If you’re unfamiliar with what the community has dubbed “hold-checking”, where you make out like you’re throwing a charge attack to bait a reaction, it’s very easy to wonder why someone else’s light attack beats yours (it’s because they charged it longer). This gives it a high skill gap which is perfectly suited to esports, but can also be confusing for newcomers. Within the combat triangle of light attacks, charge attacks and parries, you can half-charge and hold different kinds of attacks to blur the lines between each, creating layers of grey and complicated manoeuvres and combos in the heat of battle. Held in the shadow of Chengdu Global Center, the biggest building in the world by floor area, in a 3000-seater venue packed with fans whooping and waving flashing inflatables along to every second of chaotic action, the J Cup Solo championship and Trios team competitions were tense, spectacular, and intriguingly different events.Īfter playing more of the game for myself and watching the highest levels of competitive play, the first thing I realised was that, despite melee combat’s reputation for button mashing, Naraka Bladepoint is an incredibly technical game, which is both its biggest draw and steepest obstacle in terms of accessibility. Today it’s a city of more than 20 million people (more than double London by some measures), which blends traditional buildings and streets with luxury shops and giant skyscrapers. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province in the West of China and, as well as playing a key role in the famous Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, is an area that’s been inhabited for more than 4000 years. I’d always written Naraka off as completely centred on domestic Chinese gamers, but – not content to leave the mystery unsolved – I went to the J Cup World Championships in Chengdu, China to find out more.Ĭhengdu is the perfect location for Naraka a very modern, competitive online video game which incorporates characters and environments based on traditional Chinese mythology. Naraka first released in 2021 and went free-to-play in 2023, but over its relatively short life it’s been remarkably consistent, and only just reached its all-time peak a few months ago with nearly 300,000 concurrent players.

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