NetEase's mystical, martial arts-focused battle royale game Naraka: Bladepoint will be free-to-play starting next week. To celebrate the launch of PS5, the game, currently priced at $20/£18, will open its doors wide for anyone to try it out. This change will take effect on Thursday, July 13.

NetEase has put together an overall FAQ to explain its decision to go F2P about two years after its 2021 release: "All in-game content, including all game modes, events, cosmetics, and character customization, will be available to free players for provided.

That does not make the game an egalitarian paradise. Players who purchase the game or decide to pay enough in-game currency to upgrade their status will have access to several perks and benefits compared to F2P hoi polloi. In particular, free players will be severely limited in the percentage of new heroes they can unlock: they will earn only 35 hero coins per week and will need 100 coins to unlock a new hero. Naturally, paying players can collect as many coins as they like.

Paying money also gives you a bit of a head start. Both free and paying players initially have access to the heroes Viper, Tian Hai, Ji Pinyin, and Matari, but players who spend money get 300 hero coins (enough for three heroes) and can fly around as they please. Paid players also have access to rank at level 20 and lobby chat at level 5.

More information about the transition, including a new 12vs12 mode, discounts, special unlocks, and information about a collaboration with a streamer called "Maximilian Dood," can be found on Naraka's Steam news page. Otherwise, we'll just have to sit tight and wait for the transformations to be reflected on July 13.

Naraka Bladepoint currently has a "Mixed" rating on Steam's user review chart, but that does not appear to be an obstacle. At the time of writing, the game boasts about 90,000 players and is in the top 10 on Steam's most-played list. Frankly, this is surprising. I've never heard anyone talk about this game the way they do about "Fortnite. [PCG's Tyler Wilde Naraka: When PCG's Tyler Wilde played the game for his review of Naraka: Bladepoint, he gave it a score of 73% and wrote, "With two recovering players stalking each other through the trees, Naraka's thrills are rivals the best of the genre."