Honor of Kings: World

Overview

Honor of Kings: World is an open-world action RPG developed by TiMi Studio Group (Tencent) and published globally by Level Infinite. The game was first announced in October 2021 and is built on Unreal Engine 5. It expands the Honor of Kings franchise, the world's highest-grossing mobile MOBA with over 260 million monthly active users, into a fully explorable open world set on the continent of Primaera.

The story was partly inspired by Liu Cixin's 1997 short story The Poetry Cloud. Liu Cixin, author of The Three-Body Problem, served as a story consultant on the project.

Gameplay

The game's central combat mechanic is the dual Flow system. Players equip two different fighting styles simultaneously, each based on a hero from the Honor of Kings universe, and switch between them mid-fight. Each Flow style has its own set of abilities and its own health bar, which means switching styles effectively doubles the player's survivability.

Outside of combat, the game includes crafting and housing, exploration across a reported 64 sq km map, and activities like mining, herbalism, hunting, and salvaging. Players can traverse the world on foot, by horseback, or using flying mounts. Zip lines and gliders have also been spotted in preview footage.

The player character is called the Flowborn, a student at Jixia Academy who can instinctively channel the combat styles of various heroes through a mysterious bracelet.

Multiplayer

The game supports 2-4 player co-op for story missions, dungeons, and boss fights. 8-player raids are also planned. Solo players can complete all content with AI companion assistants. Multiplayer matchmaking pairs players of similar rank, and players can summon help during boss fights without disrupting the encounter.

Platforms and release

Honor of Kings: World is confirmed for PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), iOS, and Android. The China launch is set for Spring 2026. A global release is expected but has no confirmed date. Cross-progression between PC and mobile is confirmed.

Console support (PlayStation, Xbox) is not confirmed. In a GDC 2025 developer Q&A, Lead Designer Simon said "hopefully in the future" regarding consoles. Controller support was added by the time of the Gamescom 2025 demo.

Business model

The game is free-to-play. Lead Designer Simon stated at GDC 2025 that monetization focuses on "cosmetics (outfits and skins)" with "nothing that is pay-to-win." A battle pass was described as "very possible in the future." Third-party sources report a gacha system with a 90-pull pity for 5-star heroes and an 80-pull pity for weapons, but these figures are unconfirmed by official channels and may reflect early Chinese beta data.

Languages

The official website lists support for English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.