Vindictus is a free-to-play action-MMORPG developed by devCAT and published by Nexon. The game originally hails from Korea where it is known in Asia as Mabinogi: Heroes, and serves as a prequel to the popular Nexon MMORPG, Mabinogi. Vindictus is being developed on Valve’s Source engine and features fast paced combat, cloth physics, and the ability to weaponize objects in the environment.

Vindictus takes place in the world of Erinn, the same setting used in Mabinogi, but is placed chronologically several hundred years prior to the first game during a period of war and strife. Nexon America, Nexon’s North American division, announced the new name on March 12, 2010 at the Game Developers’ Conference in San Francisco.

In Vindictus, you’ll play as a character who belongs to a specific character class, which is currently gender-limited; for instance, the heavy melee character that uses two-handed weapons is male, while one of the game’s spellcasters is a sorceress that uses a giant scythe-like weapon. While this may sound limiting, the game will have an extensive character customization system that will let you create characters with varying skin tones, facial features, tattoos (facial, full-body, and otherwise), and scars, along with hundreds of different clothing, armor, and weapon options.

Interestingly, the game will have an ongoing armor damage system that will actually be shown on your character’s model–if you’ve been taking a pounding from a bunch of demons or skeletons, or what have you, your chain-mail suit will start to deteriorate, revealing the clothes you’re wearing underneath, and should you continue fighting, even your clothes will wear away. (Fortunately, all characters will be at least partially clothed at all times in their skivvies.) Even without apparel damage, many of Vindictus’ armor choices seem revealing enough on their own–for whatever reason, Nexon feels it’s important to push not only the game’s heavy character customization, but also the potential sex appeal of having young muscular characters wearing tight-fitting clothes.

In Vindictus, not only will you be able to whack your enemies senseless with your weapons, but you’ll also be able to grapple with them, lifting them and carrying them as living shields against oncoming attacks. You can also pummel them into environmental geometry (one portion of the demonstration showed a character pummeling a werewolf right through a stony wall that chipped away beneath the onslaught). In addition, your character can pick up environmental debris and use it as a melee or thrown weapon–pillars, small boulders, and shattered wooden trellises are all fair game. The Source engine’s physics can also be used to set up attacks, such as cutting down a rope bridge with enemies on it, or pulling loose a set of logs that’s restraining a boulder you can send crashing down on enemies below.

Vindictus’ interesting physics, high-quality graphics, and surprising violence definitely help it stand apart from other free-to-play games. It’s scheduled to launch later this year.