HoYoverse’s New Game ‘Nodusfall’ Is Free-to-Play — No Gacha for Characters

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The story

HoYoverse announced its new co-op action RPG “Nodusfall” at gamescom. The game is free-to-play, with characters unlocked through continued play rather than gacha pulls. On 5ch, this sparked a flurry of speculation about the revenue model, with comments like “So how are they gonna make money then?” and “It’s gotta be skin purchases in the end.” Users also debated which platforms it will support and how this departs from HoYoverse’s previous titles, which relied heavily on big-spending gacha systems.

What people said

1AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:05
World's First Hands-On with HoYoverse's New Game "Nodusfall"! Co-op Action Where You Take On Monstrous Beasts and Dragons with Divine Skills [gamescom]
www.4gamer.net/games/036/G103635/20260827010/
3AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:06
Guess PS5's about to pop off again
4AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:09
I can guess it's skin purchases, but…
gear changes your look, though regular equipment doesn't have any sexy or stylish options, so maybe it's like layering paid skins over your gear or something?
22AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:20
Re: #4
Skin purchases (where you can't unlock the full performance of new weapons/characters unless you pull a specific skin)

Classic move for Chinese gacha games
5AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:10
Japan's already got Monster Hunter Wilds anyway
13AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:16
Re: #5
This is probably targeting Japanese/Chinese/Korean players who've moved on from Wilds
6AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:11
Their games have always been built around massive gacha spending — can they actually sustain this?
8AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:13
A lot of battle royale PvP games have taken over the market, but who knows how this one will do
9AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:14
Who needs another washed-up game for creepy otaku (キモオタ = "gross otaku") anyway
16AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:18
— Aside from boss fights like the one shown here, what other kinds of gameplay will there be?

Dev team:
Instanced co-op content tackled with your party will be the core gameplay. Beyond that, we're preparing large RPG-style maps for progressing the story, along with various types of missions. We're also planning some small-scale PvP content.
17AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:19
Bet every character's useless unless you gacha for their exclusive gear anyway
18AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:19
— This title is free-to-play, but how will players obtain characters?

Dev team:
Rather than getting characters through gacha, we've designed it so they're unlocked by continuing to play the game. As for monetization, we're considering appearance-changing items as a key element. We'll share more details on this later.
19AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:19
Lol, the second it came out that it's free-to-play, Western fans started ripping into it
20AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:19
So then how are they gonna squeeze money out of us, I wonder?
29AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:26
Re: #1
Hands-on footage
x.com/4GamerNews/status/2092897413359092146

x.com/4GamerNews/status/2092915026164384252
37AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:32
Re: #29
These animations look like I've seen them somewhere before lol 😅
30AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:28
I'd consider playing if the monetization doesn't affect gameplay, but it probably will
Whether it's gacha or unlocking performance through skins, any system where you can pay your way to power is trash
34AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:29
Re: #30
It's gonna be stamina/energy purchases, guaranteed (行動力 = the "action points" system common in mobile games)
32AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:28
Free-to-play with no gacha — how are they even gonna turn a profit?
42AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:35
Re: #32
Maybe it'll end up something like this

[Genshin Impact] "Starlit Illusion" Gacha (Star Wish) Summary | Pity System and Prices
https://gamewith.jp/genshin/article/show/526543
70AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:15
Re: #32
There's no character gacha, sure, but there'll definitely still be skin purchases or other gacha
40AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:35
I really wish HoYoverse would seriously make a premium buy-once game, but I guess that's a pipe dream
Charge for DLC if you have to, just make an anime-style action game already
50AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:44
Re: #40
No way HoYoverse ever makes a premium one-time-purchase game
53AnonymousAug 27, 2026 23:45
They could just say they like HoYoverse like a normal person, but people who only use it as a bludgeon to bash other games are giving it the worst reputation
At that point you're basically just an anti
67AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:03
Re: #53
Are you new to console-war threads or something?
69AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:13
Apparently there's a platform that doesn't even get to play this lol
71AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:16
Re: #69
Switch: "Did someone call me?"
Xbox: "Did someone call me?"
Steam: "Did someone call me?"
74AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:21
It's only confirmed for PC so far though
83AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:28
Re: #74
PC doesn't count as a platform
It'll probably only support Chinese platforms and PlayStation
75AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:22
I bet it'll be centered on skin purchases, designed so paying doesn't create a power gap
Pay-to-win is hated in the West after all

Also, even if the base game is free, paid expansion content down the line is possible too
78AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:25
Re: #75
That's the style a lot of recent Chinese games go for
They've probably learned that P2W doesn't last
93AnonymousAug 28, 2026 00:40
So they're gonna make bank off skins and battle passes?

Doesn't look like there's enough content for that to actually work

If they roll out any "you can't win without paying" content, they'll get slammed and lose the playerbase instantly

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “HoYoverse’s New Game Nodusfall Is Free-to-Play with No Character Gacha!“.

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