[Register now] An adult online game in South Korea (those under aged 19 can still play, with everything censored), Scarlet Blade has entered Closed Beta for the Western market under publisher Aeria Games.
Known as Queen’s Blade Online in its native country, I am quite surprised at the game making its way overseas with its female characters-only theme and gratuitous display of digital nudity.
Gameplay in Scarlet Blade is fairly standard, despite the WASD movement, it is no action MMORPG but a classic point and click title. Featuring 2 opposing factions, players will eventually meet in open PvPvE maps, killing each other for point cards, like the one below.
At lower level maps, which is in my case, I got the card off killing a random mob which is the opposing faction’s spy, not an actual human player. You can see the mob in the first few seconds of the video below. They are still tough though.
Faction wars may take place in an instance as well, aka the 80 Vs 80 battlefield which players have to queue for. I have yet to try this out due to the level limit, but I am not a PvP enthusiast anyway… *runs*
1 of the main features will be the mechas, which can be piloted. At my current level, I still have no access to this feature, but think of it as a massive temporary power-up, similar to the Dragon form in Dragona Online or the mechas in RF Online.
Scarlet Blade will still have instanced dungeons, and if I am not wrong open world mobs only give EXP after level 10, while players will have to do the quests before that to level up. There are several stats, for example “Chakra” is the term used for magic. Note the stats, Ch-Attack, Ch-Accuracy and Ch-Evade etc. It will prove to be a headache for those looking for a simple stats system.
Other than the suggestive 3D models and content, there are 2 reasons why Scarlet Blade is an adult title in South Korea. First, the “puzzle”, which players can unlock the grids as they level up. Eventually, a 2D image will be shown… I have seen a couple higher level ones from the Korean server, and there is indeed nudity involved. Unlocking these images will reward players with… reward, as seen in the button below.
Second, there is the “gambling” feature, which Aeria Games didn’t bother to rename. Cards drop from monsters or given as quest rewards, and they are used in with a slot-machine type of mechanic. Nothing new really, since most F2P games have this feature as well, hidden under a less controversial name.
Following the trend of many games now, Scarlet Blade is also holding its own Founder’s Pack sales. I have never bought any of these packages thus far, which I guess spawned from the Kickstarter concept. I bet many gamers will be buying the Starter Pack just for the Seal Remover item…
