When you hear the name HoYoverse, a few images come to mind: the sprawling open world of Genshin Impact, the turn-based storytelling of Honkai: Star Rail, or the street-styled urban brawling of Zenless Zone Zero. Nodusfall fits none of those templates. Following recent hands-on impressions from PC Gamer, the studio’s free-to-play “boss-killer” is shaping up to be something genuinely unexpected—a game that borrows surface-level ideas from the biggest names in action gaming and then refuses to play by their rules.
Not Elden Ring, Not Monster Hunter
On paper, Nodusfall’s elevator pitch sounds familiar: hunt down enormous, devastating bosses and take them down. That description naturally invites comparisons to Elden Ring’s punishing duels or Monster Hunter’s methodical preparation-and-pursuit loop. But according to early impressions, neither label fits.
The Boss Fight Is the Whole Game
Rather than treating colossal encounters as the dramatic climax of hours of exploration, Nodusfall puts the boss fight front and center as the core experience itself. There’s no lengthy trek through an open world to reach your target, and the pacing leans far more arcade-like than the slow-burn tension FromSoftware fans are used to. Where a soulslike demands patience and careful stamina management, Nodusfall reportedly favors speed, aggression, and flashy reads—dodging through attacks, punishing openings, and chaining together relentless offense.
More Momentum Than the Hunting Genre
It also steers away from Monster Hunter’s trademark structure. Forget lengthy gathering runs, item crafting marathons, and 40-minute hunts against fleeing prey. Nodusfall appears built for players who love the moment-to-moment thrill of a giant monster battle but want to skip straight to the action. It’s a tighter, more focused loop—and that alone makes it an oddity in the current AAA landscape.
A Very Un-HoYoverse HoYoverse Game
Perhaps the strangest thing about Nodusfall is who’s making it. HoYoverse built its empire on exploration-driven, gacha-fueled anime RPGs with massive worlds and character-collection systems. Nodusfall throws much of that formula out the window in favor of a concentrated combat experience. It suggests the studio isn’t content to rest on its flagship franchises and is willing to experiment with genres its audience wouldn’t typically associate with the brand.
The Free-to-Play Question Mark
Of course, the free-to-play model is the elephant in the room. HoYoverse’s monetization is famously effective—and famously aggressive. The big question for Nodusfall is whether its boss roster, progression, and cosmetic systems will respect players’ time or wrap the sharp combat in layers of grind. Early impressions seem optimistic about the gameplay itself, but the long-term structure will ultimately decide whether this experiment thrives.
Why Nodusfall Could Carve Out Its Own Niche
Pure boss-rush experiences like Furi and Titan Souls have always been cult favorites, but no major studio has committed serious resources to the format as a live-service, continuously updated game. If HoYoverse delivers a steady stream of creative, multi-phase boss designs—backed by the polish the studio is known for—Nodusfall could become the go-to destination for players who believe the best part of any action game is the fight itself.
For now, Nodusfall remains one of the most intriguing curiosities on the horizon: too fast to be a soulslike, too focused to be a hunting sim, and far too different to be dismissed as another HoYoverse clone.
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Source: PC Gamer