Powered by Unreal Engine 4, players will dive into an epic multiplayer journey across a vibrant persistent world where gods and mythical beasts exist.

Bless Unleashed takes place in an untamed world with a rich backstory created with hardcore MMO gamers in mind. With deep combo-driven mechanics, player customization and cooperative (PvE) and competitive (PvP) multiplayer, there is an endless amount of content and gameplay possibilities to keep players engaged. The game utilizes the Unreal Engine 4, bringing unparalleled visuals to a fully realized fantasy world, offering one of the most stunning MMORPGs produced on a console platform. Players can enter an open persistent world where mythical beasts roam the land with integrated players-vs-player (PVP) mode. Five classic fantasy classes will be available for players to choose, from an arcane-wielding Mage to a bloodthirsty Berserker.

As we approach Bless Unleashed’s first open beta, I wanted to take some time to talk about the feedback we received from our fans during our final closed beta test. Today, I would like to focus on the subject of the most feedback we received- combat and controls.

During our last closed beta we received so much feedback regarding the combat of Bless Unleashed. We did our best to review and comb through all of this feedback, and concluded we had three main points which needed to improve before players returned to the game.

These points are as follows:

1. Combat and movement speed was too slow, and felt sluggish. You told us that the delay between player input and character reaction was too slow, and that characters moved too slowly during combat. Many of you also felt that there were not enough opportunities to cancel out of actions to evade enemy attacks during combat as well.
2. It was difficult to tell what abilities needed resources, how to gain those resources and that some abilities, especially those with movement components (like the Guardian’s charge ability, or Berserker’s leap) were difficult to use properly.
3. The lock on function and the controls of the game needed improvement as well. Many players felt the target lock-on control was difficult to use, and many players experienced difficult both aiming attacks and pressing the attack button, as the camera was controlled via the right stick, and the primary attack buttons were also on the X, Y, and B buttons.

We’ve spent quite a bit of time to address these concerns, and hope that you will find that we have taken much effort to address this feedback. We have increased the combat speed, as well as worked hard to improve our controls and your character’s movement for this open beta. Fine-tuning the balance like this is not an easy task. In many action games attacks which have a high damage or powerful effect attached to them also have a longer animation or otherwise take more time to perform. We believe that this kind of cost is very valuable, as it ultimately feels more exciting if a player swings his sword to land a heavy blow dealing lots of damage instead of the same amount of damage being done by a quick, short attack. We’ve worked hard to improve the balance of speed and reward here. We’ve also worked on new animations to help adjust the balance as well. Some attack animations will have changed to help us achieve the correct combat pacing balance.

With that said, here’s a quick summary of some of the changes we’ve made:

• All combo steps now connect easily with dodge. This means there are many more opportunities to dodge enemy attacks.
• Lower tier combo attacks are now much faster than before, resulting in reduced delay between player input and character attack. Please note that big attacks which deal large amounts of damage still have longer animations. Think carefully before executing these stronger attacks!
• We’ve generally increased movement speed. Dodge range and speed has also been increased, and we’ve implemented true sprinting which will not put a player into combat and slow them down.
• The ability for normal monsters to interrupt player’s combos have been minimized to allow the player more freedom. This reduces the threat of lower tier monsters, and should allow players to feel more powerful when dispatching this type of enemy.

We also took to heart your feedback regarding abilities and resources. The difficulty in learning how to gain the special resource for each class was too high, and it was too difficult to tell when abilities were able to be used. We’ve improved the way that abilities chain into combos. This allows for abilities provided by Blessings to be used during critical stages of combat more reliably, and really let them shine as a way to dominate an enemy or quickly turn the tide of a battle. To top those changes off, we’ve added some improved tutorials for class resources and how to use them.

The following changes are some of the things that we’ve done to make this better for players:

• Abilities can now be used to interrupt combos. So if a skill is used during a combo, the skill will take precedence over a combo move that has already been queued.
• We’ve increased the power of most abilities in the game to make them more appealing.
• The abilities granted to new characters are more appealing than previously.
• We’ve reduced the animation time up front on most abilities to minimize the delay between the command to use an ability and the ability firing off.
• We’ve reviewed unique skills for each class and reworked many of their animations.
• We’ve added new unique skills to the Crusader and Berserker.
• We’ve also made improvements so that targeted move skills like the Berserker’s leap are more reliable.

When looking at the feedback you provided us regarding the lock on camera and controls for the game, we took your concerns seriously. We spent time looking at what other games have been doing and experimented with several different control schemes. The problem we faced was that using the R-stick for lock on and camera controls was difficult when also needing to use the face buttons to attack. We set this up on purpose because we felt that the face buttons were very intuitive to use as attack buttons. However, in practice this meant that neither controlling the camera’s point of view or attacks felt very intuitive. After reviewing your feedback and discussing these issues internally we’re taking the following steps:

• We’ve improved the functionality of the target lock on feature, and changed the reference points of targets while fixing the camera’s POV based on monster size.
• The lock on feature will automatically select the closest target, but it can be changed by moving the R stick while selecting the target
• The target aim box will now be applied differently for melee and ranged classes to account for their different viewpoints.
• We’ve created a new control scheme which is set as default. This should alleviate some of the difficulties trying to use the R-Stick and Face buttons for combat, as we have shifted the attack buttons to the triggers.

In addition to everything mentioned above, we’ve spent quite a bit of time working on the balance of the game. Everything from  Blessings to monster abilities have been looked at to help ensure that our open beta offers a smooth, quick, and pleasant player experience. We hope that you’ll join us on November 7th at 10:00 AM PST and make sure to let us know what you think of the game and these changes. 

Thank you,

Jeomsul Park

Lead Designer - Bless Unleashed

Starting November 7, 2019 and lasting until November 21, 2019 players can participate in the upcoming open beta exclusively on Xbox One.

Intended to give an introduction to the goals of the final game, players can choose from a myriad of different classes and races as they hone their skills on their journey to save the world of Lumios from a dark and mysterious threat. Play solo or dive deep into dungeons and raids with a team of friends to take on fearsome enemies that will challenge even the mightiest of warriors.

In this open beta, players can truly experience the world of Bless Unleashed as they challenge the gods, survive against all odds, and make them pray.

Key Features

• A Visually Stunning MMORPG Experience - Utilizing the Unreal Engine 4, the game brings unparalleled visuals and deep gameplay mechanics which offer one of the most beautiful MMORPGs built for a console platform.
• Combo-Driven Gameplay - Survive a menagerie of mythical beasts and other players with deep and rewarding combat system that features skillful combo mechanics coupled with action-oriented combat with dodging. A progression system handcrafted for online play and an integrated players-vs-player (PVP) mode provide added challenges and rewards at every turn.
• An Immersive Fantasy World - Dive into an open persistent world with a rich backstory and an intricate plot as players uncover divine secrets on their journey to defeat the return of an evil goddess.
• A MMORPG Built for Modern Consoles - Built from the ground up to be a comprehensively and robustly supported live service, every aspect, from story to combat to skill progression, has been carefully crafted with the console experience in mind.
• Classic Fantasy with a Twist – Choose between five classic fantasy jobs, including the arcane wielding Mage or the bloodthirsty Berserker. Travel the world in search of the truth about the gods with other adventurers and experience a personal brush with divinity.

Bless Unleashed is coming first to the Xbox One, and will be available in 2020.