Astellia Online Free-To-Play Version Called Astellia Royal Launches On Steam

In a surprising move, Astellia Online publisher Way2Bit launched a free-to-play version of the game on Steam last week called Astellia Royal. The game offers the same features as the original game but with slight tweaks to gameplay, including the ability to summon up to two Astels without consuming AP, slower leveling progress, and longer refill times for dungeon tickets. Failing enhancements also results in item breakage.

“Astellia Royal is an online MMORPG focusing on strategic battles with Astels(summoned creatures) where CCG factors are added. Various PvP and PvE contents spreading out in vast fields are offered, such as the breathtaking battle between three factions, dungeons, life contents(crafting, gathering).”

Astellia Royal has received “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam because of its highly-sensitive anti-cheat system and claims of pay-to-win microtransactions. In spite of the reviews, the game currently has a higher Steam playercount than the original game with a 24-hour peak of 458 players compared to Astellia’s 154. Of course, that’s not counting the players who choose to play outside of Steam.