We played in the Land of the Morning Light, the new region of the MMORPG Black Desert Online. To test it we were invited to Amsterdam in the European studios of Pearl Abyss, in the presence of numerous team members and CEO Lybee Park. Land of the Morning Light is based on the bright Chosun period, a Korean dynastic kingdom that lasted for about five centuries. Naturally, there is no shortage of fantasy licenses and re-interpretations in a Black Desert key, a game that has changed over time since its publication, while maintaining a peculiar style both on the aesthetic and playful front.
The new expansion of Black Desert Online
We played in the unreleased region for a few hours, using ready-made and leveled up characters for end game content. We will tell you in depth about each mechanic and we will describe the wonderful locations in the complete review: there will be a lot to analyze, since Pearl Abyss intended the expansion as a new beginning for the MMORPG, enjoyable and interesting even for newbies to the level 1, ie the first contact with Black Desert Online.
The narration therefore has an important weight, as demonstrated by the over 5,000 lines of dubbed dialogue (also in English) and the almost 100 minutes of videos along which eight stories unfold, with eight distinct endings and as many accompanying Boss Fights. Those who are not interested in the plot, think of the players returning from the previous expansions, however, should not worry: there are many activities that can be practiced even without caring about characters and questlines. A renovated Housing system based on typical medieval Korean homes will give you the opportunity to relax between one fight and the next, with hundreds of customizable furniture items. Then there is the Panokseon, a new sailing ship with which to explore the surroundings of the island and do battle with other buccaneers and their crews.
Boss Blitz
The developers have come up with many useful mini-games to spice up resource farming or level grinding, but the real game changer in Land of the Morning Light is the Boss Blitz mode. After facing them during the tasks dedicated to the story, the eight formidable opponents remain at our disposal in their arenas.
Those who want to test themselves will be able to challenge them again by increasing the difficulty coefficient of the encounter, to add spice to the battles. The particularity of the Blitz lies in the hybrid nature between single player and multiplayer. If you defeat an opponent with a character for the first time, at a match challenge level higher than the base one, a notification will notify all users on the server. Furthermore, those who have chosen the same warrior class as the winner will automatically get to the next difficulty level. The intention of Pearl Abyss is to stimulate global competition and the “race to the Blitz”, to become the first to have supported (and overcome) the most difficult struggles.
We have not yet tested the attacks and specialties of each Boss, but the ones we have faced have proved worthy of note already at the lowest difficulty levels. If challenged to the higher ones, among other things, they didn’t just get harder and inflict huge damage: they also bought new movesets. The game’s deep combo system needs to be put to good use if you want to get the better of them, button mashing is not an option. Moreover, it is not enough to have full command of our fighter to win. To balance the mode and offer novices and experts the same cards in hand, Pearl Abyss has thought of upgrades that must be placed before the battle in the Blitz on a special grid, characterized by elemental types and weaknesses / resistances that override the statistics of our character and therefore bridge the gap between users.
However, there are classes more or less suitable for the movements of certain gatekeepers, but those who study the appropriate setups and builds will benefit regardless. Always provided that you have found the elements necessary to make them, because the power ups must be unlocked by exploring every corner of the unprecedented open world and finding the gems that contain them. The size of the island of the Morning Light is remarkable: it shouldn’t be an easy task!
