Mistfall Hunter is a paid, premium game. You buy it once to play, which is the first thing worth clearing up, because a fair amount of coverage made it sound free. It is not free-to-play. The Xbox store lists it under a "Buy" button rather than a "Get" one, and the Steam listing marks it as a paid title. The catch is that no launch price has been announced yet, so the cost itself is still unknown as of this writing.
The "free" confusion
The free headlines all trace back to one thing: the Open Beta. Bellring Games ran a data-wipe Open Beta from June 15 to 22, 2026, during Steam Next Fest, and that test was free to jump into on Steam, Xbox, and the PlayStation Store. Press outlets ran with the word "free," but it applied only to that beta window. The full game at launch is a separate, paid release. Cosmetic rewards earned in the beta were set to carry over, but the build itself was wiped.
Monetization
On top of the up-front purchase, the game has in-app purchases and a battle pass. The Steam listing flags In-App Purchases, and a battle pass with a progression ladder is reported to ship at launch. What it does not have is paid power: the developers have stated there are zero pay-to-win mechanics and no paid stat boosts, summed up in their line that victory is earned in blood. The extra purchases are pitched as cosmetics and progression rather than a way to buy your way ahead in a fight.
Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
Business model | Paid premium game, not free-to-play |
Launch price | Not yet announced |
Extra purchases | In-app purchases plus a battle pass at launch |
Pay-to-win | None; no paid stat boosts |
Free access | Open Beta only (June 15 to 22, 2026) |
Xbox Game Pass
Mistfall Hunter is confirmed to launch day one with Xbox Game Pass, announced by Microsoft alongside the game. If you subscribe, you can play it from launch without a separate purchase on supported platforms; if you do not, the paid model above applies.
Platforms and release
The game releases July 29, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S, with cross-play supported across all three platforms. Cross-platform co-op is part of that, so you can squad up regardless of which version your friends own. For the broader feature set and the setting, start from Mistfall Hunter.