Blade & Soul is a fantasy martial arts-themed MMORPG. You play the lone surviving student of a legendary martial arts school. After your master is slain at the hands of the evil sorceress, Jinsoyun, she leaves you for dead. After being discovered by a former student of your master, you tend to your wounds before setting out on your quest to avenge your fallen master. You traverse a broken world, meeting other warriors eager to help you stop Jinsoyun and save the world from a thousand years of darkness. The characters explore an open world environment and combat is inspired by martial arts in a real-time battle system. The start of the game is strictly PvE, but later on PvP environments become available as well. Characters can be customized extensively and they are based on the four benevolent animals: The Gon, the Jin, the Kun, or the Lyn.