Game Rant was given a hands-off preview of BnS NEO Divine Gems comprising about 20 minutes of footage highlighting the remaster's key additions. It's a remaster, not a full-blown sequel, so fans of the original should have no trouble acclimating. There are no new classes or races, the combat system is largely unchanged, and, aside from some added systems, itemization should be familiar to seasoned kung fu MMO gamers. Meanwhile, the reworked onboarding experience should help new players effortlessly windwalk their way to success.
Naturally, the big ticket item of this remaster is Blade and Soul NEO's substantially upgraded visuals. Side-by-side comparisons in the footage viscerally demonstrated just how much work NC America put into giving the decade-old MMORPG a makeover. Lighting and shading have seen a noticeable facelift, with more accurate shadows adding greater depth to geometry and enhanced lighting emphasizing the game's vibrant color palettes. Overall, it's brighter, more colorful, and holds up strongly to modern graphics standards. The geometry of static objects has seen improvements and a healthy injection of grass and foliage livened up spaces that were once merely green floor textures.
Environments themselves have seen major touch-ups. In one instance, a once-barren shoreline was replaced with a gorgeous vista with smoldering shipwrecks littering the water as a towering cliff face casts a long shadow over the beach. Another eye-catching example was a comparison of one of the game's cities. Where once there were a few buildings with an empty courtyard, there is now a bustling metropolis illuminated by webs of string lights. God rays shine through tree canopies, and distant terrain features are rendered in finer detail. As far as video game remasters go, Blade and Soul NEO is a high-effort delivery.
We were offered a look at PVE and PVP gameplay footage, and thankfully for fans, it looks like the same iconic combat system as its predecessor. How BnS NEO Classic Divine Gems for sale's combat system has players managing cooldowns between combo abilities feels like a mix of traditional fighting game and tab-target MMORPG, and the improved graphics and animations add intensity to the over-the-top spectacle of Blade and Soul's combat. Footage of a small 3v3 faction PVP bout was a chaotic display, but the free-for-all PVP was even more so. Players were seen desperately competing for a Scavenger's Treasure Chest, using crowd control abilities on each other for a chance to grab the coveted loot.
