“As the Beacons reawaken, a new disaster silently befalls human civilization…”
That’s the tagline for Black Beacon, an upcoming free to play action Gacha game releasing Globally on to Android and iOS.
Very few people are discussing Black Beacon, which genuinely confused me as this is honestly one of the coolest looking upcoming Gacha games in 2025. It features sick character designs, a dark aesthetic, fast action combat.
But what exactly is it? Who’s developing it? When is it releasing? And will it be worth playing? That’s what we’re here today to attempt to find out. So let’s jump right in.
If you’re looking to pre-register for Black Beacon, you can do so clicking the button below.
Black Beacon is being developed by Mingzhou Network Technology, a Chinese game developer comprised of ex-Punishing Gray Raven staff members. Hopefully they’re not ex-devs because they were incompetent, and – rather, just wanted to move on to a different game.
There are 120 total people working on the development of Black Beacon as of November 2024, which is surprising until you learn that Tencent has heavily invested into the studio, providing the new dev team all the money they need to bring this game to life.
Glohow is confirmed to be publishing the game Globally, with social media accounts already opened and operable. The Global release will be simultaneous, meaning China, America, Europe, Japan, Korea will all receive the game at the same time.
This is promising. Releasing a game in China, and then Globally a year later is a death sentence for your game.
“Black Beacon” offers players a unique blend of classical sci-fi elements and historical mythology. We’ll take on the role of the “Seer,” alongside ‘Zero,’ the last guardian of the “EME-AN,” as we explore an expansive universe, witnessing grand architectural designs from a number of different perspectives.
This is something Black Beacon focuses on – more than the story, more than the combat: The aesthetic. The characters. The world. They have crafted something truly grandiose, something beautiful.
They describe the game as being “distinguished by its intricate character art, visually stunning style, and a deeply engaging storyline that promises to deliver an unparalleled gaming experience.”
From everything we’ve seen, I have no doubt they’ve crafted something that’ll be a lot of fun to explore visually.
Concerning its story? Well, let’s take a look at it.
The “Beacon” is a mysterious black matter that brings forth “Anomalies”—phenomena beyond human comprehension. Various factions have been formed with the task of protecting humanity, hiding the Beacon for centuries. I love the potential for different factions, especially if characters are recruitable from them.
There are numerous Beacons scattered around the globe, all of which have awakened, as the Seer, with our collective of Outlanders, we’re tasked with essentially saving the world – no, beyond that, the very fabric of reality.
Evidently the stakes are high. The story sounds good. But there’s a lot more to the game than that.
When Black Beacon was first revealed, it looked very different. It was a top-down isometric RPG – kinda like Path of Exile or Diablo.
Based off of the latest footage they’ve released, it seems a lot closer to Punishing Gray Raven, while still maintaining a degree of its original identity. Which makes sense, as we addressed earlier, they are comprised of ex-PGR devs.
Unfortunately from the gameplay footage we have, it doesn’t seem as though they’re willing to show any form of UI. This could be due to any number of reasons: Maybe it isn’t ready – typically, devs tend to use placeholder UIs while focusing on more important aspects of the game.
Or, maybe, since they did confirm it’ll be releasing on to mobile exclusively, they’re just not sure players will be as excited seeing how cluttered it is. Who knows.
Due to the lack of UI, we’re unable to discern how party members function. We can’t see if you have 2, 3, 4 total members towards the right of the screen, whether we’ll be capable of swapping to them on the fly, or they join us in battle and fight alongside us like in Aether Gazer.
What we do see is a fast paced action combat system with a lot of great special effects. Fluid animations. A single character on display at any given time, but multiple characters overall.
The setting for the game – with Beacons activating all around the world leads me to believe we’re going to visit quite a diverse selection of more modern environments. But they’re going to blend it with scifi and fantasy.
Specs for mobile devices don’t look bad at all. Minimum specs recommend a 670, 960 or P95, 4GB memory, 8GB storage. iPhone 12, same memory and storage. Recommended specs are a little higher, but it seems like even moderate phones will be able to run it.
The devs confirmed test phases are already underway, stating “Black Beacon is undergoing various external tests this year. Through pre-game test experiences, we aim to gather genuine feedback from global users, optimizing improvements for the official version. As our inaugural title, we are dedicated to delivering a beloved product to global users.”
These tests are not Chinese exclusive tests, rather, from the beginning they’re rolling out Global tests – external tests, not internal. Not offline tests. Their goal is to hold at least one of these tests before the year ends. So if you haven’t already, I’d strongly advise you keep an eye on their official website. Pre-registration for any tests will be announced both through their socials, and via their website.
Speaking of, pre-registration will soon be open on their website. Not for test phases, but for the game release itself, with rewards from 100k all the way through 1 million, including the stunning Ninsar.
No release date is confirmed yet – but it is speculated to be releasing in 2025 given the state of development it is in currently. But that could change very easily depending on how current test phases go.
This is a beautiful game, with so much potential. And while it’s releasing on to Android and iOS, I’m a little saddened to hear it won’t be cross platform compatible with PC. At least not yet.
I know Tencent have invested into it, which definitely leaves a little room for concern, but at the same time, I’m more than happy giving these devs the benefit of the doubt, with the hope they can craft something truly fun.
It doesn’t need to be groundbreaking, just fun. And judging by how everything looks, that definitely seems possible. I’m very excited for this, and can’t wait to get my hands on the test phase. Hopefully it ends up as good as it looks.
