Chrono Odyssey

3:46 Chrono Odyssey is an open-world action MMORPG developed by Chrono Studio and published by Kakao Games for PC (Steam and the Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, in which players, as Sentinels, fight the Void across the time-fractured world of Setera with a time-bending device called the Chronotector. It has no release date as of Oct 21, 2026: Kakao Games' release schedule from its Aug 2026 earnings call lists it for Q2 2027 (April to June 2027), a window that has already moved several times. The official Gameplay Walkthrough of Jun 12, 2025 shows what kind of game it is: in captured play with the full interface (party frames, skill bars, a boss health bar and damage numbers), a group of players fights a Field Boss, first a giant crab and then a horned beast in a meadow, while the narrator says Field Bosses are "large-scale battles that require coordinated efforts" in which players exploit weak points, break parts and even mount the boss. From 4:36 the same party purges a Void Nexus, a hive of the Void that keeps spawning monsters until its core is destroyed. The only public test so far was a closed beta on Steam from Jun 20 to 22, 2025, and the developers have been reworking the game since.

Quick facts

What Chrono Odyssey is

1:53 Chrono Odyssey is an action MMORPG built around a seamless open world, timing-based combat and a device that manipulates time. Asked by the creator Kanon in an interview published Jun 9, 2025 whether it is "truly an MMORPG", executive producer Yun Sang-tae answers that it is "an open-world action MMORPG": the world is designed to be explored "without any loading screens", the action asks for "precise timing", and the MMO part keeps the multiplayer experience while reducing the fatigue of traditional MMORPGs. Steam's store page calls it "A Next-generation Action MMORPG" with "a vast and intricately designed seamless open world, dynamic action-based combat mechanics based on time manipulation and extensive customization." The official site's tagline is "An Epic Journey Across Time and Space." Chrono Studio has said the game is PvE first: Yun told Kanon that only "around 5% to 10%" of players prefer PvP, so the content was designed "with more of a PvE focus".

Release date and status

Chrono Odyssey has no release date or hour as of Oct 21, 2026. Steam lists it as "To be announced", the PlayStation Store as "Release date to be determined" and the Epic Games Store as "Coming Soon". Kakao Games' newest window comes from its Q2 2026 earnings call of Aug 4 to 5, 2026, whose release schedule lists Chrono Odyssey for Q2 2027, as Inven Global and Gamemeca reported. It is the latest of many targets. Kakao Games aimed for 2025, then Q4 2025; after the beta it moved the launch to Q4 2026 on Aug 6, 2025 to raise the game's completeness, then to Q1 2027 on Feb 11, 2026, and then to Q2 2027. On that last call co-CEO Lee Si-woo admitted that "the repeated delays in our new releases have severely damaged market trust in our schedule." Every window, with its source, is on Release Date. Until a store sells it, the only thing players can do is wishlist it on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or Epic; there are no pre-orders, no pre-registration and no demo.

Setera, the Void and the Sentinels

1:45 Chrono Odyssey is set in Setera, "a realm where past and future collide", invaded by unknown beings called the Void. In Chrono Studio's Developer Interview #1 (May 23, 2025), the team explains that in Setera "gods, humans, and unknown entities known as the Void come to a head", and that without divine order "the boundaries between dimensions collapse, giving rise to war and invasions." Earlier in the same video the developers name their influences: the cosmic horror of the film Prometheus and the fear of an encroaching swarm like StarCraft's Zerg; later Yun cites Chrono Trigger's idea of using time to prevent a cataclysm. Kakao Games describes Setera as "a land marred by cosmic horror, twisted by time, and shaped by your chosen fate." The world, its biomes and its past eras are on Setera.

The player is a Sentinel, one of the fighters "called to stand as Sentinels against the encroaching Void," in the words of Kakao's beta announcement. The official channel introduced four Sentinels in June 2025: Leviona, of the fallen planet Izar; Betelgeuse, of Magellan; the tactician Ilon; and Petra (Sentinels). In the June 2025 closed beta the story opened in an apocalyptic future, where the player falls and is sent back in time to change what happens. That story is being replaced: in July 2025 the developers wrote that "The narrative of Chrono Odyssey is currently undergoing a complete overhaul" (Story).

The Chronotector

12:18 The Chronotector is the artifact at the center of Chrono Odyssey: it lets players stop time around monsters, rewind their own time, and read the past. The Gameplay Walkthrough introduces it as "a powerful artifact capable of manipulating time and space" whose bearers gain "abilities that defy the limits of reality," and says it "will evolve with time and experience." Steam's store page puts it in one line: it "allows players to stop time around monsters or rewind a character's time, enabling more dynamic combat." It also reveals traces of the past and hidden paths, and at the end of the walkthrough the narrator adds that it can capture the souls of defeated bosses and summon them as Specters. Yun told Kanon the idea came from Chrono Trigger's time travel and from the Sheikah Slate of The Legend of Zelda. The abilities shown in the beta, and what is planned, are on Chronotector.

Classes and weapons

8:25 Chrono Odyssey has six announced classes, Swordsman, Ranger, Berserker, Paladin, Sorcerer and Assassin, and each class uses three weapons, two of them equipped at a time. In Developer Interview #1 the team says it first planned clearly separated roles, then "realized the need for hybrid classes", which is how the Assassin and Ranger came about, and added "a variety of weapons to move beyond fixed class roles." Tanks, healers and damage dealers exist, but weapon swaps let players lean either way. Only the Swordsman, Ranger and Berserker were playable in the June 2025 closed beta; the Paladin, Sorcerer and Assassin have been shown only in footage, and their weapons have not been officially listed. Classes are not locked to a gender, and the developers say more classes will come after launch. See Classes and Weapons.

Combat

9:12 Combat in Chrono Odyssey is action combat built on swapping between two weapons mid-fight, with dodging, blocking and parrying driven by stamina. The developers say in Developer Interview #1 that combat "revolves around a weapon swap system, in lieu of skill chaining," and that an elite boss early in the game is meant to teach it, because a player using one weapon will run into cooldowns; swapping also grants passive buffs. Kakao Games says the combat "draws inspiration from the fluid action found in soulslike games." Beta testers found hits sluggish, which Chrono Studio traced to "packet desyncs between the client and the server", and the team has since reworked movement, lock-on and blocking: since Developer's Notes #4 (Jan 29, 2026), "Blocking attacks consumes stamina, and if your stamina drops to 0, a Guard Crush occurs." Details are on Combat.

Progression runs through the Matrix System, a node-based tree announced in July 2025 and detailed in May 2026, with four paths per weapon, and through gear from drops or crafting. Yun told Kanon the enhancement system has "completely eliminated" the frustrating parts: gear never breaks, and the endgame aims for horizontal progression rather than one item that ends the game (Gear and Enhancement).

What there is to do

13:37 Chrono Gates are Chrono Odyssey's signature content: one-on-one boss fights against Void Apostles, described in the walkthrough as "punishing, fast-paced boss encounters" where "every strike, every dodge, demands sharp timing and precision." The developers sort the rest into solo content ("Chrono Gates, Labyrinths, and Trials") and party content ("Expedition and Time Portals"). Expedition dungeons are built for three players, Region Bosses need several parties, and Bounty Hunting was the most popular activity in the February 2025 focus test. See Chrono Gates, Dungeons and Raids and Bosses.

6:44 Labyrinths and Trials are the puzzle side of Chrono Odyssey's world. The walkthrough calls Labyrinths "warped, unstable realms of fractured spacetime" in which players "solve complex, interconnected puzzles", with sudden fights along the way; Trials send players through time against traps and shifting conditions "similar to roguelikes". Time Portals open onto Setera in another timeline, where rare materials and pieces of the story wait. Exploring the open world, climbing, gliding and riding is covered on Exploration and Traversal.

For the endgame, Yun told Kanon in June 2025 that the team has prepared 10-player raids and five-player party dungeons, open-PvP "Freely Contested Zones" that only players who want PvP enter, and a PvEvP mode called Eden, whose rewards matter for progression. The walkthrough's last chapter shows Eden as an abyss of dungeons outside time where a player must escape with their loot before time runs out. Outside those zones, PvP can be turned off (PvP).

Crafting and life skills

11:02 Chrono Odyssey treats gathering and crafting as a full path of progression: players can reach the maximum level without fighting. The walkthrough's life-skills chapter says "There's more to life than combat in Setera," that its lands are "rich with plants, ores, and monsters", and that life skills span "gathering, processing, and crafting." Steam's page lists "harvesting, logging, mining, and skinning", plus fishing and cooking, and crafted gear is meant to be as good as dropped gear, "with no method having a distinct advantage," as MassivelyOP summed up Yun's answer. There is a market (an auction house) but no direct trading between players. See Crafting and Gathering.

Character creation

1:26 Chrono Odyssey's character creator lets players shape "gender, body types, facial features, hairstyles, makeup, scars, and much more," with sliders for every part of the body. SpookyFairy's recording of the closed beta's first minutes (Jun 20, 2025) shows it: after picking the Berserker, the player flips through preset faces and hairstyles, rolls random looks and then works through the sliders. The creator was one of the beta's best-liked parts, and also its most notorious, after testers shared grotesque characters; Chrono Studio's CEO Bae Bong-gun called it "honestly heartbreaking" and promised "meaningful limitations" for the next test (Character Creation).

The closed beta and the rework

0:00 Chrono Odyssey's only public test was a global closed beta on Steam from Jun 20 to 22, 2025, announced with this trailer on May 19, 2025. It ran 72 hours as a Steam Playtest with servers in North America, Europe and Asia, three classes and one region, and no NDA. Sign-ups passed 1 million before it began, and it reached more than 65,000 concurrent players on Jun 21, 2025 (SteamDB, as reported by MassivelyOP). Everything about the test is on Closed Beta.

19:30 Chrono Studio has been rebuilding much of the game since the beta, in public, through six developer notes. Before the test the team said in Developer Interview #1 that "Our first CBT offers just a glimpse of all that we've prepared" and that new regions, classes and content would follow after launch. Testers praised the world, the Chronotector and the creator, and asked for better performance, combat feedback, quest guidance and controls; previews were mixed (Reception). The notes since have covered client-server desyncs, the Matrix System and DLSS and FSR (July 2025), a new interface and a story overhaul (July 2025), new lighting and about 40% fewer shader calls per frame (December 2025), movement and Guard Crush (January 2026), NPC Supporters, Monster Equipment and server channels (May 2026), and PC optimization with the hardware community Quasar Zone (Sep 22, 2026). The beta ran badly for many players, "even on higher-end PCs", Chrono Studio admitted. Each note is summed up on Developer Notes; the PC side is on Performance and Optimization and PC System Requirements.

No second beta has been dated as of Oct 21, 2026. Chrono Studio promised "more testing phases" after the first, and Kakao Games said in February 2026 that the game would "repeatedly conduct core testing centered on the Western region", but neither gave a date.

Platforms, price and business model

1:00 Chrono Odyssey is coming to PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, to PlayStation 5 and to Xbox Series X|S, and Chrono Studio's goal is to launch on all of them at once. The Summer Game Fest trailer of Jun 6, 2025 ends on a card inviting players to join the playtest on Steam from Jun 20 to 22, 2025, above the Chrono Studio, Kakao Games, Steam, Epic Games, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S logos; it is the most recent trailer, and no trailer came out in 2026. Cross-play has not been announced. The PS5 version needs PS Plus for online play. See Platforms.

Chrono Odyssey will be buy-to-play: Kakao Games announced it in March 2024 as "a 'Buy-to-Play' Open World Action MMORPG", and no price has been announced as of Oct 21, 2026. Yun told Kanon there will be "absolutely no pay-to-win" and that the shop will sell costumes, mount cosmetics and "a limited range of content offered through a battle pass system". There are no editions, founder's packs or pre-orders yet (Price and Business Model).

Who makes it

2:10 Chrono Odyssey is developed in Seoul by Chrono Studio on Unreal Engine 5 and published by Kakao Games. At Epic's State of Unreal at GDC 2024 (Mar 20, 2024), Chrono Studio presented the game on stage, showing how it builds Setera with Unreal's tools, including a slide that reads "Create open worlds with World Partition" and, after it, the character creator. That was also the day Kakao Games announced it would publish the game in Korea and worldwide except China and Russia, and the day the Steam and Epic pages opened. Chrono Studio presented the game as the work of "over 120 developers" at the time.

The game was first revealed by Npixel, the Korean company behind Gran Saga, in December 2020 (its working name was Project S), and Chrono Studio's CEO, Bae Bong-gun, is an Npixel co-founder. Korean and English press describe Chrono Studio as an Npixel subsidiary; Yun Sang-tae told Kanon in June 2025 that Chrono Studio is "a separate and completely independent legal entity." The executive producer is Yun Sang-tae, the composer is Cris Velasco, and the gameplay reveal trailer came out in May 2023. The full history is on Development History, the studio on Chrono Studio, and every trailer on Trailers.

Frequently asked questions

When does Chrono Odyssey come out? Chrono Odyssey has no release date as of Oct 21, 2026; Kakao Games' release schedule from its Aug 2026 earnings call lists it for Q2 2027 (April to June 2027), a window that has moved several times before.

Is Chrono Odyssey free to play? No. Chrono Odyssey is buy-to-play, as Kakao Games announced in March 2024, with an optional shop for cosmetics and a battle pass.

How much does Chrono Odyssey cost? Kakao Games has not announced a price for Chrono Odyssey as of Oct 21, 2026, and no store takes pre-orders; players can only wishlist it.

Is Chrono Odyssey on PS5 and Xbox? Yes. Chrono Odyssey is announced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S as well as PC (Steam and the Epic Games Store), with a launch on all platforms at once as the goal.

Does Chrono Odyssey have cross-play? Cross-play between PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S has not been announced for Chrono Odyssey as of Oct 21, 2026.

Is there a Chrono Odyssey beta? Chrono Odyssey had one closed beta on Steam from Jun 20 to 22, 2025; more tests have been promised, but none has been dated as of Oct 21, 2026.

Is Chrono Odyssey pay-to-win? Chrono Studio says no: executive producer Yun Sang-tae said in June 2025 that Chrono Odyssey will "never have pay-to-win elements" and that its shop will sell cosmetics and a battle pass.

How many classes does Chrono Odyssey have? Chrono Odyssey has six announced classes (Swordsman, Ranger, Berserker, Paladin, Sorcerer and Assassin), of which the Swordsman, Ranger and Berserker were playable in the 2025 closed beta.

Sources

• Chrono Odyssey official site, Kakao Games, read Oct 20, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey on Steam, Valve, read Oct 20, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey on the PlayStation Store, Sony Interactive Entertainment, read Oct 20, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey on the Xbox store, Microsoft, read Oct 20, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey on the Epic Games Store, Epic Games, read Oct 20, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey Global Closed Beta Announcement, Kakao Games on Steam, May 19, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey Closed Beta Details, Kakao Games on Steam, Jun 6, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey Closed Beta is starting now!, Kakao Games on Steam, Jun 20, 2025
• Developer's Notes #2: End of the Closed Beta Part I, Chrono Studio on Steam, Jul 4, 2025
• Developer's Notes #2: End of the Closed Beta Part 2, Chrono Studio on Steam, Jul 30, 2025
• Developer's Notes #3: End of 2025, Chrono Studio on Steam, Dec 25, 2025
• Developer's Notes #4, Chrono Studio on Steam, Jan 29, 2026
• Developer's Notes #5, Chrono Studio on Steam, May 7, 2026
• Developer's Notes #6, Chrono Studio on Steam, Sep 22, 2026
• Kakao Games to publish Chrono Studio's Chrono Odyssey globally, Kakao Games press release via Game Developer, Mar 20, 2024
• Chrono Odyssey closed beta confirmed for June 20th to 22nd, Kakao Games press release via Game Developer, Jun 6, 2025
• Kakao Games: Odin Q to launch next January, no delays, Inven Global, Aug 4, 2026
• Kakao Games Q2 2026 earnings, Gamemeca, Aug 5, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey delayed to Q1 2027, Gamemeca, Feb 11, 2026
• Chrono Odyssey delayed to Q4 2026, Gamemeca, Aug 6, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey release date delayed, Icy Veins, Feb 11, 2026
• Interview: Kakao on Chrono Odyssey's global parity, opt-out PvP, and embracing MMORPGs, MassivelyOP, Jun 4, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey addresses endgame, gear, and monetization, MassivelyOP, Jun 12, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey's beta draws in 65K players on Steam, MassivelyOP, Jun 23, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey confirms restrictions on player-created characters, MassivelyOP, Jun 26, 2025
• Chrono Odyssey pitches its time-travel format at GDC, MassivelyOP, Apr 2, 2024
• Npixel reveals Chrono Odyssey, Inven, Dec 4, 2020
• Kakao Games signs Chrono Odyssey, ZDNet Korea, Mar 21, 2024
• Chrono Odyssey | Gameplay Walkthrough, Chrono Odyssey, Jun 12, 2025 (video)
• Chrono Odyssey | Developer Interview #1, Chrono Odyssey, May 23, 2025 (video)
• EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW - My Full Interview with Chrono Odyssey's Lead (ENG/한), Kanon, Jun 9, 2025 (video)
• Chrono Odyssey Closed Beta - First 35 Minutes PC Gameplay, SpookyFairy, Jun 20, 2025 (video)
• Chrono Odyssey | Closed Beta Announce Trailer, Chrono Odyssey, May 19, 2025 (video)
• Chrono Odyssey | Summer Game Fest Trailer, Chrono Odyssey, Jun 6, 2025 (video)
• Chrono Odyssey by Chrono Studios | State of Unreal | GDC 2024, Unreal Engine, Mar 30, 2024 (video)