NCSoft’s Hoyeon, which promised a global expansion during the Summer Game Fest 2025 back in June, has finally landed on Steam. However, the initial reception has been poor, with players quick to point out poor optimization and an aggressive monetization model, resulting in a 'Mostly Negative' rating.

Hoyeon was already under fire on the Steam forums long before its release. Players were vocal about the lack of any meaningful connection to Blade & Soul, coupled with deep-seated concerns that it would just be another gacha-heavy mobile port. Given that Steam users tend to have a rather allergic reaction to Pay-to-Win (P2W) mechanics, the sentiment toward an NCSoft title was always going to be frosty. As of 2:00 PM on the 25th, the user rating sat at 'Mostly Negative' with 38% positive reviews from 133 participants. While some did praise the graphics, art style, and general accessibility, these were overshadowed by technical connection errors and the exact P2W issues players feared would come to fruition.

Reviews are particularly scathing regarding the abysmal gacha rates, checkpoints conveniently placed near the premium store, and even the audacity to charge real money for extra dungeon entries. Beyond the monetization woes, users are complaining about messy UI, resolution settings that don’t quite stick, and frame rate stutters, suggesting that the mobile version was ported to PC with little regard for the platform's standard.

NCSoft had previously stated that the global version would pivot away from P2W-heavy growth mechanics, focusing instead on convenience to avoid player pushback. However, the poor Steam reception suggests that the publisher may have misjudged the temperament of the global audience entirely.

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