8Bit/Digi

Following the success of Bless Online on the PC, Bandai Namco is working to bring that amazing world to the Xbox One with Bless Unleashed. To showcase the game, members of the press were invited for a demo session during the Game Developers Conference 2019.

During my time at GDC 2019, I got the chance to learn more about Bless Unleashed and demo the game.

Meeting the Bandai Namco Team

To get a better understanding of Bless Unleashed and to play the demo, I meet up with David B. Jaloza in a private room on the expo floor. I had also brought my friend from Level Up Media along as he was interested in the game and was a former Namco employee from back in the day.

The classes of the game will be the Crusader, Berserker, Ranger, Mage, and the Priest. Unlike other MMORPG’s; each class of characters has been designed to hold their own in a quest, hence a parties progression will not be hindered because they lack a certain class.

A key goal that was highlighted was the aim to create a more social environment. There are plans to make certain spots in the game world a social hub where players could mingle with each other.

The issue of microtransaction was brought up and Jaloza wants to assure gamers that this will not be a “pay to win” game. Gamers could only purchase cosmetic items that will not help their progress. Anything that will give players a boost will need to be earned.

Demoing Bless Unleashed

During my session, I decided to experience this world as a Crusader (beefed up to Level 40 for this demo). For this quest, I was tasked to clear an army of orcs along with their commanders (mini-bosses) and a warlord (main boss). The demo also allowed me to familiarize myself with the gameplay mechanics.

At first, I decided to practice the basic combat on some low level orcs that I encountered. Once I had mastered the basic combat system, I decided to try to learn all the combo moves on more low level orcs. Slaughtering orcs was fun, the real challenge came in fighting the mini and main bosses of the quest. Bless Unleashed

Final Thoughts

My overall impression of Bless Unleashed is that it’s going to be a solid free-to-play MMORPG. The gameplay mechanics are easy to learn but will require players to master the many combat tactics that a character could execute. The gameplay mechanics uses the standard RPG setup while the combat is designed to function more

An open beta is expected to be available in the next few months with a launch date of 2019 (depending on feedback from the beta). Bless Unleashed is currently set to be released for the Xbox One but the team is open to a PlayStation 4 release if the game is successful.

This special report is part of 8Bit/Digi‘s coverage of the Game Developers Conference 2019. If you attended the event, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Disclaimer: GDC provided me with press credentials for the week.

Correction: An early version of this article mistakenly stated that Round 8 was involved in the development of Bless Unleashed. Also we life to clarify that this is not a console port of Bless Online.