Platforms and Release

Platform

DragonSword: Awakening shipped on PC via Steam on July 23, 2026 and PC remains its only platform. Steam Deck support was described before release as being in preparation through Proton, and the store page still carries no Valve verification badge. There is no Linux native build.

Console plans firmed up in stages over three weeks. In the post-launch FAQ of July 28, 2026 Hound13 said console versions were in preparation but that neither the platforms nor the timing had been settled. Two days later the studio told press that the platforms had in fact been decided, naming PlayStation and Nintendo, while stressing that the specific console generation and the release timing were both still open. On August 10 it went further on ordering: ports start with PlayStation 5 because it has the larger user base, Xbox is a lower priority and will not happen in the short term, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version has only had internal interest registered, with Nintendo developer status, Unreal Engine 5 porting work and platform certification all still ahead of it and no timeline given. Several PC content updates are planned before the console version ships so it launches from a solid baseline.

The studio ruled out a mobile version of the Awakening build outright. There is no macOS or Linux build planned, and crossplay is a long-term consideration rather than a near-term one.

Supported Languages

The Steam store page lists eleven supported interface and subtitle languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Russian, Thai, and Brazilian Portuguese. Korean is also marked for full audio support.

That list is the settled one. In the late-May 2026 developer Q&A, Hound13 said German, French, Russian, and Portuguese localisations were in preparation and that Spanish was not a priority at the time; Thai and Spanish were added shortly afterwards, which is how the set grew from the five languages announced early in the campaign to the eleven on the final listing. Every non-Korean language is interface and subtitles only. Hound13 has said a Japanese voice track could not be funded in time for launch and is not committed to for any later date.

System Requirements and Hardware Support

The store listing targets a modest 64-bit Windows 10 machine. The minimum tier is an Intel Core i5-9400F, 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1660 on DirectX 12; the recommended tier is an i7-9700F, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 3060. Both tiers ask for 25 GB of free space, and the listing adds an unusually firm hardware note: an SSD is required for a smooth experience, because installing to a hard drive can cause extended loading, texture pop-in, frame drops, or crashes.

The build supports Steam Cloud saves, 60 Steam achievements, stats, and Family Sharing. The achievement count started at 59 and rose by one in patch 1.0.9, which added a Nightmare-difficulty clear for Barduk that has to be re-cleared to unlock. Controller coverage is listed as partial, with explicit DualShock and DualSense support alongside keyboard and mouse. The listing declares six accessibility features, among them camera comfort options, custom volume controls, adjustable difficulty, and both stereo and surround sound output. Playing the game also requires agreeing to Hound13's own end-user licence in addition to the storefront's.

Age Ratings

Ratings issued ahead of launch place the game in the teen-and-up band across four boards.

Pricing

As a buy-to-play title the game is a single purchase with no subscription, no battle pass, and no gacha. The Standard Edition sells for $29.99 USD and €29.99 EUR (₩33,000 in Korea), with regional pricing set through a conversion approach that factors in exchange rates and local purchasing power. Hound13 confirmed the release day on June 18, 2026 and held the price at launch.

The Deluxe content ships as a separate $19.99 add-on rather than a distinct storefront edition, so the two together come to the $49.99 the studio announced before release. It bundles a digital artbook of roughly 80 pages of concept art, the original soundtrack, and the Deluxe-exclusive familiar Brave Baby Dragon. Steam also lists the base game and the add-on as a Deluxe Edition bundle at a ten percent saving. Because this was Hound13's first release, pre-purchase was never offered, so sales opened at the launch unlock.

Beyond the base package the store carries cosmetic add-ons only: five launch costume sets and a run of paid Familiars, each with a matching weapon skin in the costumes' case. The Abyssal Direwolf familiar is free for everyone until August 31, 2026 at 07:00 KST, after which it reverts to its standard price. A three-costume Summer Sea Set followed on July 31. The full catalogue and prices are broken out in Downloadable Content.

Launch Day

The unlock did not land on the promised minute. Hound13 had committed to July 23 at 07:00 KST, which is July 22 at 15:00 Pacific, and posted a public apology hours beforehand explaining that the storefront's app review had not finished in time. Producer Jang Yun-jin wrote that the team had not allowed enough room in the schedule for the review and had completed every item the storefront asked for while waiting on the final result.

The game went live later the same day. CEO and director Park Jung-sik, who signs his posts as Ropie, opened the launch announcement with a second apology for missing the promised time before thanking players for the 450,000 wishlists the game carried into release. Because the unlock fell on the evening of July 22 in North American time zones, the storefront lists the release date as July 22 rather than July 23.

Four notices went out on launch day alone: the release post, a warning that unpurchased downloadable content could be equipped and would crash the game, a note that two store items were missing from the catalogue, and a patch notice covering the progress reset applied to anyone who had played the pre-launch build. Patch 1.0.1 arrived the same day. See Update History for the full sequence.

Release Timeline

Western vs Korean Release

The Western Steam release, retitled DragonSword: Awakening, is a total rework of the Korean free-to-play DragonSword. Hound13 terminated its Korean publishing deal with Webzen over an unpaid minimum guarantee, then pivoted to a self-published buy-to-play package on Steam. Everything about the Western build has been tuned for the single-player package model rather than the live-service F2P one. See the dedicated Webzen Publishing Dispute article for the full history and the Buy-to-Play Model page for the resulting monetisation policy.

What Shipped at Launch

• All of World 1, meaning 8 main-story chapters plus additional Hero quests and a new Eastern region added specifically for the Steam release. The main campaign runs roughly 10 to 15 hours.

• All 19 playable Heroes, obtainable through story progression and in-game activities.

• Open-world exploration of the Continent of Orbis on foot and by Familiar mount.

• Opt-in Co-Op for Subjugation and Raid content.

Reception settled quickly and has held. Within a fortnight the storefront's user-review summary sat at Very Positive, and it has stayed there as the sample grew: 11,344 user reviews by August 26, 2026, of which 10,214 are positive, a shade over nine in ten. The Korean-language slice rates higher than the global one. The game placed third on the storefront's global top-seller chart for the week of July 21 to 28, 2026. The studio reported passing 200,000 copies sold in the first week and a peak of 23,000 players online at once, then announced on August 11 that it had reached 1,000,000 wishlists and 300,000 copies sold.

Future Content

Hound13 published its post-launch plan on June 19, 2026. Four new Heroes arrive across the second half of the year as part of the base game rather than as paid add-ons: Ryza first, then Jerome, Veronica, and Logan in an order still being decided. Alongside them come Hero Quests covering characters the main story does not reach, and a Rift System that opens portals into other dimensions.

Longer term the studio intends to finish the Orbis story and then open the floating-island region that has been the named next destination since before launch. On August 10, 2026 Hound13 said major story content is planned as free updates rather than paid downloadable content, and that new main-story chapters, new raid bosses and a new map expansion are all targeted at the second half of 2027 rather than 2026. Whether the floating-island region itself is free or paid has still not been decided, and the studio explicitly denied a circulating rumour that it was free and arriving in December. Store-side monetisation stays on character costumes and additional Familiars. See Post-Launch Roadmap for the full breakdown.