Bandai Namco Online’s decision to stop developing the MMORPG Blue Protocol came as a surprise to many users, although there were hints about it. Over the past year, news about the game has become darker and darker: the release of the version from Amazon Games has been postponed indefinitely, the advertising campaign from Smilegate has been stopped, losses and rumors of bankruptcy of Japanese authors. Be that as it may, the Japanese version will have servers in January 2025, and the regional versions will never be released.
But the more interesting are the rumors and news about the creation of a mobile version of the game by Tencent. The development of this project was first reported by Bloomberg on September 13, 2023, and in the last month they began to talk about it again. The fact is that from August 16 to August 28, 2024, participants were selected for closed testing, which is already underway. According to reports on Chinese social networks, the NDA test began on August 29 and will last at least a week.
At the moment, quite a bit is known about the game and the developers, especially considering that almost all the information is in Chinese. The Shanghai studio Bokura is responsible for the creation, 40% of which, according to Chinese media reports, belongs to the technology giant Tencent. The news about the creation of the studio dates back to January 1, 2021. In May of the same year, photos of the office were published, and already in June the development of their first project was approved. Having studied the official website of the company, we managed to find some more interesting news:
- First, on September 1, 2023, the company announced that it was conducting closed testing of its unannounced game. Perhaps after this test, Bloomberg received information about the project, which it reported.
- The second interesting news is the official announcement of the development of a mobile game associated with the Project Sky Blue studio and Bandai Namco Online.
Unfortunately, very few details about the project were reported, but they were there. It has been revealed that this is a mobile game that aims to provide players with a new story and world exploration experience that is completely different from the MMORPG Blue Protocol. Four images were also published that we used in this article.
In the section about the Bokura studio, we managed to find a mention of the current project:
We are currently working on a globally oriented youth MMOARPG with a large world and high-quality anime style, promoting anti-routine, freedom and personalization.
This is where the official part ends and we move on to the information that is published on Chinese social networks, where the lucky ones share their impressions of the game and discuss various subtleties. Part of the information was taken from a fan discord server for the MMORPG Blue Protocol.
Codename of the game at the moment English: Star. The project is being developed on the Unity engine, unlike Unreal Engine 4, on which the MMORPG Blue Protocol was created, and is cross-platform. Testing is carried out only on Android and Windows, and the PC version recommends a GeForce 2070-level video card. The general artistic style has been preserved, but the characters have undergone changes and the quality of the graphics has dropped.
Chinese users note that the game has new characters and classes that can be compared with other Chinese games. For example, the Healer class now resembles Nahida from Genshin Impact, and the differences between classes have become more noticeable due to a greater variety of combat skills. For example, the archer class will have a pet that helps in battle. Characters’ skills can be improved with the help of special resources.
Among the announced weapons are the Sword and Shield, Staff, Katana, Tomahawk, Rifle, Elemental Rings and Hand Cannon. Each class has a specific element assigned to it, which could hint at a less complex system compared to Blue Protocol.
The combat system has become more active and resembles modern mobile adventure games, where you need to quickly dodge enemy attacks or perform combo attacks. The game world and monsters are very similar to those in Blue Protocol, but at the same time a lot of new things have been added. The main town of Asterliese has been redesigned and looks more vibrant with more NPCs and a more compact layout of attractions.
Bosses in dungeons have become more difficult. The reward for killing them is distributed depending on the contribution. In addition, a minimum contribution is required to receive the reward. Weapons can only be obtained in dungeons, and the number of passes in them is limited by daily limits. The Imajinns system, which used monster souls as character equipment, has been removed. Instead, various types of equipment have been added that serve as “armor” for you.
The overall customization and costumes look better than in the original game. And the list of additional types of accessories has been expanded. For example, they added accessories for the mouth. As for the gacha system, there is one, and in it you can get one of many costumes for the characters. The guarantee is a value of 100 attempts.
Guilds are also present in the game and have even been developed: there is a guild house, a general warehouse and many other premises, each of which performs a specific function for guild members.
As for monetization, you can purchase cosmetic items for premium currency, but equipment items are not currently visible in the list of goods. There is a battle pass, but the list of rewards has not yet been published.
Reviews from Chinese players are now quite varied: some consider it fun, while others call it just another game that doesn’t stand out in any way on the mobile gaming market. You can find several reviews about not the best stability and optimization of the game. For example, playing on Redmi K50 is very problematic and the device simply cannot cope with the game. The PC version also receives criticism, especially during crowded times.
Due to a strict NDA, there is still no full gameplay footage online, so it’s difficult to say how much of the above is true. We hope that the developer from Bokura and the publisher Tencent will soon present the game to the public and reveal details about it.