Blade & Soul

Blade & Soul is a Korean fantasy massively multiplayer online roleplaying game developed by NCSoft's Team Bloodlust. The game is heavily inspired by anime and manga, as well as martial arts elements. The game was released in Korea in 2012, with later releases in Japan (2014) and North America/EU regions (2016). Built on the Unreal Engine, Blade & Soul is available for play on Microsoft Windows and on mobile Android and Apple iOS.

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The Players and Daily login numbers are estimations based on subscriber numbers and online sentiment.

Blade & Soul is set on a fantasy world divided into three major realms: Earthen Realm, the Dark Realm, and the Divine Realm. The setting and environmental design is heavily inspired by Asian aesthetics and philosophies, specifically the Chinese traditional martial arts and cinema. It also has a very anime and manga looks for the in-game character models.

Players in Blade & Soul can choose between 4 races: the muscular Gon, the human-like Jin, the beautiful Yun, and the child-like and large-eared Lyn. The races are represented by Chinese mythical creatures such as the Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermillion Bird, and the White Tiger. Each race can then choose to follow one of the classes in Blade & Soul, although some classes are exclusive to a certain race. For instance, only the Lyn have access to the Astromancer, Blade Dancer, and Blade Dancer classes.

One of the major draws to Blade & Soul's character creation is the level of detail for customizing appearances. Aside from facial shape and structure, Blade & Soul includes options for tattoos and markings, makeup, and body weight and height sliders.

Blade & Soul character level progression is achieved through killing enemies and quest fulfillment. However, grinding through killing mobs can slow to a halt, once a character reaches a higher level than the mob of enemies. Quest XP give a higher reward and are more consistent. Experience charms can also be acquired to boost leveling. Another option is going through the daily dungeons, but these have a limited number of times that can be done per day.

Players in Blade & Soul can also interact through joining up in parties, clans, and factions. Clans can join either The Cerulean Order or The Crimson Legion Factions. Following a faction lets players wear faction uniforms and gain prestige points. Aside from these two, there are local factions such as the Skyhaven Resistance and Talus Dominion in the Misty Woods areas. Leveling Clans in Blade & Soul unlock useful benefits such as a Clan Vault and Workshops.