DragonSword: Awakening looks a lot like a gacha game, borrows heavily from the Genshin Impact template, and even started life as a free-to-play mobile title. None of that makes it a gacha game today. Hound13 rebuilt it as a $29.99 buy-to-play action RPG for PC, and the entire cast of playable characters comes with the game rather than a randomized banner.
Quick answer: No. DragonSword: Awakening is a one-time purchase (B2P) game with no gacha pulls, no premium currency, and no stamina timers. Every hero and piece of gear is earned by playing the story and exploring the open world.
What genre DragonSword: Awakening belongs to
The game is an open-world action RPG built in Unreal Engine 5. You play as Lute, a golden-haired hero traveling toward the human kingdom on the Continent of Orbis, and the story pulls his mercenary group into an ancient conflict tied to a dragon that has reawakened after 60 years. The tags on its Steam store page read Action, Adventure, RPG, and Open World, and that is an accurate description of how it plays.
Combat is fast, combo-driven hack and slash. You control a party of characters and swap between them mid-fight, stacking elemental and status effects to trigger tag-team follow-ups. Between fights you explore Orbis, unlock fast-travel points, clear dungeons, and hunt bosses for materials. It is a single-player RPG first, with optional cooperative content bolted on rather than an always-online structure.
Why it isn’t a gacha game
A gacha game charges you currency, usually bought with real money, for a random chance at characters or gear. DragonSword: Awakening has none of that machinery. Hound13 confirmed the model directly when it relaunched the title, stating that all heroes and equipment can be obtained through the story and in-game activities, and that you grow them using currency earned while exploring the world.
There is no summon banner, no premium pull currency, and no stamina or energy meter capping how long you can play. Character growth runs through an in-game progression system fed by resources you earn, not by paid accelerants. If you want a specific character, you unlock them by progressing rather than gambling for them.
| Feature | DragonSword: Awakening | Typical gacha RPG |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | One-time $29.99 purchase | Free to start, monetized inside |
| Hero acquisition | All heroes earned through play | Random pulls with premium currency |
| Premium currency | None | Required for pulls |
| Loot boxes / banners | None | Core mechanic |
| Stamina / energy timers | None | Common daily caps |
| Subscriptions / battle pass | None planned | Frequent |
How the buy-to-play model works
You pay once and get the base game, which includes the full 19-hero roster, all story chapters, and every core system. Hound13 has said it will not sell monthly subscriptions or passes. The heroes at launch are Lute, Johnny, Castella, Aria, Kalien, Dana, Roxy, Alex, Theresia, Ornette, Tarte, Kalsion, Renia, Eileen, Cerese, Othello, Charlotte, Liza, Jerome, Veronica, and Logan.
Paid extras exist, but they are limited to cosmetics and familiars. Familiars double as your mounts, increasing movement speed, letting you glide, and adding small traversal perks like faster climbing. You unlock many of them through in-game challenges, and some are sold as DLC. The developer also plans to sell character costumes and, later, full expansion packs that add new characters and worlds.
| Purchase type | What you get | Gameplay impact |
|---|---|---|
| Base game | All 19 heroes, full story, all systems | Complete experience |
| Hero costumes (DLC) | Alternate outfits | Visual only |
| Familiar DLC | Extra mounts/companions | Alternative traversal, earnable equivalents exist |
| Expansion packs (future) | New characters and worlds | Added content |
The core gameplay loop
Moment to moment, you fight groups of monsters and bosses while building your party’s power. Each character has a primary attack, a jumping attack, special skills, and status-meter abilities that unlock once you break an enemy’s gauge. Team composition matters because elemental and status damage stacks across a fight, so pairing characters who set up and cash in on the same ailments pays off.
Progression is intentionally grindy. You level up both characters and gear using materials and money from dungeons, quests, raids, and story missions, and you hit periodic level caps. Raising your mercenary group’s rank lifts those caps and hands you new titles and familiars. Exploration fills in the rest, with windmills that become fast-travel points, goddess statues that refill your team’s health, and hidden chests scattered across Orbis.
- Clear dungeons and hunts repeatedly for XP and upgrade materials.
- Take on world bosses that refresh each morning for a daily shakeup.
- Run Hunts across up to five difficulty tiers for escalating rewards.
Co-op, platforms, and language support
Although the focus is single-player, some content supports online co-op through invite codes. Subjugation content allows up to two players, and raids allow up to three. Because the room creator hosts the session, there are no regional server restrictions, though high latency to the host can make play choppy. Everything can also be tackled solo.
The game is on PC via Steam, with Steam Deck support handled through Proton rather than a separate Linux build. A console release remains a possibility for the future, but there are no plans for mobile. Voice acting is currently Korean only, with additional dubbing languages under review.
One caveat worth noting: Hound13 has stated that generative AI was used to help translate some in-game dialogue, while no AI was used to create in-game content resources.
The short version: is that DragonSword: Awakening keeps the anime open-world combat and character-swapping people liked in the gacha template, then strips out the pulls, timers, and premium currency. You buy it once, and the grind that remains is a time investment rather than a paywall. If that trade-off appeals to you, the 19-hero roster and the world of Orbis are yours the moment you own the game.
