'Bless Online' on Steam: Why People are Stoked On the New MMORPG

A new massive multiplayer online role-playing game has gamers excited to spend a lot of timing grinding for hours a day in order to gain levels and get some uber loot.

Bless Online from Korean developer Neowiz comes out on Wednesday via Steam Early Access. While the game isn’t particularly innovative, it’s a quality MMORPG that is not pay-to-win or filled with microtransactions, which is what fans of the genre have been desperate for.

What is Bless Online?

Bless Online is a traditional “MMORPG” (“massive multiplayer online role-playing game”) where players create a character that they’ll level up throughout the game. The story for Bless goes like this: The world has been in conflict since it was created with battles raging between Old Gods, dragons, and other races. From the conflict, the Holy Hieron Empire controls the north side of the continent where the game takes place. Hieron believes order can be attained by ruling the entire continent. Opposing Hieron is Union, a military alliance that controls the southern part of the continent and refuses to live under the empire’s rule.

New players will choose which faction they want to be part of when starting out. There are several races in the game with the standard humans, elves, and along with more unique races. There are only five classes available when Bless comes out: berserker, paladin, ranger, mage, and guardian. There are two additional classes — the mystic and assassin — that are available in the Korean version of the game, but the developer plans to release them in the US soon. Once a character is created, it’s off to complete quests and kill monsters for hours on end.

Who Developed Bless?

Based in South Korea, Neowiz developed games mainly for Asian audiences. The developer began production of Bless back in 2011 when it partnered with Unreal Engine creator, Epic Games. It was released in Korea in September 2015.

In 2016, Aeria Games announced it would publish Bless for European and North American audiences with a release sometime in 2017. That plan fell through last June when the publisher decided not to proceed with releasing the game citing quality issues with the game. Following that announcement, Neowiz revealed it would self-publish Bless and formed a team to handle the Western release called Neowiz Bless Studio.

When Does Bless Come Out?

Bless’ official release date on Steam Early Access is Wednesday, May 30. Players who purchased the Founder’s Pack, which starts at $40, can start playing the game two days earlier — today, Monday, May 28. Those who wait for release date can buy the standard edition for $30. Players can also purchase an optional premium membership for $15 a month, which will include additional items, buffs, and discounts in order to gain more gold and experience points.

What Are People Saying About Bless?

When it was announced for a Western release, MMORPG gamers starving for a new adventure got excited for the game. Those lucky enough to play Bless early cite the crisp graphics of the game along with the more action-orientated gameplay. During combat, players can combo attacks into each other in an almost rhythmic fashion. Another interesting addition to the game the ability to tame any monster in the world and use them as mounts or pets. There are 660 unique creatures within the game. There’s also a robust PVP system in Bless that puts players in opposing faction in battles from small skirmishes to large-scale battles.

More importantly, Bless Online is what MMORPG fans wanted in recent years. A game that has some depth with traditional players classes that doesn’t try to nickel-and-dime players in order for them to have some fun.