During PAX East this year we were fortunate to try out Bless Unleashed, Bandai Namco’s upcoming free-to-play MMO title exclusive to consoles. Our demo mainly let us experience the game’s combat system and let us play as one of three classes—priest, ranger, and berserker—so we dabbled with each one just to see how differently they played.
Each character features basic attacks as well as unique abilities and “blessings” you can unleash with your trigger buttons. The priest, for example does magic attacks from afar and can power up your team’s stats with his special ability. Your ranger can do multiple volleys and can shoot from afar while the berserker is slow but can decimate enemies with his powerful blows. You can play the game alone if you want, but your characters will definitely have synergy with each other when you team up with other players. In fact, some dungeons and bosses are so difficult that they will require a full party to clear.
Our demo also let us fight against two field bosses, one more powerful than the other. We managed to survive each battle playing as the priest but if it wasn’t for the unlimited supply of potions we had, we may not have survived the fight. It’s good to note too that abilities and items have cooldowns so players can’t just spam them. The ranger also needs to reload her arrows after her quiver gets empty so you need to be mindful of your supply and of enemies around you.
We were really impressed by how massive the game’s world seemed with its towering mountains and immense battlegrounds. Not surprising, the designers who worked on Monster Hunter were responsible for the game’s gorgeous visuals.
Our demo took place in a small mountainous area with no other players to interact with, but worlds will feature thousands of players, ever-changing events and missions, and even homes you can purchase for your heroes. PVP combat will also be available.
Bless Unleashed does not have a release date as of yet, but the game will be entering beta soon with plans to release on Xbox One sometime this year.
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