Zhang also spoke about the lore of Mistfall Hunter, and how the studio has taken pains to sprinkle tiny details about the world all over the game. He noted that some players during the beta tests were already able to piece together some aspects of the lore, including the secrets behind the Gyldenmist.

Looking to the future, Zhang has confirmed that there will be new content and features that will be made available to all Mistfall Hunter players. Among the new content coming to the game is its second playable map—the Solemn Needles. The map has been described as being a bleached and sacred forest where players will also have their first encounter with the Divine Anchor.

Solemn Needles will have a host of new points of interest for players to explore, including the corpse of a giant, dubbed Hastines’s Fall, which is noted as still radiating the power of the gods that resulted in the death of the giant. The Witchery Woods will also have their own secrets to uncover as players get ready to take on the False God.

Mistfall Hunter has been hosting beta tests throughout the year, with April being host to its second beta. Over time, Bellring Games has been testing out a host of different features and gameplay systems for the PvPvE RPG, with beta 2 featuring new scenes and areas that players could explore, like the Ember Iris. Solo mode was also the focus of testing at the time for players that would prefer to go at it alone rather than having to find team mates.

When the second beta had gone live, the studio had written about the importance of needing players to aim their attacks, rather than have the abilities be auto-targetted. They noted that aiming mechanics brings in more skill-based gameplay, which also has the side-effect of increasing the learning curve the game might present to newer players.

The third beta for Mistfall Hunter is still ongoing, but is slated to come to an end later this week. There has been no confirmation yet about whether there will be a fourth beta test or if the studio will instead focus on making its originally-planned 2025 launch window.

The extraction RPG was first announced all the way back in October 2024, and was described as featuring a dark fantasy setting heavily inspired by Nordic myths. In the game, players can choose from a variety of playable classes, each of them having unique abilities that could give them the edge both against computer-controlled enemies in PvE, as well as player-controlled opponents in PvP.

Mistfall Hunter doesn’t yet have an exact release date. The title was originally announced as being slated for release some time this year, however, and is being developed for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

“Brandrgarde is fraught with danger, and combat can be exceptionally challenging,” wrote the studio in its announcement post. “We believe that incorporating aiming mechanics into action combat brings more skill-based enjoyment, though this does increase the learning curve and may take some time to adapt to.”

The studio has also confirmed that the new beta for Mistfall Hunter doesn’t involve players signing any confidentiality agreement. This means that livestreams, videos and screenshots can be freely shared. The studio has also encouraged players that might want to publish content related to the game to join its Creator Program through the official Discord channel.

As for the changes between the first and second betas, the studio has released an extensive list of changes it has made to all of the in-game playable classes. Check out the full list of changes below. As for new content, check out our coverage of the beta’s initial announcement.

Mistfall Hunter is currently in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S. A full release of the game is planned for later this year.

Mistfall Hunter Beta 2 Class Balance Adjustments:

General Changes

• Improved basic walking and running animations.
• Overall improvements to dodge performance, reducing the performance discrepancies caused by variations in dodge animations across classes.
• Added support for multi-directional dodging.
• Dodge direction is now determined based on the camera’s orientation (to prevent actual dodge directions from mismatching expectations).
• Special Recovery now supports multiple directions, with increased movement distance and additional animations.
• When certain skills are interrupted during their wind-up phase, they will no longer consume Energy or enter cooldown.
• Added distinct visual effects to differentiate between ally and enemy skills.
• Cooldown recovery speed for stowed weapon skills changed from 0% to 50%.
• Added purple damage number display when reducing enemy Energy.
• Overall improvements to input responsiveness.
• Reduced Critical Damage for Mercenary, Shadowstrix, and Sorcerer classes.
• Increased recovery animation duration after jump attacks for all weapons.
• Traps now have a maximum duration and can be attacked and destroyed.

Mercenary

Sword and Shield

• After hitting enemies 5 times, gain the Blade Edge status, which allows you to hold the Light Strike button while on the ground to release Impalement: a powerful forward thrust with your sword that deals damage.
• New Talent – Blocking Edge: Successful blocks add one stack of Blade Edge.
• Perfect Block timing window moved earlier; after unlocking the Perfect Block talent, it’s harder to be staggered while holding up your shield; successful Perfect Blocks immediately grant the Blade Edge status.
• After perfectly blocking ranged damage, a shockwave is generated that can stagger the source of the ranged attack upon impact.
• New Talent – Offense-Defense Shift: A special Block skill can be cast during the Special Recovery window. This skill can only be used to trigger Perfect Block and cannot maintain the shield for long. When a Perfect Block successfully staggers the attacker, it recovers Energy for all allied players in a larger area.
• Increased Movement Speed during Blocking; after talent enhancement, Blocking no longer reduces Movement Speed.
• Shield Slam’s cooldown increased.
• Shield Dash’s cooldown increased; talent effect now reduces more cooldown when hitting enemies.
• The talent-unlocked Whirling Cut (Dash) improves dash performance.
• After talent enhancement, the second attack of Whirling Cut (Block) triggers Super Armor and increases damage following a successful deflection.
• Whirling Cut (Dash) and Whirling Cut (Block) changed to two-stage skills.
• Perfect Block can be triggered while the shield is raised after Stonebreaker Slash’s initial animation.
• New Talent – Stonebreaker Counter: After Stonebreaker Slash successfully performs a Perfect Block that staggers an enemy, grants Super Armor during the skill and increases the damage dealt by the skill.

Hammer

• Earthshaker or Skullcrusher now enters cooldown if you dodge while charging up the skill.
• Slightly increased the interval between consecutive charged dodges.
• New Talent – Titan Hammer Strike: After hitting any non-dazed enemy 3 times with Hammer attacks, your next Hammer attack will briefly daze the target.
• Improved Hammer Spin’s base turning speed; increased Super Armor duration from talent enhancement.
• After talent enhancement, Warhammer Sling throws three stones, but with reduced damage, explosion radius, and impact.

Others

• Removed Talent: Increased Springhorn Healing when Health falls below a certain threshold.

Sorcerer

Elemental Magic

• Flameblade is now an instant skill with no chanting time but features a longer wind-up animation.
• The talent enhancement for Flameblade changed to: Triggers an explosion upon casting, dealing additional Magic Damage.
• Improved the visual effects of the Elemental Arcana talent for better clarity.
• Reduced the Energy Cost of Thunder Call.

Stardust Magic

• Star Shock is now an instant skill with no chanting time.
• Rockblast now has increased preparation time (damage delay), with improved visual effects to display its damage area.
• The talent enhancement for Rockblast changed to: During preparation, reduce the Movement Speed of all enemies within range.

Common Magic

• The Forbidden Gate can now be shattered.
• Eye of Insight uses are now shared across the entire team.
• Eye of Insight now instantly detects enemies within a fixed range, with redesigned visual effects for detected enemies.
• Successful blocks with Cryptic Ward will daze enemies, and the talent enhancement increases the Dazed duration.
• Removed the Cryptic Trap skill.
• New Skill – Cryptic Cyclone: Cast Windcraft forward to knock back enemies.
• New talent enhancement for Cryptic Cyclone: The cyclone’s knockback distance is greatly increased.

Others

• A brief stagger occurs after 2 consecutive dodges.
• Talent – Vitality Chant changed to: Dodging does not interrupt chanting. Cooldown: 10s.

Blackarrow

• Jump shooting no longer requires a talent unlock.
• Talent – Dodge Rapid Shot: Change roll into dodge and unlock Dodge Rapid Shot: Shoot immediately after dodging with aim assist, quickly firing the currently loaded arrow.
• Talent – Dodge Power Shot: Change roll into dodge and unlock Dodge Power Shot: Shoot immediately after dodging with aim assist, consuming additional Energy to quickly fire the currently loaded, fully drawn arrow. This skill has a cooldown.
• Archer Ultimate Talent – Marksman: When fully drawing the bow, aim assist activates, causing arrows to automatically fly toward enemies near the crosshairs.
• Hunter Talent – Hunter’s Focus: When carrying at least two Hunter’s Arrows, enemies hit by normal arrows have reduced Movement Speed for a period of time.
• Hunter Ultimate Talent – Lasting Pain: After hitting an enemy with a shot, increase the duration of all active debuffs on that enemy.
• When Lightning Arrow scores a Critical Hit, other enemies connected by the lightning will not be staggered.
• Steel Arrow’s ability to pierce through one unit no longer requires a talent unlock. Talent enhancement now increases its effective range instead.
• The duration of blood flies has increased from 6s to 10s. They now detonate and deal damage immediately once the accumulated damage reaches the threshold.
• Talent enhancement for Bloodfly Arrow: Fully drawn Bloodfly Arrows require less accumulated damage to trigger the explosion.
• Talent enhancement for Sonic Arrow: Sonic Arrow can now destroy traps placed by players.
• Spore Arrow no longer produces poison mist when destroyed by attacks, and its maximum charges are reduced to 2. Enhanced Talent – Lingering: The poison mist produced after the mushroom explosion persists in the scene for a reduced duration.
• Reduced base damage of Concussive Arrow.
• Rapid Arrows can now be used while in the air, with improved overall animation performance.
• Sky Piercer’s ability to pierce through 5 units no longer requires a talent unlock. New talent enhancement: A portion of the damage dealt is converted to True Damage with a reduced Damage Multiplier.
• Scattershot’s wind-up animation is shortened, while the recovery animation is increased.
• Shadow Step’s wind-up animation is shortened.
• Talent – Piercing Ambush: Interrupting Shadow Step’s Stealth delays visibility and increases Defense Penetration for a period of time.
• Impact Grenade’s ability to attach to enemy units no longer requires a talent unlock. New talent enhancement: Enemies damaged by Impact Grenade have reduced Movement Speed for a period of time.
• Reduced the detection frequency and duration of Predator’s Senses, and added debuff and visual effect indicators when detected. Talent enhancement increases detection frequency.

Shadowstrix

Dual Blades

• New Basic Ability – Fang Rush: Shortly after dodging, press LMB to dash forward and deal Physical Damage.
• Directional control now supported during Bloody Blade Dance, with increased movement distance while casting.
• New Skill – Inspiring Impale: Thrust forward, dealing Physical Damage to enemies hit and recovering Energy for yourself. Enhanced Talent – Breath Control: Inspiring Impale no longer consumes Energy. Enhanced Talent – Laceration: Hits prevent healing for a period of time.
• Talent – Wound Buildup: When hitting enemies with Dual Blades attacks, stack Wound that lasts for a short duration. When Wound accumulates to 10 stacks, it detonates and deals True Physical Damage to the target.
• Talent – Lightweight: When performing Light Strikes, Heavy Strikes, and casting skills with dual blades equipped, one dodge can be performed. This dodge still costs Energy but allows for earlier recovery cancellation. Removed invincibility frames and reduced Energy Cost by 10.

Dagger

• Flash Stride’s cooldown increased. Enhanced Talent – Excitement: You recover a small amount of Energy for each enemy hit.
• Smoke Bomb’s Enhanced Talent – Forbidden Miasma: Within the Smoke Bomb area, enemy interactions are prohibited, and your Smoke Bombs can now be thrown to target areas.
• Smoke Bomb’s Enhanced Talent – Wound Infection: Within the Smoke Bomb area, reduce the Healing received by enemies.
• Increased the range of Poison Crow Mark and reduced the likelihood of hitting unintended targets. The effect that prevents enemies from recovering Energy for a short time after being hit no longer requires a talent unlock.
• Poison Crow Mark’s Enhanced Talent – Depletion: Hits prevent healing for a period of time.
• Talent – Tactical Concealment: Gain a brief instance of Stealth when using Special Recovery. Reduced the Stealth duration.
• Talent – Lurking Blow: When exiting Stealth without being hit, significantly increase your Physical Damage for a short time.
• Talent – Element of Surprise: Each time you exit Stealth without being hit, slightly increase your Physical Damage for a long period of time. Element of Surprise can stack up to 3 times.

Headlining the slate of new content for beta 2 of Mistfall Hunter is the new Reverent Seer build. The class makes use of Catalysts to power its attacks and spells, and will also essentially be the first playable class in the game to offer support abilities for allies. The Reverent Seer will use Rune Pillars as its signature mechanic, which can be used to summon runes for healing, shielding, and damage buffs for allies.

The title will also include new scenes and areas for players to explore. Dubbed the Ember Iris, the new region will feature Lake Iris as one of its signature points of interests. Throughout the map, players will also get to discover mysterious ancient arrays and seal gates. The area is also home to the Forge, which is currently home to Corroded artisans and laborers. With the addition of these new areas, the map of Brandrgarde will be too large to be a single map. The fortress is being split into two, with players spawning into one of the halves at random.

Through the beta, Bellring Games is also planning on testing out the new solo mode. While it features the same map as trio mode, solo mode features redesigned monster placement that is better balanced for individual players rather than entire groups. The studio is also looking for feedback from players when it comes to the difficulty of its solo mode, especially in terms of class balance.

The beta will also bring with it a host of new monsters, such as the Prison Guard, the Warden, the Penitent, and the Nightwatcher. Otto, the Flesheater is also a now a more fleshed-out fight, with players getting to fight its second phase. The boss also has a challenge mode that can be unlocked by players that have found the Dried Flower Knot. The challenge mode, dubbed Einherjar mode, has been described by the studio as being quite challenging, while also offering better rewards.

Mistfall Hunter‘s beta 2 will also be getting a host of balance changes. Melee classes, for example, are getting a boost in damage bonus and damage reduction attributes. This is being done because melee classes tend to be at a disadvantage in fights due to their proximity to enemy attacks. More details about class balance, and how it will affect PvP, will be revealed some time next week.

Other changes in the second beta include adjustments to the game’s progression, such as the addition of legendary accessories , as well as the removal of fixed affixes. The game is also getting improvements to the core technology running it, offering players smoother gameplay experiences. Thanks to this, the minimum required GPUs have been lowered to an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT or an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660.

Mistfall Hunter is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S. The game is slated for release later this year.

Described be developer Bellring Games as a PvPvE multiplayer extraction action RPG, Mistfall Hunter is set in a Nordic-inspired dark fantasy setting, allowing players to play as a variety of different classes, and emphasizes both co-op and PvP gameplay. And of course, finding and gathering previous loot and treasures will be a big part of the experience. Check out the announcement trailer below. 

Mistfall Hunter is due out sometime in 2025 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. An open beta is also confirmed for PC, but Bellring Games hasn’t yet announced a date for it. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks and months.