company hojoforsthe most famous of which is “Genshin Impact”, “Honkai: Star Trail” and “Muzen Zero Zone”revealed an important feature of its new game Nodusfall. While the project will retain a shareware distribution model, the developers won’t be using the studio’s usual random summoning system for characters.
Node dropped First fully unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, it immediately caught people’s attention with its unusual HoYoverse direction. Instead of a bright anime style, the studio created a dark fantasy action game featuring realistic graphics, large-scale combat, and team-up hunting of giant monsters. As far as the nature of the gameplay is concerned, the project has been developed with monster huntervisual components similar to Eldon Ring.
After the demo ended, however, the main question surrounding Nodusfall emerged: Will the game become another HoYoverse gacha project? Now the developers finally have an answer.
In an interview with PC Gamer, the studio confirmed that Nodusfall will be a long-term free-to-play game, but characters will not be obtained through random draws. As the game progresses, heroes will be displayed directly instead of the usual banners, and the gacha system is likely to be directly related to the further development of the character. This way, players don’t have to rely on luck or spend in-game currency to get the hero they want.
However, HoYoverse has yet to reveal all the details of its future monetization system. The developers only noted that cosmetics are considered one of the main revenue areas. Therefore, it’s too early to say that Nodusfall won’t have any microtransactions at all. However, the most controversial part of the Gacha mode – the random acquisition of characters – will never be the basis for progression.
For HoYoverse, this is a pretty serious departure from the usual business model. In Genshin Impact, Honkai Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero, new characters are one of the core elements of long-term profitability: players save money, wait for certain banners, and then try to get the hero they want through a random drop system. In Nodusfall, the company decided to structure progression differently.
The project itself is markedly different from the studio’s previous games, and not just financially. Nodusfall is a cooperative action game where players form teams to hunt down giant mythical creatures. The trailer shows battles with dragons, beasts, and other supernatural adversaries. Players will be able to choose different fighting styles, weapons and abilities, and defeat monsters to gain resources and open new development opportunities.
The influence of Monster Hunter is especially clear: combat revolves around exploring massive enemies and finding suitable tactics, and the co-op mode allows multiple players to combine their abilities. At the same time, HoYoverse adds its own mechanics – such as character transformations and joint finishing attacks.
The abandonment of the classic gacha system has already sparked a positive response from fans. For many players, the monetization of previous HoYoverse plans is one of the main reasons to approach Nodusfall with caution. Now, the game may offer a more traditional progression system, where obtaining new characters is determined by game progress rather than the chance of failure.
However, it is too early to finally evaluate Nodusfall’s economic model. HoYoverse has yet to reveal exactly which cosmetics will be on sale, whether there will be other types of paid content, and the scope of the progression system. Therefore, a more correct statement is not to reject microtransactions completely, but to reject random character summons.
However, the decision seems particularly unusual given HoYoverse’s history. The studio essentially took its familiar free-to-play model but ditched one of its most important elements. If Nodusfall’s other systems also don’t have gacha mechanics, then this plan may truly become the most atypical major release in HoYoverse history.
Nodusfall’s release date has yet to be announced. The game is in development, and the developers promise to gradually reveal new details about the world, characters, combat system, and how to develop heroes.
