And this one ain’t gacha
You may have heard of the Korean RPG DragonSword: Awakening, which has taken Steam by storm since its launch a week or so ago.
The anime-inspired open world adventure has sold over 200k copies so far, and has been rewarded by its decision to scrap all microtransactions and gacha elements.
Like many other Korean games, this was intended to launch as an online experience with live service features, but dev Hound13 decided to buck trends and release it as a full, single purchase package. And it’s reaping the rewards.
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The release has peaked with over 23k concurrent players on Steam, and has almost 90% positive reviews.
It’s built using Unreal Engine 5, and while it does look similar to the likes of Genshin Impact, its selling point is that everything can be unlocked within the game. There are no hidden expenses or time-limited events.
And according to Japanese website GameSpark, a PS5 port is in development. There’s no word on when it will be released, but I’d imagine it’s still fairly early at this stage.
Nevertheless, this may be something to look forward to if you like the anime aesthetics of Wuthering Waves et al, but aren’t willing to commit to a life-consuming live service game.
