Back in 2018 there were 2 Anime MMOs on everyone’s minds: Blue Protocol, and Project BBQ. In 2019, there were 3, with the inclusion of Tower of Fantasy.
Tower of Fantasy was a fun game but due to poor handling, let a lot of players down. Amazon Game Studios have upset players with Blue Protocol after announcing there would be some censorship involved in the full release.
And while I have a dedicated video coming on Project BBQ with some info I guarantee you haven’t heard ANYWHERE else, Dungeon Fighter Overkill kinda.. came outta nowhere, years after the “big 3” were announced and took many players by surprise.
This is a gorgeous Anime MMO – not a Gacha game – set within the larger Dungeon Fighter Online universe. Taking what its predecessor did well, and perfecting it, presenting us with one of the only true MMOs of its kind.
And we have a 4 minute trailer, showcasing everything we have to look forward to in the game.

So let’s take a look.

Dungeon Fighter Overkill, much like its predecessor, is a very different type of MMO to what we’re traditionally used to.
The game features a largely side-scrolling perspective, allowing you to navigate horizontally and slightly vertically, but from what we’ve seen in the trailer, also features some over-the-shoulder 3rd-person gameplay.
This might be exclusively in towns, but is the first time a Dungeon Fighter title isn’t limited to a horizontal type of movement.
Overkill is set within the same universe and world as Dungeon Fighter Online, taking place 14 years before the events of the main Dungeon Fighter Online game, and almost 800 years after the events of Project BBQ – which again I’ll be covering with some exclusive news in just a couple days.
The upcoming MMO is under development from the same studio that has been in charge of Dungeon Fighter Online and Dungeon Fighter Duel: Neople. Neople have continued to demonstrate that they understand what players want in the form of video games, and I’m excited to see where they take Overkill.
The combat – which is honestly the main appeal of the game looks as though it’s even flashier and more impactful than in DFO, with special effects and abilities literally taking up the entire screen. So it’s like you’re playing a Shounen Anime.

To appeal to the largest audience, Neople did confirm that Overkill will be launching on to PC, but they are contemplating full cross-platform functionality in the future between PC, console and mobile. However, each version will be built with their own platform in mind.
This is not a mobile MMO. It is built for PC, and will be expanded to console, and mobile separately, at an undisclosed date, and likely won’t be plagued by the poor business model polluting the mobile MMO market. But we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case.

Honestly, I’m very excited for Dungeon Fighter Overkill. It’s a beautiful looking game with stunning character models and could make DFO relevant again.
It’s unconfirmed if the game is launching in 2024, but it’s a good bet to assume we’ll be able to play it in some form of test phase next year. It will also likely be fully free to play.

After Nexon and Neople’s recent announcement that they were canceling Project BBQ – one of our most anticipated Anime MMOs, and instead, transitioning the game over into a Korean Elden Ring, players – myself included, were dismayed. Disappointed. Disheartened.
And while it will no longer be an MMO, and could very well potentially be a fantastic Elden Ring knock-off, Dungeon Fighter Online itself still is. And so is Dungeon Fighter Overkill.

Today, I want to talk about how a title within the Dungeon Fighter universe that just released has absolutely broken records in the market.
This is a title that I’m sure none of you expected to see showcased on this channel, and a game I’m sure none of you ever anticipated seeing hit grandiose numbers like this a mere week after launching.

If you weren’t already aware, Dungeon Fighter Online is the most densely populated MMORPG in the world.
It has billions of players Globally – which, as a small point of reference, Final Fantasy XIV has 25 million players Globally, and WoW is estimated to have approximately 100 million players Globally.
The cumulative total of two absolutely gargantuan MMOs combined make up a single digit percentage of active players present within Dungeon Fighter Online.
WoW and Final Fantasy XIV also have a combined total of at best, a couple million active players each month. You want to know how many players were recorded playing actively in Dungeon Fighter? 850 million in the month of March, 2022.

There is a very evident reason Neople and Nexon are so focused on expanding the Dungeon Fighter intellectual property with Project BBQ which is now Project AK, Dungeon Fighter Overkill, Dungeon Fighter Duel and Dungeon Fighter Mobile.
And while Project AK is far from being in a playable form, Dungeon Fighter Overkill is expected to release at an undisclosed time in 2022, Dungeon Fighter Duel is holding its Open Beta with a Global release in just a couple months, and Dungeon Fighter Mobile.. is unfortunately today’s topic of discussion.

Regardless of whether or not you’ve been anticipating Dungeon Fighter Mobile is irrelevent. It’s a Dungeon Fighter game, and that name alone carries a weight to it that will accrue the interest of many.

Dungeon Fighter Mobile officially revealed to be releasing on March 24th, 2022. Over 1.2 million players had pre-registered for the game ahead of its release, with the title reaching the #1 most popular game on the Apple Store before having even launched.
Fast forward to the 24th – the official launch day, concurrency for Dungeon Fighter Mobile hit over a million active players. A whole million players, the day it launched.
This launched to numbers that were comparable to Lost Ark, and Lost Ark was advertised by Amazon Game Studios, had every streamer on Twitch advocating for it and was a game that had been anticipated for 4 years now.
Yet Nexon’s mobile game on its first day managed to garner the same kind of numbers with the pull of its name alone?

These numbers alone were the highest among Nexon’s titles, setting an entirely new record for them. And I’m sure Nexon would be highly satisfied if we never saw numbers beyond this, however, we did.
Several days after releasing – on the 29th specifically, Dungeon Fighter Mobile managed to secure the #2 spot on both the Google Play Store, and Apple store, in terms of raw sales and downloads.
This was a monumental accomplishment – this game managed to dethrone Lineage M on the Play Store, and both ODIN: Valhalla Rising and Fifa Online on the App Store.
A mere two days later on the 31st, it acquired #1 on the Play Store, surpassing and dethroning both Lineage M and Lineage W – NCSoft’s titans of the genre.
A week after launching, Dungeon Fighter Mobile managed to simultaneously dethrone the two largest mobile games on the market, but also earn more than any other title in the month of March.. all within a few days of releasing.

This, I guarantee you, is an outcome Nexon nor Neople ever saw coming, yet at the same time, goes to show you how powerful the Dungeon Fighter intellectual property is. That even with limited advertising, this franchise is capable of outperforming a game like Lost Ark, or another franchise like Lineage.

As I noted earlier: You might not be anticipating Dungeon Fighter Mobile. I’m not personally. I’m not overly fond of mobile games – there are a few really good ones out there, and a few that I’m eagerly looking forward to.
But for the most part, they’re low quality, low effort, carbon copies of one another with highly predatory business models, preying off of the weak minded, and those of us with severe addiction issues.
While Dungeon Fighter Mobile is likely to follow the same route – and it is, don’t delude yourself into thinking it isn’t. This is Nexon we’re talking about. They publish some of the most pay to win garbage out there.
While this game will likely follow-suit, I know for a fact it is going to be a monolithic success for the franchise.

I can only hope that Project AK, that Dungeon Fighter Overkill and Duel do not follow suit.
Regardless, these numbers are too large to ignore. They’re too large for Nexon to ignore. And despite me not being a fan, is still an accomplishment that needs recognition.

In news I’ve been eagerly anticipating since its announcement, Dungeon Fighter Duel – one of 3 games set within the world of Dungeon Fighter has a confirmed release date. Not an Alpha test. Not a Closed Beta. But an actual release date. And it’s sooner than we thought.

I’ve been a fan of Dungeon Fighter Online for years, and when Neople announced they were working on Project BBQ – a full, open-world 3D action MMORPG set within the very same world I was ecstatic.
This is exactly what I was looking for. A game that allowed me to freely traverse a gorgeous open-world? With combat as good as Dungeon Fighter’s?
Then they proceeded to reveal Dungeon Fighter Overkill – a 3D version of Dungeon Fighter Online that looks absolutely stunning, followed by Dungeon Fighter Duel – a fighting game, and Dungeon Fighter Mobile which we’re going to ignore. At this point, my excitement was almost uncontainable.
And here we are, almost at a point where we get to actually play one of them. Not all three. But one is better than none.

Dungeon Fighter Duel is an online action game developed by ARC SYSTEM WORKS – the very same people that did the Guilty Gear games.
And while they’d released a trailer a little while ago, to accompany the announcement of the game’s release, they attached a short 30 second trailer that also happens to showcase one of their new characters.

An Open Beta was held for Dungeon Fighter Duel back in the middle of December for the PS4 and PS5. I didn’t unfortunately get to participate in it because we were visiting my in-laws for the Christmas holidays.
However, they did confirm that the game is going to officially be available on PS4, PS5 and PC come June 28th. That’s just 3 months from now.
I know this isn’t an Anime MMO – or heck, even an MMO. But it is the first of 3 Dungeon Fighter inspired online games to release, and is going to no doubt influence not only the Dungeon Fighter Overkill MMO coming out later this year, but also the projected release date of Project BBQ.
As I’m sure if either, or both of the aforementioned titles fail to succeed, it’ll either set Project BBQ back even further, or convince Neople and Nexon that there’s just not enough interest outside of Dungeon Fighter Online to warrant the game in its finalized form.

Dungeon Fighter Duel is a 2.5D action game that provides players a surplus of different characters you’ll recognize if you’re a fan of the franchise. We’ll gain additional backstory for each of the heroes we play.
We’ll be able to group up with and play with friends in online game modes. Honestly, the game looks like it’s gonna be a lotta fun.
It definitely won’t be for everyone, but for fans of action games – for fans of this specific type of action game, for fans of the Dungeon Fighter intellectual property, this is going to be a must-play. Even if you play it merely as a means to gain additional knowledge about characters in the Dungeon Fighter world.

Again, June 28th. 3 months from now. PS4, PS5 and PC. Make sure you mark your calendar.

Riot Games confirmed earlier this week via a series of Tweet’s from Ghostcrawler that the developer is currently in the process of hiring for their brand new MMORPG project.

The trailer.. was surprisingly good looking. The Dungeon Fighter team are absolutely slaying it recently with their trailer reveals. Dungeon Fighter Overkill looks like an absolutely gorgeous, modern take on the Dungeon Fighter IP, and Dungeon Fighter Duel looks like a fantastic Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur amalgamation.
Which makes sense, as Neople are working with Arc System Works, the developers behind the Guilty Gear series. In the trailer, we were shown footage from the Berserker, Inquisitor, Striker, Grappler and Ranger.
We saw a lot of different combos, grappling. Some.. gratuitous shots of certain classes. Which I’m sure you all noticed as they were displayed on-screen.
We still don’t know a whole lot concerning the upcoming game, but Nexon did state that now the first full trailer for the game is out, they’ll not only be opening various different channels, but will also be continuing a steady stream of not only new information, but also new footage over the course of its development process.

Which is.. disconcerting. Given they said more or less the same thing about Project BBQ and Peria Chronicles.
The latter, of which, has.. well, been canceled. Much to the dismay of its fans. And the former, only receiving 2 trailers total in the several years it’s been in development for.

Now there’s been no news on a confirmed Western release date currently. I mean, there’s no reveal of any type of Western version in the immediate future, either.
Heck, they have no scheduled release date within its own country of origin, which should go a ways to show exactly how far through the development process they are.
But during their latest financial report, they did note that Dungeon Fighter Duel was slated for some type of 2022 release. Whether that is accurate or not remains to be seen, however.

Regardless, the entire Dungeon Fighter intellectual property is on fire right now.
Dungeon Fighter Online is doing great, Dungeon Fighter Overkill looks incredible, Project BBQ looks amazing. And the mobile Dungeon Figther… well, looks like a mobile game. So it’s about what you’d expect.

Dungeon Fighter Online has long since been a favorite of mine in the genre. You can look at any of my “top MMORPG” lists and see that.
It’s always had this unique 2D retro-aesthetic that I really enjoyed. That took me back to a time in my childhood when I enjoyed side-scrolling brawlers like this.
Yet I’ve very rarely covered it in any form – which changes today, as Mrs Stix and I poured hours of sweat and tears into the game in order to take a look and see how it’s holding up in 2020.
You guys are welcome.

Starting off you’ll notice there are quite a few different classes to choose between, each having their very own unique back-story and classes associated.
The Agent, Priests, Demonic Lancer, Slayers, Gunners, Mages, Knight, Fighters, Thief, Dark Knight and Creator. As is evident, various classes have both male and female class counterparts.

You begin with an introduction to your character. Again, each character has their own unique storyline associated with them, which provides a lot of unique lore for those interested in each character’s background.
Typically I tend to gravitate towards the Mage classes – if you’ve been watching me for any length of time you’ll know this.
This time, however.. I dunno. The Slayer class really called out to me. A hot silver haired badass looking samurai? I mean, hello?

So I went Slayer, and I wasn’t disappointed. If we disregard her dark past – well, everyone’s dark past – wait, hold on. Before we continue.. does every character have some kind of traumatic past? Is that why we’ve all come together as heroes?
Are none of us here from the goodness of our own, philanthropic hearts? I’ll take that awkward silence as an affirmation of my initial thoughts.

Right, now where was I again? Oh yeah. If we disregard the Slayer’s past – I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun she is to play with. I don’t typically get much enjoyment out of playing as a melee class, but her flexibility – the style of her attacks, the speed and the effects of her abilities.
They’re all incredibly high quality and if you’re a fan of large amounts of special effects flashing all over your screen, you’ll love this.
For me, it’s kinda hit ‘n miss. Sometimes it’s handled well, sometimes it isn’t. In the case of DFO, since there isn’t a lot to clutter the screen, I feel as though having a plethora of special abilities flashing all over the screen is a positive.
What makes it more fun is when Mrs Stix – who I played with for most of our initial impressions this year, would use her own abilities in unison with mine. There were times where she’d look right at me and go “Babe.. I don’t know where I am.” or “uhh.. I thought I was you for a minute.”
Combat is probably some of the best I’ve come across in a side-scrolling brawler like this. I’ve played quite a few games in the vein of DFO but as I’ve noted many times in the past – this is one of my favorite games of its type.
And that is partially due to its combat. It’s fast, it’s fluid and it’s engaging. And each class feels unique – and let me tell you.. there are a whole lotta classes to choose between.

I know you’ve noticed that my character’s changed outfits quite a few times over the course of the video, right? That’s because not only is there quite a bit of customization when it comes to the physical appearance of your character, but also with regards to your skills.
I let the game auto-allocate my skill points for me because let’s be honest here.. it probably knows a better build than I do, right?
But when it came to actually customizing the physical appearance of my character.. both Mrs Stix and I had a ton of fun mixing and matching things to come up with seriously awesome looking characters.
I mean look at my girl right now.

As noted initially, there were a handful of classes. However each class has their own tree of additional advanced classes, providing.. like.. 700 total classes to choose from. Yes, 700 is a slight over exaggeration, but at times it feels like there are more classes than you’d ever have the time to actually play.
But in providing players with a surplus of classes like this, they give players an endless amount of freedom to play any way they want to, really. I guarantee you there’s a combat style somewhere in this game that perfectly fits exactly what you’re after.
Magic, melee, tank or DPS.

Choosing your class is important, as it will be the difference between being effective.. or ineffective when it comes to endgame content.
I might not be a very good player, but I did tackle the Basement of Pain, the Black Shrine and the Pit of Incarceration, 3 of the incredibly difficult endgame level 100 dungeons.
These were substantially different to what I’d experienced up until that point, and.. I will admit, I wasn’t prepared at all. While each area of the map was more difficult than the last, and I could technically complete them solo – I would strongly advise against doing so.
I learned the hard way that going solo would take hours per dungeon – but there comes the appeal.
Rarely do you have such difficult dungeons in games, and rarely are you forced to work together to overcome obstacles like this. And don’t even get me started on the endgame Sirocco Raid. I was tempted to try it but.. yeah, that ain’t gonna happen.

Granted this game isn’t going to be for everyone.
At its core, Dungeon Fighter Online is a hub-based dungeon-crawler. There are a variety of different quest-hubs for players to navigate between, however, the bulk of the game does in fact take place within dungeons.. hence its name.
Dungeons are filled with a variety of different enemies and quite a few different bosses. They’re also doable with groups of players, so you’re not in any way required to go it alone.
But there isn’t any type of open-world. You can run around all of the different quest hubs – and let me reassure you, there are quite a few and they’re very, very diverse, talking to other players, socializing, buying and selling. About what you’d normally do in an MMO.
Thankfully I’m a fan of these types of games. I love them and have loved them for the vast majority of my life, and DFO is one of the better ones out there, thus my constant inclusion of it in top-lists.

Now on November 17th there was a large update that hit the servers. That updated included quite a bit of content including a brand new “Level Up Event,” allowing players to reach level 100 in no time at all. You also receive a full set of level 100 Legendary gear, Fragmented Abyss Gear and a +12 Reinforced Epic Weapon.
I actually equipped myself in some pretty sick gear which made later-game content – specifically the endgame dungeons much easier to run and much more manageable overall.
The update also brought with it the Neo Awakening of the Male Priest – the Neo: Crusader, Neo: Monk, Neo: Exorcist and Neo: Avenger. There will be additional events taking place over the course of the month so if you’ve been delaying either coming back to the game, or have yet to ever try the game out.. this is your opportunity.

We have a Coupon Code available for players that want a unique outfit that is redeemable all the way through December 15th. All you need to do is log into the game, navigate to the Coupon Book and type in 2020 Welcome To DFO – the exact code in specific will be included in the description.

Ultimately, I’ve always had a soft spot for Dungeon Fighter Online. This is a game I find myself repeatedly coming back to, and there’s a reason for that. It’s fun. It’s a good quality game. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy moving into 2021.

Alternate Title: DFO
Developer: Neople
Publisher: Neople
Type: MMORPG
Model: Free-to-play
Platform: PC
PvP: Arenas
PvE: Dungeons, Instances