How is Bless, the missing MMORPG from Korea? Better than one might think!
Bless is one of the games that has long been on the “I will keep an eye on that” list for MMORPG fans. It was mentioned in our article about the “most promising new MMORPGs expected to be released here in 2015 and 2016.” As the only game on the list, the launch of Bless has not yet occurred here in the West.
What’s going on?
Bless: Classic MMORPG with difficult starts
Bless is a classic MMORPG: two factions fight against each other in a world that resembles medieval Europe. The game has already been released in Korea and Russia, but has since been withdrawn and is set to be restructured.
While Bless had high production values, there were issues with gameplay, the combat system, and progression mechanics. Therefore, developer Neowiz withdrew the game in July 2017 and announced a later relaunch.
In the course of this, the partner for the release in Europe, Aeria Games, terminated their publisher contract and pulled out.
Neowiz has decided to bring the game to the West themselves.
What is the current status of Bless?
Bless is currently being developed in Korea, running on a “Rebuild” server. This is quite far away from us in Europe. According to information from the YouTuber Nocht, who is following the project, the rework of Bless is taking place in 3 stages. However, the 3rd season has now been completed and the rebuild project is essentially over.
In the realignment, Neowiz is addressing gameplay, progression systems, and restructuring the game.
The latest is that the race “Mascu”, actually a beast-like race, will also receive a “human” version and thus become a childlike race. This is optional and purely cosmetic.
The battlefield “Siege of Castra” has also been transformed to become more attractive to players.
The development of Bless in South Korea is progressing fairly well. However, according to Nocht, South Korean players are becoming less and less interested. They are now oriented towards new MMORPGs like Lost Ark or Lineage Eternal and have little interest in following a relatively old MMORPG like Bless.
Information on a Europe release of Bless could come soon
Nocht expects that there will soon be information about the fate of Bless here in Europe and North America.
At the end of next week, Bless will be featured at TwitchCon in California. Nocht estimates that a release date for the West could be announced here, or at least a beta. The TwitchCon takes place from October 20 to 22.
Maybe there will finally be news about the MMORPG that seemed almost lost. Perhaps Bless will even come to PS4 and Xbox One.
We at Mein MMO will keep you updated on the fate of Bless.
More information about Bless:
Bless: The overhaul is progressing well – gameplay video shows improvements
