Describing itself as a "collectible turn-based RPG", Zanerdin: The Unbound has been announced for PS5.
This is a title that's trying to appeal to the gacha crowd without actually being a gacha game. It's a paid, single player adventure where you can unlock a sizeable roster of playable heroes, and they're all attainable in-game without any microtransactions.
"Although we’re an indie-sized team, we don’t believe the narrative needs to be indie-sized," states Sanctuary Games CEO and founder Hyunduk You.
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"We believe gacha gameplay can exist and be enjoyable without microtransactions," You continues, as part of the official press release.
The announcement goes on to list "progress without paywalls" as a key feature, as if to drive the point home.
"Engage in gacha mechanics without microtransactions by defeating 60 turn-based battle stages, Boss Raids, Abyss Boss Raids, and a hidden Raid to unlock gacha materials and currency to rank up gear," it explains.
Zanerdin doesn't have a launch window yet — and we don't yet know its price tag — but it sounds like a promising project, and you can wishlist it right now on PS5 if you want.
What do you make of this one? Pull an ultra rare opinion in the comments section below.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 11
I love the collection-based idea of a gacha game, but I hate the monetisation of them and F2P games in general. This has my interest piqued.
Just saw the trailer on YouTube and added it to my wishlist. Looks cool!
It was the same with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so it's nothing new, but hopefully it's easier to get what's needed to do the draws in this game.
@UltimateOtaku91 I thought XC2 as well. Never did get KOS-MOS after so many attempts and I'm going to carry that disappointment to my grave. 😝
Terrible idea. Xenoblade chronicles 2 did this and it was horrid. Hard pass.
Sorry to be pedantic, but isn't gacha gameplay monetized by definition? The term comes from the capsule machines you're expected to feed money into.
For marketing purposes they shouldn’t even touch the word gacha when describing the game.
Cant wait until an update comes later adding microtransactions. Hopefully it will come with a splash screen that reads GACHA!
"It's a paid, single player adventure where you can unlock a sizeable roster of playable heroes, and they're all attainable in-game without any microtransactions"
You mean like Suikoden where you can recruit 108 heroes with 70-80 can be used in combat?
@RedRiot193 @rjejr @UltimateOtaku91 Agreed. Hated this mechanic in XC2. I even ended up grinding for dozens of hours at the end and still never got all the characters. Super-frustrating.
I later found out there was a way, I think through the DLC, to increase your odds to make it far more probable, but I think it was still just RNG, so there was a chance you'd come up empty handed. But don't quote me on it, my memory is a bit fuzzy as I've tried to block out the trauma
@themightyant LOL Fortunately for me my trauma is limited b/c I didn't actually play the game, my entire family just watched my youngest play it, so all I recall of XC2 is - we never got KOS-MOS, the nopon was no heropon, and Poppi the robot. Oh and 3 women who were really 1 woman but that only made sense to me after watching my kid play the car superior Torna dlc.
I watched that same kid play XC3 and it was much better. B/c Eunie's the boss.
So not a fan of this. And as @PuppetMaster pointed out they also did this in Sukiden, which I distinctly remember b/c I purposely did NOT play Sukiden b/c the 108 character number scared me off. I like my JRPG to have more manageable numbers around 6. 😁
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