The new MMORPG Sword of Justice starts today on Steam and impresses at first glance with a beautiful game world set in the Chinese Middle Ages.
What kind of game is this? Sword of Justice is a free-to-play MMORPG from publisher NetEase. The game is set in the Wuxia world of the 12th century in China and is reminiscent of other MMORPGs such as Swords of Legends Online or World of Jade Dynasty.
While the MMORPG launches in the West on Steam on November 7, 2025, it has already convinced 40 million players in its first month in China, according to publisher NetEase. This is also due to the fact that Sword of Justice can be played on both PC and iOS and Android.
Despite being mobile, the MMORPG impresses many players especially with its graphics. Thanks to ray tracing and a partnership with NVIDIA, Sword of Justice looks really great and offers a beautiful play of light and shadow along with elaborate reflections.
How beautiful the new MMORPG looks, you can see in the trailer:
SoJ aims for more than just looks
What does the MMORPG offer? In addition to its nice appearance, Sword of Justice also aims to be content-rich. Players can expect a theme park with a large open world where they can conquer dungeons and fight against mythical beasts and bandits. This can almost be done automatically thanks to the auto mode and auto-play; only the right quest needs to be selected.
Those who enjoy being in guilds do not need to miss out on this in Sword of Justice. There is also a mentoring system and additional social features to play with others. However, players who prefer to play alone can also look forward to many hours of single-player content.
Besides looting and leveling, it builds on the success of Blade and Soul and wants to bring martial arts closer to the players by allowing them to choose from dozens of different abilities and defeat opponents with exquisite martial arts.
How does SoJ stand out? Sword of Justice offers some interesting features that are rather unusual for MMORPGs. For example, there is a dynamic weather system meant to create a more immersive environment. However, the NPC system is a real highlight.
With the help of China’s own AI chatbot DeepSeek, NPCs are supposed to have more life. Players can chat with them, hold conversations, and in some cases convince them for quests or ask for information. The responses are not pre-made but generated using AI.
This means that NPCs should also be able to react to events happening around them. However, how well this actually works and how often this feature is truly utilized in the game remains uncertain. There are also concerns about data protection with DeepSeek. In countries like Italy, the AI assistant is completely banned (via Handelsblatt).
With Sword of Justice, an interesting new MMORPG is now also launching in the West, which could influence the future of the genre with an innovative AI feature. How this works and whether it is really fun, players can find out for themselves starting today or alternatively read MeinMMO author Cedric Holmeier’s opinion here: New MMORPG aims to bring NPCs to life with AI, launching soon in the West after great success in China
