MapleStory

Steam Reviews

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• Not recommended Posted November 12, 2025 on Steam In every other version of Maplestory this patch made it so you could move around you real money purchased items to all the classes in the game. The team behind Maplestory GMS actively decided to take this feature out and make it so you can't move around your real money purchased items to other classes. They do not respect your money, they have actively chosen to do the most scummy thing possible in removing the most player friendly system KMS (korea maplestory) and MSEA (Maplestory Sea) they have put out in decades. If you do not already have sunken cost fallacy like me, get out. run. These devs do not deserve your time or your money. They will disrespect you and nick and dime you at every chance they get despite the PR hit.
• Not recommended Posted June 15, 2025 on Steam Save yourself, unless you hate yourself. Do not be deceived by the cute looking pixels, as what lays beneath this innocent facade is one of the most predatory set of systems designed around gambling. Back before micro-transactions became mainstream, Nexon was already laying the groundwork for future investors to take some notes. [b]Temporary cosmetics[/b], costing anywhere from $30-100 just for a few items.. for 90 days. An enchantment/progression system that revolved around using 10-30% chance scrolls that could destroy items upon failure, whereby a real life currency purchase of a [i]item shield[/i] could prevent destruction a [i]single[/i] time for "only" $5. That didn't even include the 1% "clean slate" scrolls that needed to be used to recover lost upgrade slots. This is the literal definition of designing a problem with a pay-walled [i]solution[/i] in mind. Every single aspect of this game is laced with gambling or what 'we' refer to as [b]RNG[/b]. The scrolling. The starforcing. The flaming. The cubing. The bonus cubing. The endless various lootboxes. And so on. Worse yet, [b]there's absolutely no pity system[/b]. Terrible rates and no guaranteed "legendary pull"? Maplestory whales have truly been trained well. If you want to reach the mid to end game level of content, you will have to engage on their terms. Which means you'll likely be spending upwards of $100s if not $1000s of dollars just to "stay relevant". Even in the so-called [b]F2P[/b] [i]Heroic[/i] servers, most dedicated players have spent a few hundred dollars to get their "vacuum pets". Many spent more and a few, less (if they were extremely lucky). Did I mention the 20 consecutive years of surprise/emergency maintenance, rollbacks, false bans and modern highway robbery of peoples money via the [b]steam market[/b]? Step 1: Release a new method of trading in-game items with steam funds. Step 2: Attach a $5 [b]tax[/b] to the seller buy forcing them to buy yet another type of "Scissors of Karma" to list their item. Step 3: Shut down the market due to inevitable bugs and freeze all current transactions. Step 4: Backlog themselves so hard that they have thousands of support tickets related to their new featured market and [b]get to it later[/b]. Yet time and time again, addicts will [b]spend during these repeated hellstorms of management[/b]. Game goes down for maintenance during one of their biggest, most hyped patches (20th anniversary Hyperburn MAX)? What do people do [b]while the game is down with little ETA on when it will be up again?[/b]. They [b]BUY MORE NX[/b]. That's how powerfully addicting this mushroom game is. It defies all logic. Even casinos can't screw up this hard and retain [i]loyal[/i] customers. One of the few salvaging qualities about this game is the sheer quantity of classes available (along with their evolution paths). Yet that too is hindered by a frequently bland backstory and fragmented overarching story/experience as a whole. [b]Maple[/b]story? No. [b]Spacebar[/b]story. Why there isn't an auto-forward conversation for the amount of half-sentenced exchange of dialogue in this game is beyond my comprehension. I wish I could give a game I've played on and off for over a decade a positive thumbs up, but in my questionable conscience I can't honestly do so. Nexon's game [i]philosophy[/i] is designed to appeal to gambling addicts. And they're not changing course anytime soon.
• Not recommended Posted November 12, 2025 on Steam DO NOT play this game. It has probably the most predatory and greedy developers known to man. Every other region introduced shared cash shop inventory, but in this version they kept the cosmetics locked for each class to make a quick buck. Save yourself before it's too late, don't play maple.
• Not recommended Posted November 13, 2025 on Steam Tried to get back to delve into some nostalgia. Landed face-first into a pointless forced storyline (which isn't even a tutorial) and came out of it with 20 levels after not doing a single thing. I'll just wait for MS Classic to release in 2026.
• Not recommended Posted April 25, 2026 on Steam Been playing this game for years, and taken several *long* breaks due to how things are implemented. I wouldn't recommend playing if you're not looking to waste everyday, all-day to gain progression that will inevitably be set back by boom rates on equips. This game punishes you for playing. (This applies to casual and hardcore players alike.) The devs don't actually listen to the player base, there is little to no communication, and when there IS communication from the devs they just try and glaze over the issues without actually fixing them. If there is a bug that benefits players it will be fixed within hours, so you know they are watching, but if there are bugs that are detrimental to the players... be prepared for those bugs to be around for weeks/months before something **MIGHT** get done about it. But watch out, because if it has to do with their "dynamic RNG" rates, it will probably revert back to the bugged state with the next patch. They can't even be bothered to fix a text glitch that cropped up a while ago with accented characters, so they removed them instead. Only standard English characters on a global server, but good luck finding a name that isn't 16+ characters long because people hoard whatever names they can to sell for real currency. GMS can't even get the universal cash shop that most other servers have, so if you want any cosmetics or progression items, be prepared to spend $$$ to have them locked to one character. "Best we can do is up the item transfer events from twice a year to four times, oh and here's a couple 30 min exp coupons and a handful of frags, but use them quick because they expire in a week." Ridiculously greedy company with no regard for the player's time. If YOU value your time, don't play this game.
• Not recommended Posted August 2, 2025 on Steam 3,000+ hours on Steam, thousands more on Nexon Launcher. I’ve spent years with this game and desperately want to love it, but Nexon has pushed Maplestory into a state that feels almost unplayable unless you’re willing to open your wallet or grind 10–20 hours every week. The problem isn’t just the bugs or the silence from leadership (though both are constant). The bigger issue is that the only feedback Nexon acts on leads to “features” that actively damage player progression and enjoyment. Anything meaningful is locked behind heavy paywalls and RNG systems, turning progress into gambling instead of achievement. Last year’s GO WEST campaign was marketed as a bold new direction for Global MapleStory — a promise to break away from simply copying Korean MapleStory. In reality? We’re still getting the same KMS updates, just altered in ways that hurt the player base, while all the beneficial changes that could help the community are left out. The campaign ended up being little more than smoke and mirrors. - The game director has been silent for nearly 4 months (from the time of posting this in August 2025). - The last 3 patches were riddled with bugs, many still unaddressed. - Bugs over a year old remain in the game. - Community managers are little more than figureheads, unable to influence meaningful change and put in place to enact damage control. - Interactive servers are bleeding players, because gearing and progression have become absurdly expensive, with RNG and paywalls blocking any real sense of accomplishment.This is due to Nexon's lack of integrating Magic Wand. - When players push back, Nexon’s response is to shut off YouTube comments instead of addressing issues. Check their "Challenger's World" video recently published on their main YouTube channel. Before they turned off the comments, there were at least 30 comments with negative feedback from the community. Maplestory’s art, music, and nostalgia are still top tier — but that charm can’t cover up Nexon’s predatory design, broken promises, and deliberate neglect. Verdict: I cannot recommend Maplestory. Unless Nexon drastically changes course and starts listening in good faith, this game will continue bleeding players and goodwill. After 3,000+ hours, I can confidently say: this game is no longer for the players — it’s for the corporate shareholders and investors.