KRAFTON and KRAFTON Montreal Studio have officially announced Project Windless, a single-player open-world action RPG set in the universe of Korean fantasy novel series The Bird That Drinks Tears. The studio is pitching a player-driven, non-linear campaign where your decisions shape alliances and the wider continent-spanning conflict – all powered by Unreal Engine 5 and designed around large-scale real-time combat.

As reported by Gematsu, Project Windless began development in 2022 and has now been formally revealed, with the game confirmed for consoles and PC, including PlayStation 5. No release date or window was announced. KRAFTON’s own positioning is very clear, though: this is meant to be a premium, single-player experience, explicitly without multiplayer or live-service components, and built around exploration, story, and battles that aim for a much larger sense of scale than most action RPGs attempt.

Rather than retelling the novels directly, the game uses the same mythos as its foundation. The setting is placed roughly 1,500 years before the original story, in a largely unexplored “mythic age” when legends are still being forged. The world includes four intelligent races – Humans, Rekon, Nhaga, and Tokkebi – each with their own culture, conflicts, and worldview. KRAFTON frames this as both an entry point for new players and a way to expand the universe for longtime fans, with the prequel-era approach giving the team freedom to build new stakes without being locked to a strict retelling.

Players take on the role of the Hero King, described as a legendary warrior of the Rekon race. Rekons are towering, bird-like humanoids known for sheer strength and ferocity, and the Hero King fights with twin star-forged blades. The reveal details a power-fantasy combat setup: cutting through large groups of enemies, facing massive creatures, and leading allied forces when encounters escalate into full-scale warfare. Progress is also tied to reputation and relationships, with KRAFTON describing a system where forging bonds across the world allows you to unite different races and factions, effectively laying the groundwork for a future kingdom through your choices and actions.

For the big battle promise, KRAFTON highlights something it calls “Mass Technology,” a solution intended to enable thousands of soldiers and huge creatures to clash in real time across dynamic battlefields. The combat itself is framed as fully real-time, fast, and skill-based, with players fighting inside large engagements rather than commanding armies from a distance. The pitch is a one-versus-many style that mixes personal mastery with tactical decision-making that can influence how the wider battle develops. KRAFTON Montreal Studio head and creative director Patrik Methe summarizes the core idea like this: “From the start, we asked ourselves what it really means to play a legendary figure in a fantasy world. For us, that meant giving players real agency – not just in combat, but in how wars unfold, how alliances are formed, and how history is written.”

What KRAFTON Is Actually Building – A Premium RPG That Bets on Scale and Player Agency

Based on the reveal description, Project Windless is trying to sit in the space between action RPG and war-scale fantasy. The “open world” angle is not presented as a sightseeing feature, but as a structure where exploration, faction interaction, and decision-making directly feed into how alliances take shape and how the continent-wide conflict shifts over time. If the non-linear approach holds up in practice, progression should not be a single mandatory route, but a chain of consequences that can reshape mission contexts, enemy presence, and the conditions of major battles depending on what you choose to support or oppose.

The second pillar is scale, and that is where the Mass Technology claim becomes the make-or-break piece. Many RPGs talk about epic wars, but rarely let players meaningfully participate in truly dense real-time clashes. KRAFTON is explicitly promising battles with thousands of units and giant creatures as part of playable, hands-on combat spaces – not background spectacle. At the same time, the studio insists the system is not meant to be mindless crowd-clearing: it is described as fast, skill-driven, and mastery-based, implying that execution and readable decision-making are intended to matter even when the battlefield gets chaotic.

Finally, the “premium single-player” positioning is a notable statement on its own. KRAFTON is saying up front there is no multiplayer layer and no live-service loop, which suggests a game built to be finished rather than endlessly extended. Development is led by KRAFTON Montreal Studio in close collaboration with teams in Pangyo, South Korea, with KRAFTON emphasizing cultural authenticity and worldbuilding inspired by Korean mythology. A first developer diary has also been released alongside the reveal, while further details – including a release timeframe – are being held for a later update.

Forrás: Gematsu