Described as being a spiritual successor to the Ultima series,[1] Shroud of the Avatar was developed by Austin, Texas-based developer Portalarium, with a team led by Richard Garriott as creative director, Starr Long as executive producer, Chris Spears as lead technical designer, and Tracy Hickman as lead story designer.

[2] Additional funding allowed for stretch goals to be met, such as pets, seasonal weather, interactive music instruments, new locations, and guild-based combat.

[5] Players have the ability to purchase persistent housing, but availability is limited and diminishes as the size of the settlement increases.

Homes also have upkeep costs in the form of in-game gold tax which is also payable with the premium currency (Crowns of the Obsidians).

[10] Communication with NPCs is handled through typed responses interpreted by the game or through clickable keywords and quests are mentioned in conversations.

[6] Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues was publicly announced on March 8, 2013, by Austin, Texas-based developer Portalarium.

[2] Developmental commentary has centered on player choice and discovery as major aspects of game-play and have been presented as alternatives to expected level grinding and item acquisition in existing RPGs.

[7] The world is inspired by the Ultima series, J. R. R. Tolkien, and elements of steampunk;[2] Tracy Hickman was heavily involved in writing the story.

In addition, the Dungeon Kit is available to developers who pledged US$400 or more; this allows royalty-free reuse of the game's assets.

[16] In February 2020, an announcement was made about a new over world map continent named Mistrendur and was being added to the game.

[20] Rissa Trent of MMOGames.com felt the same way and added the game's steep learning curve might be difficult to those who are not familiar with classic MMORPG.

[19] The game's reception was initially lukewarm; however according to Dominic Tarason at Rock Paper Shotgun, a host of improvements have been made on the multiplayer side since release.