Though Nodusfall was one of several co-op games revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live, the developer behind it is sure to have turned some heads. Formerly known as miHoYo, HoYoverse is a Chinese developer responsible for immensely popular games like Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, and the Honkai series. While I personally have never fallen in love with any of HoYoverse's previous works, Nodusfall certainly grabbed my attention, likely due to my undying affinity for all things FromSoftware and the major Elden Ring vibes that its reveal trailer gave off.
Now, after around 30 minutes of hands-on time with Nodusfall at Gamescom 2026, I can safely say that HoYoverse's next project has more than my attention. Though it wasn't nearly enough time to really understand all of the interweaving systems at play, half an hour with Nodusfall has shown me that it's a co-op game that could potentially stand toe-to-toe with giants of the genre like Elden Ring Nightreign and Monster Hunter, at least in terms of moment-to-moment gameplay and overall presentation.
My brief preview session with Nodusfall began with a basic overview of what players can expect from the game. HoYoverse officially describes Nodusfall as a "multi-mythology co-op action game" where teams of up to four players face off against some larger-than-life bosses.
Upon booting up the game, I was prompted to select from four characters, all of whom fell into traditional MMO archetypes. There was one male character — a tank hero with a big sword that looked like it had been ripped out of the pages of Berserk — and three female characters, two of which were ranged heroes with bows and one of which was a magical support character. Having to make a split-second decision on the spot, I fell back on my engrained Overwatch and Marvel Rivals habits and chose the healer.
Called the Hexsworn, Nodusfall's support hero has a moveset that revolves around dealing frost damage from afar and healing allies. Hexsworn's primary attack is a small ice projectile that can be fired infinitely from her stave, the animations of which look remarkably similar to Elden Ring's Glintstone Pebble attack. The Hexsworn's secondary attack is a wave of ice that travels underground and emerges at an enemy's feet, damaging them. There's an interesting passive ability tied to this secondary attack that grants players an empowered ability once three secondary attacks have landed, but more on that later.
In traditional MMO/hero shooter fashion, Nodusfall's Hexsworn is also equipped with three primary abilities and one ultimate, all activated by holding down RB and one of the face buttons on an Xbox controller (which was plugged into a high-end PC for my preview). These abilities include a beam that heals one teammate for an extended period, an AoE ability that heals all teammates surrounding the Hexsworn, an ice beam that deals continuous damage, and an ultimate that creates a large green ring that heals all those inside. Overall, the Hexsworn is essentially what MMO fans would expect a healer to be.
While I didn't personally get hands-on with any of Nodusfall's other characters due to the time limits of the preview, I did speak with some fellow games press folks following the event, and it seems like each character not only has different attacks and abilities, but also a different passive based on unique mechanics. For instance, one of the ranged heroes has a passive ability that triggers when she's dealt a specific amount of damage to an enemy. For those that are interested, Nodusfall will also have a full suite of customization options for each of its characters, allowing players to equip different hairstyles, outfits, and more.
After choosing a character and playing a very short tutorial covering those attacks and abilities in brief detail, I was told to head over to an in-game notice board (seemingly located in some kind of treehouse-like hub area) and choose a contract, much like in Monster Hunter. Me and my team of three other journos were then told we were going to face off against three bosses in a row, teleporting to each one successively. It was a little unclear whether this will be how the final game is structured, or if there'll be some kind of open area exploration that links encounters together in a more natural way.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/nodusfall-hands-on-preview/
