Bless Unleashed is a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Round 8 Studio e Neowin, and it is nothing more than the reboot of the old and dear Bless Online. We can already say at the outset that, despite the breathtaking graphics (compared to many other titles of the genre), the title fails to impress in the same way as regards the combat system and, from a more general point of view, theexperience proposed by developers it's more frustrating than anything else. But let's go together to look at it more closely, analyzing it in detail. As many fantasy stories have taught us, the protagonist is always identified as the one who will save the world and who, due to a series of fortuitous events, will be able to become the strongest and most important fighter in all of creation ... and in this Bless Unleashed the music does not change. . The title starts with a terrifying nightmare (which serves as a tutorial) which will prompt us to seek explanations on its meaning. All those we interact with will advise us to converse with the "oracle", a woman with magical powers who will be able to indicate what we are looking for. But it is a day of celebration in the city, then between a fetch quest and a tutorial, we will meet again at find that the city will be attacked. For one reason or another we will be able to save ourselves, and from here our adventure will begin.
The hero's road
Something that may pleasantly surprise those who approach Bless Unleashed is the shoulder camera, as if it were an action role-playing game. Within the nightmare-tutorial we will learn how to attack and the fundamental basis of the whole game: the combos. These are also the Achilles heel of the entire title, since they will always be the same and, as you can well imagine, after hours of grinding by repeating the same key sequence over and over, the title soon becomes boring. But before we even jump into battle we will have to do something: create our avatar! We will have four classes available, which reflect the most classic canons of the role-playing game. In fact, it goes from the crusader to the pure magician, passing through the tank. As for the character creation editor, we stayed pleasantly surprised from what is possible to do. Sure, we're not talking about The Sims or Monster Hunter World, but the character creation proposes a number of changes.
Obviously, we will start with a basic body and face, from which we will then begin to work on it. We will be able to change the width of the forehead, the distance of the eyes from the eyebrows, the musculature and sweat of our character and many other details, the only real flaw are the amount of hair and beards, which are sparse compared to everything else. However, Bless Unleashed has grinding on its side. What do we mean? Well, grinding is something super rewarding, not just because of how the levels are divided, but because it gets the player into a grinding loop never experienced in a video game. In this MMORPG you will not only grind to level your character, but also to level skills and equipment. The latter is probably much more important than the level of the player himself, yes, why it is something that goes on with the story.
However, what is really frustrating in Bless Unleashed are the quest end rewards and the daily activities: unfortunately, these two are almost "useless", as you get very little compared to the level of the player, therefore they do not help at all in the progression. It is much easier and more rewarding, as mentioned above, to grind. Have your own digital avatar of high level is also important for Star Seeds, which are used to enchant equipment and trade between players, but they are really expensive. Thankfully, they can be traded (by paying with in-game coin) via an NPC, but only once per day and the number of Star Seeds received depends on the level of the character. Bless Unleashed is a missed opportunity, because despite everything there are things to do: daily activities, quests, boss fights, dungeons, there is everything that a MMORPG player wants, but the combat system is so woody and based on the repetition of the same patterns that everything becomes repetitive. Yet, from a graphic point of view, this is not the case.
The first impact with the graphics of Bless Unleashed makes you scream miracle. It is all so well done, the art design of the places is allows the player to immerse yourself in the fantasy world created by developers… but the problem is in the small things. In fact, it has happened more than once to walk in a crowded place or full of objects, and not see some textures loaded. Sure, if you watched Bless Unleashed from a general point of view it is gorgeous, as are the music, dubbing (unfortunately only in English) and sound effects. The problem, as already mentioned, is present in the details.
We got to the point in the review that interests our wallet more than us: Bless Unleashed is worth a try? Our answer is yes, but not alone. What do we mean? Well, despite the art design, the generally impressive graphics, unfortunately it is a title that does not stand on its legs due to the combat system, the fact is that if played in company, it could certainly become a much more fun title, since it would avoid the problem of repetition of the patterns explained above. If you've never approached the genre, it might be a good title to start with, but not the best, as there are other MMORPGs that explain in detail everything that needs to be done within such a title, which this title only partially does. So, you just have to Gather your party mates and go on an adventure!
