Is Naraka Bladepoint worth playing in 2024?I went to China to find the answer

When you look at the most played games on Steam, you’ll see where things fall short.

Are there any competitive Valve games? Cool and fair. Pal world? It’s a bit depressing, but I understand. GTA 5? This would be Trevor and Cockroach left behind after a nuclear war strikes.

But Naraka Bladepoint, a melee battle royale game developed by relatively new company 24 Entertainment and published by NetEase Games, remains among the top performers with hundreds of thousands of players every day.

Naraka was first released in 2021 and became free-to-play in 2023, but it has performed very consistently during its relatively short lifespan, reaching its all-time peak of nearly 300,000 concurrent players just a few months ago .

I’ve always thought Naraka was entirely centered around Chinese domestic players, but – not content to leave the mystery unsolved – I went to the J-Cup World Championship in Chengdu, China, to find out more.

Chengdu Nara is a fantastic location; a very modern competitive online video game that incorporates characters and environments based on traditional Chinese mythology. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in western China, played a key role in the famous Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history and is an area that has been inhabited by humans for more than 4,000 years. Today, the city is home to more than 20 million people (more than twice the size of London by some measures), mixing traditional buildings and streets with luxury shops and giant skyscrapers.

Inside the Chengdu Global Center, the largest building in the world by floor space, the 3,000-seat venue cheered and waved glittering inflatables with every second of the chaotic action, J-Cup individual championships and trios matches. Toys, held in the shadow of the Chengdu Global Center are both intense, spectacular and very different events.

The first thing I realized after playing more games myself and watching competitive matches at the highest level was that, despite the button-mashing reputation of melee combat, Naraka Bladepoint is an incredibly technical game. This is both its greatest appeal and steepest hurdle in terms of accessibility.

In the combat triangle of light attacks, charge attacks, and parries, you can half-charge and hold different types of attacks to blur the lines between each attack, creating gray gradations and complex moves and combos in the heat of battle. hit.

This makes it have a high skill gap, perfect for esports, but can also be confusing for newbies. If you’re not familiar with what the community calls “hold checks,” where you look like you’re launching a charge attack to lure a reaction, it’s easy to wonder why someone else’s light attack defeats yours (because they take longer to charge).

However, Naraka isn’t just about mastering the rock-paper-scissors combat system (sometimes you have a very rock-paper-scissors and a pair of rock-scissors). In Solo, pre-tournament favorite AoW_Mike is considered a great all-around player, not only for his one-on-one skills, but also for his sense of timing, map knowledge, and reading of situations.

So besides memorizing those twitch-heavy instant combos, there’s definitely an element of Naraka’s brain that’s been misunderstood. Knowing when to attack, when to run away, understanding the situation of the game, how to score, and when to use your ultimate ability are just as important as raw technical ability.

ELD.Froztivus, one of the best players in North America, is a great example of this. While the Nalaka Pro scene is dominated by Chinese teams, players from other regions have also impressed in the past two tournaments. Froztius is an excellent one-on-one player who can absolutely dominate the Sun Realm (the dueling arena that appears in the game) as long as anyone dares to confront him.

However, despite winning his final individual J Cup match, Froztius finished seventh overall as he was unable to consistently translate his dueling ability into high enough scores.

On the trio side, as you’d expect, teamwork is key, with each player playing a specific role in a specific role. The best Naraka characters differ significantly between solo and trio, with survivability playing a greater role in the former. Many characters with obvious weaknesses of their own stand out in team play, and a dedicated healer, tank, or ranged focus collaborator can provide cover for them. This means that nearly all of Naraka’s lineup will be looked at at some point, so the meta isn’t completely homogenous like some games.

It also means that no matter what type of character you prefer to play, there’s a place for you in one of Naraka’s modes, even if you’re only interested in solo or one of the trio, rather than both.

While the threesome is a viable competition, the solos are where the most intensity, drama, and glory can be found. In the climactic final of the J Cup, Mike, the leader in the standings, was eliminated early, resulting in a tense final. However, the previous year’s runner-up KLA.T225 obviously had a chance to avenge its past and win the championship. .

However, an unfortunate encounter took him out of the race, leaving Mike victorious and T225 in tears.

Exchanges like this showcase the highest stakes of battle royale.

But on the one hand, the genre feels like it’s past its prime with high-profile flops like Hyper Scape, but on the other hand, the biggest hits seem to have just cemented their dominance in the market, with Apex Games like Legends, Fortnite and PUBG are still booming. Large audiences and concurrent player numbers.

So with that in mind, when you think, “Should I play Naraka Blade in 2024?? Simply put, Naraka Bladepoint has surprising depth, a thriving pro scene, and clear continued investment. It’s more popular in China than anywhere else in the world, but American players still compete at the highest level.

While its technical combat system takes time to learn, and a mobile version is in development in hopes of bridging the skills gap and providing an easier entry into the game for hobbyists and esports, you’re still entering a niche where you can In it “you’ll find that most of the players may not be in your area.

But that said, it’s unlikely to run out of steam with updates anytime soon, as new characters and weapons will drop over competitive seasons and are specifically balanced to shake up the meta.