Bless Unleashed

Bless Unleashed is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Round 8 Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in 2020. It is a reboot of Bless Online.^[1] Similarly, Unleashed uses a free-to-play business model. It was also released for the PC by NEOWIZ, then later published by VALOFE, in 2021. This game features multiple classes and races.(No longer available on all platforms)

Bless Unleashed
Promotional banner featuring a female Berserker
Developer(s)	Round 8 Studios
Publisher(s)	Bandai Namco Entertainment, NEOWIZ, VALOFE
Series	Bless
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
Release	Xbox One WW: March 12, 2020 PlayStation 4 WW: October 22, 2020 Windows WW: August 6, 2021
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Plot

After a dream sequence fighting the Archon of Fire, the Hero of Lumios wakes up inside their house on the neutral island of Telarion. Temperate and cultured, it teems with festivities and trade, and serves as a safe haven for refugees fleeing the cruelties of war. Guiding them is a lighthouse that stands unguarded and always lit. Each year, travellers gather from all over the world to attend a grand festival that commemorates the day that the first inhabitants built the lighthouse and watched a holy fire burst to life inside it. During this year's festivities, the island is attacked by a powerful mage named Gideon who summons hell spawn to aid in the invasion. After defeating a handful of these creatures, the Hero of Lumios narrowly escapes when their new ally, Don Diego, swoops in and grabs them with his griffin. This starts the long and treacherous journey to defeat Gideon and his minions, and prevent the Breaking from happening again.

Development

Bless Unleashed was announced in 2018.^[2]

Beta testing

Closed beta releases for the game were held during April^[3] and July 2019.^[4] The first open beta for the game was held in November 2019.^[5] In January 2020, the same beta reopened for the purposes of stress testing the game's servers.^[6]

Xbox One

On March 12, 2020, the game was finally released for the Xbox One for the Windows Store, with early access to the game available via paid Founders Packs on the Xbox One.^[7] On July 2, 2020, it had its first major expansion update, "Saurin's Deception".^[8]

PlayStation 4

The PlayStation 4 version was released on October 22, 2020.^[9][10]

PC

The PC version was released on Steam on August 6, 2021.^[11]

Closing

Bandai Namco closed their Bless Unleashed servers on November 30, 2022 at 11 PM PT.^[12]

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	XONE: 57/100[13]

Reception