engine to deliver, but nobody trusts them to actually do so.