Steam’s Newest Free Open-World RPG Is Blowing Up

It can be hard to make a splash on Steam these days, with most of the top spots taken by long-running live service games or blockbuster releases like Resident Evil Requiem. It helps a lot to be free, though, especially if you pair that with a genuinely ambitious experience. This week, that formula seems to have worked out perfectly for a new open-world RPG.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, released on Steam on March 16, has quickly shot to the top of SteamDB‘s trending chart. With a peak of over 65,000 concurrent players, the new RPG is attracting a massive audience. As a tie-in to the popular Seven Deadly Sins manga and anime franchise, it appears to be picking up fans of the franchise and the RPG genre alike.

Steam’s Latest Free RPG Has Topped SteamDB’s Trending Releases

Straight To The Top

If you’ve played games like Genshin Impact, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. In typical free-to-play anime game fashion, you can invest currencies earned through either dedicated gameplay or real-world purchases to buy characters in a gacha roulette system. In the field, action combat plays out in real-time, with different characters bringing different strengths and abilities to the table.

Despite the immediate momentum on Steam charts, not everyone is enthused by The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. A top Steam review by Pancake Tornado does a good job of summarizing the complaints, suggesting that its status as a new release connected to a popular IP is really all that The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin has going for it. Pancake Tornado compares it unfavorably to other gachas that do “world exploration and combat” better and require less intense investment of resources.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin Is Available Now

No Time Like The Present

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin might not be a must-play for everyone, but it could still be worth a look for fans of the franchise. If you’re waiting for upcoming major releases like Crimson Desert to fill your time, it might also be a nice way to tide yourself over without dropping any money on another paid game.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is currently available on Steam and PS5, with a “Grand Launch” set to bring the game to Google Play and the App Store on March 23. Gacha games are always adding content, so if you want to stand a chance at keeping up with the pace of additions, you’ll probably want to take advantage of that head start. If the Steam charts are anything to go by, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin should also make a big splash on mobile platforms next week.