If you were lurking in the comment section when HoYoverse dropped its latest Nodusfall Q&A, you probably saw the collective sigh of relief.
Right there in plain text, the Genshin Impact studio said playable characters will not be locked behind gacha pulls. Naturally, players started celebrating like gacha as a concept had just been outlawed.
It is easy to see why people are excited. A dark fantasy, Unreal Engine 5 co-op boss hunter where you do not have to gamble for the character you want? Sign everyone up.
There is just one important detail: HoYoverse did not say Nodusfall will have no gacha. It said the game will not have character gacha.
And that leaves a pretty obvious question: if players are not pulling for characters, what exactly will they be spending money on?
The characters in Nodusfall may be free, but what about everything else?
Anyone who has spent enough time with free-to-play games knows that character banners are only one way to monetize a game.
That concern is particularly interesting in Nodusfall because of how important its combat systems appear to be. The game revolves around Divine Skills, which players can customize and mix together while taking on its modular bosses. Weapons and other progression systems are also expected to play a major role in combat.
HoYoverse has not said that any of these systems will be locked behind gacha. But until the company explains how the game will actually be monetized, the character-gacha announcement only tells us part of the story.
If weapons, skills, upgrades, or other important progression systems eventually end up behind randomized pulls, Nodusfall could still have a monetization model that feels very familiar, even if the characters themselves are free.
For now, though, that is only a possibility, not something HoYoverse has confirmed.
Players also have questions about Nodusfall’s difficulty
Monetization is not the only thing getting people talking.
HoYoverse also tried to reassure newcomers that Nodusfall will not be brutally difficult. That might sound like good news, but it has raised questions among players who were hoping for a more demanding co-op experience.
Some action-game fans are already comparing the game to Monster Hunter and looking for difficult encounters that can punish an unprepared squad. Others have pushed back against the idea of making the game accessible to everyone.
That does not necessarily mean Nodusfall will be easy. An accessible game can still have difficult endgame content, and HoYoverse has not shown enough of the game’s progression to know where the final difficulty curve will land.
The bigger question is how Nodusfall will monetize
The no-character-gacha announcement is certainly interesting, especially coming from the studio behind Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. But it is only one piece of the puzzle.
HoYoverse says the game’s monetization and detailed squad rules are still being planned. Until we know how weapons, Divine Skills, progression, cosmetics, and other systems will work, there is no way to tell what the absence of character gacha will ultimately mean for players.
So yes, there is a reason to be excited about not having to pull for characters. But I would probably hold off on declaring victory over gacha just yet.
We still need to see what HoYoverse has planned for everything else.