Blackthorn Arena

Blackthorn Arena is set in The Freelands, a realm where adventurers and fortune seekers pursue wealth above all else. You inherit the Blackthorn Arena and decide how to run it: recruit and train gladiators, send them into competitions or out to explore, and manage the establishment as you seek to become the world’s most powerful arena master.

Build your gladiators

You buy slaves and train them as gladiators, managing their attributes, skills and talents and equipping them with the best armor and weapons you can afford. Some may have the potential to serve as crew auxiliaries, including cooks, healers, drillmasters and blacksmiths. Gladiators develop traits during their careers, which affect their performance in competitions.

The character-development system lets you choose from multiple major attributes and weapon types and combine combat skills to shape each fighter. The description lists 180 skills among the game’s features and also refers to combining over 100 combat skills.

Compete and explore

Send gladiators to fight in 14 arenas, each with its own style, or dispatch them to explore The Freelands for loot and secrets. You can challenge other arenas’ champions and take over their positions. Side missions include highway robberies, dungeon exploration and beast hunting, among other quests.

You can also send gladiators to exploration areas to discover and capture rare, powerful creatures for the arena finale of Venationes. Competitions include 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 battles, as well as Venationes, exhibition matches, tag fights, throne challenges and tournaments.

Run the arena

Winning battles in other arenas earns money and reputation. Victories can lead to new slaves, better equipment and upgrades to your establishment; reputation also has a strong effect on the arena’s income. As arena master, you deal with daily events that may offer opportunities or bring disasters, as well as emergencies that arise in running the arena.

A living world

Gladiators across the world—including those in other arenas—exist dynamically and compete in events each day. They can die, get injured or grow stronger. After defeating an opposing gladiator, you can spare or execute them, with potentially unexpected outcomes.

Combat and equipment

Blackthorn Arena offers a choice between real-time combat and traditional turn-based combat at the start of the game. In real-time battles, you can pause at any moment to issue commands, switch between characters or take other actions.

The game features 7 weapon types, 10 gladiator classes, 16 legendary champions with distinct battle styles, and 500 pieces of equipment. Armor sets have their own appearances, reflected through the avatar system, and the equipment includes legendary weapons and armor sets.