NAKWON: Last Paradise is an upcoming post-apocalyptic survival game from NEXON that bears stark similarities to the extraction shooters doing so well out there today. It has been in development for years and has just entered a closed playtest, and by all accounts, it’s doing extremely well for itself.
At the time of writing, NAKWON had managed to secure a peak player count of 24,000 in the playtest, and it’s climbing. The streamers and average gamers picking up the playtest have fed back plenty of positivity about the game, which is fast becoming one of the most anticipated zombie survival games to emerge in recent years.
NAKWON: Last Paradise Soars in Testing
NAKWON: Last Paradise is a zombie survival game set in a South Korean apocalypse. The world has ended by way of a cataclysm that turned many of the world’s residents into bloodthirsty creatures, and it’s up to small pockets of survivors to scrape by in settlements for as long as they can.
Players must venture into the no man’s land around their settlements, fight other users, the undead, and deal with the perils of the apocalypse, all while looting, solving quests, and uncovering the secrets of the end of the world.
It’s brutal, open-ended, and built around customization and choice. Players have a ‘base of operations’ that they can upgrade and build out using resources scavenged from the open world, provided they’re talented enough to escape the undead hordes alive.
NEXON has spent years assembling NAKWON: Last Paradise, and it still doesn’t have a release date, but it does have a closed testing window. At the time of publication, a whopping 24,000 people were neck-deep in NAKWON’s universe, and that number was climbing steadily as more users were accepted into the test.
It’s unique enough to carve out a nice corner of the post-apocalyptic space. By day, players explore their safe zone of ‘Yeouido’, visiting stores, interacting with traders, building their home, and upgrading their skills at practice ranges. By night, they’re in the wild and digging through a harrowing wasteland.
NAKWON isn’t a guns-blazing kind of title, though. Traditional firearms are extremely scarce, if not impossible to find, and those that do exist are cobbled together from scrap parts. Instead, the game relies almost entirely on hand-to-hand combat and melee weapons.
Players must equip shovels, bats, planks, knives, and other assorted handheld weapons to send the undead back down to the depths. In this way, the game also enables a stealthy approach, allowing for takedowns, avoiding fights, and lurking in the shadows, trying not to be seen while carrying a hefty backpack full of loot.
NAKWON: Last Paradise is coming exclusively to PC via Steam, and while it doesn’t have a release date, it would be surprising if it didn’t land this year.
Are you in the NAKWON test? Let us know if you’re enjoying it on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Starfield’s future will be uncovered next week
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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