NosTale review

This NosTale review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. Entwell's anime action MMORPG, published by Gameforge since 2007, is free on Windows through Gameforge's launcher and Steam. It offers more than 30 specialist classes, pets, raids and PvP arenas. Money buys NosDollars for the NosMall, which sells random chests, NosWheel spins, upgrade scrolls and boosters; the official posts list chest contents but not drop rates.

What is NosTale?

NosTale is a free-to-play anime action MMORPG developed by Entwell Co., Ltd. and published in the West by Gameforge 4D GmbH. The game turned 19 in September 2026, and it has been on Steam since September 18, 2017.

You start as a Swordsman, Archer or Mage and unlock specialist cards, which Gameforge counts at more than 30 classes. You tame and train pets, bring partners into battle and fight monsters or other players. Miniland gives each player a home with a garden. The Steam page sums up the content as PvP, PvE and raids.

The story is told in acts; Act 10 Part 2, with new specialist cards and a raid boss, went live in summer 2026. The October 6, 2026 patch for the 19th anniversary extended the Celestial Spire Catacombs by 10 levels to 30, added new family quests and an automatic rarity-upgrade option. Families are NosTale's player groups. Gameforge also runs temporary event servers, such as Summer Oasis from August 19 to September 30, 2026, with boosted progression and a free Battle Pass.

Is NosTale free to play?

Yes. Gameforge describes NosTale as free to play, and Steam lists it as Free To Play with in-app purchases.

The game runs regular free events that speed up progress for everyone: double experience weekends, higher upgrade and enchantment chances, extra raid boxes, double Instant Combat rewards and pet training boosts. In October 2026 alone, the official posts announced events for higher rune and tattoo chances, pet training and double Instant Combats.

The Summer Oasis event server added permanent experience boosts, weekend events and a free Battle Pass whose missions gave progression items, and characters could move to selected servers afterward.

What stays paid is the NosMall, the in-game shop, where items cost NosDollars. Raid rewards and the Celestial Spire token shop give items for playing.

Is NosTale pay to win? What money buys

NosDollars are the paid currency; Gameforge's Happy Hour offers add 30% to NosDollar purchases for a weekend.

The NosMall sells random chests on rotating dates. The Chest of Destiny can give the Ascended title, which increases all attacks by 10% and all defences by 7%. The Autumn Pumpkin Chest (October 28 to November 2, 2026) can give pumpkin partners whose buffs add up to 12% to all attacks. The posts list possible contents but no chances.

The NosWheel is a paid spin: in October 2026, the Wheel of Chivalry cost 23 NosDollars per spin in stage 1 and 55 in stage 2, with partners such as Petal Knight Celine among the prizes. Upgrade items are also sold, including Premium Runic Upgrade Scrolls and Champion Blessing Scrolls that add 10% to rarity-upgrade success and protect gear on failure, plus Fairy Boosters and protection scrolls.

On Steam, the Fairy Elemental Pack DLC costs $21.33 as of October 30, 2026, for four level-40 fairies and boost items to take them to level 70. PvP happens in the Arena of Talents and Arena of Masters.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as strongly pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

NosTale on PC, Mac, consoles and mobile

NosTale is a Windows game. Gameforge offers it through its own launcher from the official game page, and Steam lists it as a free Windows game called NosTale - Anime MMORPG. Both list Windows 7, 8 and 10, and Steam also mentions Windows Vista for the minimum.

There is no Mac, Linux, console or mobile version on Gameforge's page or Steam. Gameforge's product page describes the game as made for PC and notebook.

The Gameforge page lists Czech, English (GB), Spanish, French, German and Italian, and Steam adds Polish and Turkish. The official forum has an international board in English plus Czech, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and Turkish boards.

PvP and event times are posted on the forum. The Arena of Talents runs on channels 3, 4 and 5, and the Arena of Masters on channel 5, each in daily afternoon-to-evening time windows.

NosTale system requirements

NosTale has very low requirements. Gameforge's product page and Steam list the same hardware.

Minimum: Windows 7, 8 or 10 (Steam also lists Vista), a Pentium 3 at 800 MHz, 512 MB of RAM, a GeForce 2 MX, DirectX 9.0, a broadband connection and 6 GB of storage.

Recommended: Windows 7, 8 or 10, an Intel Core i3, 2 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTS 450, DirectX 9.0 and 8 GB of storage.

Neither page lists Windows 11, although they do list Windows 10. The October 6, 2026 patch notes mention a fix for the client not closing completely when you quit, and say the problem can still occur in some cases. Because the game is online only, a stable connection is required for raids and arena matches.

Games like NosTale

These MMORPGs from our catalog also run on Windows and are free to play, with PvE raids or dungeons and PvP modes like NosTale:

Lost Ark: Smilegate RPG's action MMORPG on Steam, with raids, dungeons, card collections and Proving Grounds PvP; Amazon Game Studios hands Western publishing to Smilegate in early 2027.

Drakensang Online: Bigpoint's action MMORPG with four classes, duels and group PvP, on Steam since May 16, 2023.

Metin2: another free MMORPG for Windows from Gameforge, installed through the Gameforge launcher like NosTale.

NosTale has the lowest requirements of the group, with a 512 MB RAM minimum, while Lost Ark's Steam minimum is 16 GB of RAM. Drakensang Online sits between them at 4 GB.

• Lost Ark
• Drakensang Online
• Metin2