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Just two weeks ago, NCsoft America announced that not only is Blade & Soul NEO launching in the west but the game is opening up preregistration packages. The one thing we didn’t have was a date – and now we do.
“NC America revealed today Blade & Soul NEO, the modern remaster of Blade & Soul’s signature fantasy universe, will be available for free on Tuesday, February 25, on PC in North America and Europe,” the studio says. “Enthusiastic players can act early in two ways before the launch date: First, by downloading the game ahead of time, on Tuesday, February 11, and second, by customizing their own unique character on Tuesday, February 18.”
You read that right: Players will use NCsoft’s Purple platform to download the game early and then make their character a week before launch – with baked in name reservation. The tool “gives enthusiasts the ability to download Blade & Soul NEO’s powerful character creation tool to reserve the name of their character, and then customize, style, and personalize it before the game launches[.]” NCsoft is also kicking off multiple contests, one for artists and one for costume designers.
B&S NEO will be free-to-play, though you can pre-register and preorder cosmetic gear ahead of time. It doesn’t appear that the character creation is locked behind that preorder.