The free-to-play landscape is competitive—rightfully so. From MOBAs, hero shooters, and massive gacha RPGs to battle royales and Fall Guys, there are countless ways to satisfy your PvP cravings without having to invest time upfront (and electricity to run your console, money to buy a TV, and pickled onion monster snacks…)
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In such a crowded market, which is only going to get busier with the constant addition of new games every month, successful free-to-play games need to find a delicate balance to stand out and stay ahe ad. But when something is “free”, making it valuable, especially in the long run, is another matter altogether. So, I wanted to identify some ways to keep free-to-play games relevant and thriving over the years.
Naraka: Sword’s Edge is a game that I’ve always been interested in, with a rabid fanbase of hundreds of thousands of global players playing every day on Steam alone. A large portion of the game’s player base is in China, which I discovered when I attended the Naraka J Cup World Championship last year as I tried to learn more about the game’s appeal, but the game’s developer, 24 Entertainment, surely has plans to expand its presence in different regions as well.
As I discovered at the World Championships, Naraka: Bladepoint does something different.
First, it draws on Chinese culture and history, with a more realistic graphics style than games like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Heights, offering something distinctly different from Western games without feeling derivative like a gacha game. It also adds its own twist to the battle royale genre with a melee system that’s reminiscent of martial arts films, which remain an important cultural touchstone for Chinese media around the world.
However, I feel its main differentiator is the depth and complexity of its combat mechanics, which Naraka’s pros would rather liken to a fighting game than a battle royale. While many melee games (especially those with “one-button combat”) feel like button-mashing games due to their long, specific combo sequences, large skill gaps, and focus on technical execution, the interpretation of combat flow in Naraka requires skill, is difficult to master, and can be off-putting to new players if they’re immediately thrown into a lobby with a bunch of veterans.
Ironically, Naraka: Bladepoint seems to be trying to overcome this insurmountable obstacle by expanding its influences and recruiting familiar faces to bridge the gap.
“Initially, we decided to adopt a buyout model for sales, which was a conservative approach,” said Fei Hoing, lead developer of Naraka: Bladepoint. “However, by this time last year, we had already earned the trust of over 20 million players. We believe that adopting an open experience to attract and enhance the game is absolutely the right choice. This approach has brought Naraka: Bladepoint over 40 million players, as well as more high-quality user-generated content and greater potential.”
“The transition to a free model has lowered the threshold for players to participate in the game, attracting more players who are interested in trying the melee battle royale gameplay. Secondly, after the transition, “Naraka: Sword’s Edge” has been constantly trying various partnerships, such as the cooperation with Neil, Bruce Lee, and The Soul Land, and the announcement of cooperation with “Tomb Raider” and “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” at the 2024 Naraka Fest Direct. These have injected a lot of fresh blood into “Naraka: Sword’s Edge”.”
But it’s not as simple as just luring people through the door with a smiling Geralt and an interesting concept and calling it a day. Naraka’s biggest challenge in getting itself in front of potential fans is getting them invested long enough to understand its mechanics, and 24 Entertainment believes that this requires really getting involved in developing the player experience and offering diverse gameplay.
“I think the most important factor is to listen to the players, understand their potential demands, and know their needs in order to better optimize the gaming experience and innovate gameplay,” Fei Hoing explained.
“Seamless wall running and grappling hooks are designed to provide a smooth chasing experience. The rebirth charm is designed to give players who fail accidentally a second chance. The Sun Realm is designed to provide a place for players who like pure 1v1 combat. The high-risk aerial throws in FPS games are less risky in close combat, so in subsequent updates, we transformed it into a spirit well, an area that needs to be occupied to get rewards. The game has been updated many times since its launch, and we have spent a lot of energy listening to the voices of players. After understanding the needs of players, we carefully considered and further fed back to the game for targeted adjustments, which is also the charm of online games.
“We also rewarded old players who paid before with in-game currency of equivalent value and many exclusive skins, so that both new and old players can feel our sincerity.”
However, for a game like Naraka, where the skill gap is so wide, “listening” only to the most dedicated players will only exacerbate the accessibility issues and potentially lead to a more closed community. Rather than balancing for only the most hardcore players, 24 Entertainment is leaning towards offering competitive arenas for pros with specific restrictions on team composition that effectively function as ban options and can alter play styles.
“It’s not just professional players, it’s also true for high-scoring players and those who are obsessed with studying combos, their focus is usually different from the general public,” said Fei Hoing.
“We still pay more attention to the needs of ordinary users in balance adjustments. For issues such as hero balance in professional competitions, we generally impose restrictions through the competition system, such as limiting the number of times a single hero can be used by players to no more than 2 times.”
“Of course, the balance of characters in the game is the foundation for the long-term development of the game, which is why we let players experience new characters in the test server before the official launch and quickly adjust and optimize based on player feedback. But new content is also indispensable because it is the best gift the game gives back to players. New modes, new weapons, new characters, new costumes, etc., not only let players feel the continuous efforts of developers, but also encourage players to continue to create interesting new content in the community.”
The most prominent example of 24 Entertainment’s incorporation of new content in practice is in the form of new characters. The newest character in Naraka Bladepoint is Lyam Liu, a martial arts magnet with the power to control metal, and a perfect example of the fusion of fantasy and traditional Chinese culture that Naraka wants to emphasize.
“We hope to expand the story of “Blade Point” through this character, and connect the world of martial arts with the political conspiracies of the court in history,” Fei Hong explained. “Our heroes are generally developed by the copywriter first, who first shapes the character image, appearance, and story background. Then, based on these contents, the hero planner will refine the hero’s abilities, and these abilities will release skills. For example, Akos Hu was a child picked up from a tiger’s den when he was a child, so the ‘tiger’ can be the source of his ability, and the skill design will also be based on the ‘tiger’ element.”
“From the perspective of background, identity and personality, Liu Zhijun is a typical example of a ‘martial arts madman’ in traditional Chinese martial arts culture. They have strict requirements for martial arts training and devote their lives to becoming stronger. Moreover, they are pure-hearted and their pursuit of strength comes from inner drive rather than external evaluation. In fact, this is somewhat similar to modern athletes’ constant pursuit of self-transcendence.”
“In the world view, the Liu family is part of the ‘Wulin’ on the one hand, being one of the five major families of the Wuji Wulin, and on the other hand, due to their natural affinity with the gold element (one of the five elements in the Chinese fantasy philosophical system), they have obtained the right to mine, exploit and operate, becoming ‘iron officials’ serving the imperial court.”
In terms of gameplay, each character in Naraka fulfills a specific role, but pro players and content creators often say that 24 Entertainment intentionally changes up the gameplay by making very powerful new weapons and tweaking the new heroes to be the best characters in Naraka Bladepoint.
Previous addition Shayol Wei was a very strong defensive character, able to absorb attacks with his ultimate, effectively overpowering the opposing team and starting his own combos. It’s no surprise, then, that Lyam Liu is suited to longer combos and manipulating space, allowing him to not only act as a disruptor in these defensive situations, but also counter the amazing mobility of previously dominant character Hadi (another relatively new addition).
“Based on player feedback, it’s clear [Lyam Liu] “Very active in single-player games,” said Fei Hoing. “His strength lies in his ability to easily combine different weapons for a variety of long-range combo attacks. He also has excellent long-range attack and control capabilities, making him a valuable team player for focusing firepower and disrupting opponents in two- and three-player games.”
“Reim can perform a variety of long combos, so heroes that can provide a long combo environment are very suitable for teaming with him, such as Yueshan, Tessa, Viper Ning, and Tianhai. In addition, heroes with higher tolerance for mistakes, such as Ziping, are also suitable partners.
“During long combo attacks, he is most easily interrupted by control heroes, such as Tessa, Cui Daidai, and Ning Viper.”
However, while tweaking new characters to make them more powerful in the game does keep things fresh, it can also cause existing heroes to seem weaker in comparison, which is a huge problem when they’re characters that new players are joining in. To address this, 24 Entertainment is promising to bring every character up to the game’s current level soon.
“We will not completely redesign the heroes,” Fei Hoing concluded. “Instead, we will optimize the skills of most characters based on talent fusion. In terms of strength, all heroes will be adjusted according to a unified standard, and the user experience will be optimized based on the pain points of each hero.”
Naraka Bladepoint is free to play on Steam, Xbox Series consoles, and PlayStation. It contains microtransactions for costumes, skins, and other customization items.
