What works and what doesn’t

I think cryptocurrencies as a whole are at a tipping point. With the recent “bull run” either pending or halted with prices below 2021 highs, the growing crypto-speculative mania of the last decade seems to have subsided. This rewards products that deliver on their promises, rather than simply making big promises.

This includes blockchain-powered gaming, which has been on the horizon since Ethereum announcementand which I’m happy to report is actually becoming a real thing. In the past, “blockchain games” have often been hasty collections designed to appeal to speculators rather than gamers. But as an embarrassingly experienced gamer who spent his childhood loading Doom from a DOS command line, I’m happy to report that blockchain games are coming out all baked: that is, many are at least as fun as games that have nothing to do with cryptocurrency.

What follows is a quick and easy round of reviews of a selection of blockchain games. Each game is judged on standard gameplay and graphics parameters. But unlike more conventional games, blockchain games should also be evaluated on their onboarding experience and tokenomics.

Onboarding is important because games are a great way to attract people with no cryptocurrency experience, and hitting them with a long list of complicated tasks before they can play is a great way to immediately lose interest. And tokenomics is important because it’s hard to do well, and the temptation for developers to be shortsighted and self-interested is strong.

Also worth noting: The reviews below are mostly based on fairly short playtime (and few, if any, of these games are deep enough to require more). The reviews are also based on current state of these games: Roadmaps and projections are all well and good, but given the financial stakes, this is a “verify, don’t trust” situation.

Note: I had also planned to review Nifty Island and My Pet Hooligan. But Nifty Island was down for maintenance when I tried to log in. While My Pet Hooligan (which is in Early Access) looks and plays great offline, it is a PVP shooter and the game’s few servers were uncooperative when I tried to play.

Hamster Fight (Mobile/Telegram)

It’s new, it’s hot, it’s incredibly effective at what it was designed to do, but Hamster Fight It’s not really “a game.” Right now, the only real “gameplay” is clicking on an item to get points, then spending those points to get more. If there is an actual “Kombat,” it’s completely opaque to me as a new player. Instead, Hamster Kombat, in which you play the CEO of a growth-oriented cryptocurrency exchange, gamifies social engagement, offering in-game “gold” for things like following and promoting the game’s X/Twitter account or recruiting friends.

The scam vibes of this pyramid scheme built on nothing are impossible to ignore, but one thing cannot be denied: it is working, bringing the “game” to enormous popularity (see Jeff Wilser’s recent feature on the growth of Hamster Kombat and other TON-based games. The little bit of gameplay is incredibly addictive (I’m clicking right now…). And in most other respects, Hamster Kombat is first rate, with a flawless interface and, most impressively, a truly effortless onboarding experience that’s integrated directly into Telegram. This takes the edge off of the scam feeling and leads one to believe that it promises that a real game will emerge from beneath this perpetual self-promotion machine.

Unfortunately, though, gameplay evolution seems to be a low priority for the developers at the moment. Hamster Kombat’s roadmap includes gameplay updates like “Squad Kombat,” but by far the most attention is on an upcoming airdrop, with a token that is promised to be integrated into the gameplay. It seems unlikely that the token will be released before something resembling an actual game, so between that and the fact that the financial prank is probably causing a lot of people to waste their lives clicking away on phones, hamsters get a “D” in tokenomics.

Pixel (web browser)

Proof that low-hanging fruit can be delightful. Pixels is a resource-gathering and building game, a bit like Farmville, but with a lot more style. The writing is also good, in its cute way, which is really impressive. There are also promised and plausible extensions into more active forms of gameplay, like dungeons, but the simple harvest-cook-sell cycle is satisfying enough on its own. There are definitely periods of downtime at the beginning of the game, but that’s what you’re signing up for: this is a game you can run in the background and check in on every now and then (I’m prepping Popberry Jam as I write this).

The graphics and overall vibe of the game are also excellent. The game is designed in a nostalgic 8-bit style, one of the apparent reasons why Pixels actually has NFT imports. You can play as your very own Pudgy Penguin or Bored Ape, and the Pixels team has some guidelines that allow any collection to submit game builds of PFP. This is unequivocally fantastic, increasing the value of the entire Web3 space and reflecting what appears to be the team’s more general deep alignment with cryptocurrency ideas and values. At the same time, there is a real downplaying of the possibility of massive growth in token prices, which is equally refreshing.

In what will become a theme, however, I was annoyed by Pixels’ onboarding process, which frankly seems to directly contradict the care and values ​​espoused elsewhere in the game. While access to Metamask was teased, it no longer works for new players, who instead must download and install a boutique wallet for Sky Mavis’ Ronin Network, an EVM chain that has its own flavor of Wrapped Ether (WETH), but otherwise appears to only manage assets on Mavis’ Ronin Network. This is an illustration of a common incentive misalignment in Web3 gaming: there are big incentives to use an attractive game to attract users to your niche network, rather than improving interoperability by using a more widespread public network. It’s a toxic dynamic that the industry should be wary of.

Gods Unchained (PC, Mac, iOS, Android)

It’s time for a horrible confession: in 2019, I decided to spend money on Gods Unchained NFT cards instead of buying a Cryptopunk. I could have retired with a Punk or two by now, but it’s illegal that someone would make fun of me for my choices. (Generally, back then, buying a Punk was just incomprehensibly complex.)

In 2019, Gods Unchained was more of a concept than a working game, so I’m happy to report that it has not only become a game, but it has become a really good game, with a blockchain use case that makes sense. It also has really solid user and trading metrics, with over 200,000 holders recently trading over $250,000 worth of NFT-based cards per day. I’ve also had great luck with matchmaking: the random queues are very short, indicating that a lot of players are online and actually playing, not just trading.

One possible criticism of Gods Unchained is that it is, in essence, a copy of Hearthstone, the CCG based on World of Warcraft. Of course, there are other digital card games with fairly similar formats and gameplay, but GU has detailed similarities, right down to the points and stats of specific (revised) cards. Honestly, though, there is nothing to be ashamed of: Hearthstone is an incredible game, and with familiar mechanics, GU is easy to pick up.

Gods Unchained also looks and plays great, though its designs and art are pretty generic. In particular, the way the game marks the rarity of cards is pretty opaque, taking away an important and fun part of the collectible card game.

That’s not to say there weren’t some drawbacks. GU becoming part of the “Immutable Passport” ecosystem adds a seemingly unnecessary layer of intermediation. Why can’t I just log in with Ethereum via Metamask, where my cards are and which the game eventually connects to anyway? Also, Immutable itself uses Google or email login instead of its own wallet, which seems convenient until you remember that this is already a completely unnecessary step. On the other hand, I was surprised at how easily I was able to reconnect to my pre-Immutable GU account.

Finally, the tokenomics of Gods Unchained don’t matter… and that’s it. Great. You earn cards and packs by playing in a way that, again, will be familiar to Hearthstone players. And there are daily quests that can earn you $GODS tokens, which I assume can be exchanged for real money in some way. But, in stark contrast to Hamster Kombat, these are nice bonuses for playing a game that’s intrinsically rewarding, not bribes for endlessly clicking on a static image.

Guardians’ Guild (iOS & Android)

Graphics and presentation: D

I’ll admit, it’s not my thing, but somehow this roguelite dungeon auto-battler with actual animation is less engaging than clicking on a still image in Hamster Kombat. “Auto-battlers” strike me as desolate artifacts of our era, games that play themselves with the goal of producing player satisfaction without any effort or skill on the player’s part. In the case of Guild of Guardians, the only gameplay seems to be to tap into some heroic special ability if you feel like it, but you’ll “win” either way. I wrote this review while the game was running for me, and I don’t think I missed much.

The game is also aesthetically poor as hell, from mediocre graphics to really bad interface and design, and overall it looks like it was created by contractors working to investor specifications rather than actual game designers. On the plus side, it was easy to log in and I didn’t get an awkward cryptocurrency sales pitch. On the other hand, I can’t imagine any human being would ever care enough about this game to connect a cryptocurrency wallet to it, and its backend tokenomics They are completely standard, with a rights allocation program that seems to favor insiders.

Rumble Racing Star (PC, Mac)

Graphics and Presentation: D

One thing I’ve noticed while doing these reviews is that many games created or supported in Asia still seem to have a token-bubble mentality. Rumble Racing Star’s homepage is a good example, starting with an immediate pop-up encouraging users to spin a wheel and win obscure crypto tokens and NFT prizes. At the same time, I haven’t been able to find Anyone meaningful description of the game token design from the first page. Where would you like usually find a white paper there is only a vague description of the gameplay.

Unfortunately, the game itself reflects this: it’s basic and, to be blunt, wonky as hell. It’s essentially a Mario Kart rip-off with lawnmowers instead of carts, but the tracks, characters, and vehicles are uninspired and, worst of all, the controls are unreliable and “squishy.” This certainly won’t be the last time we see blockchain games that don’t understand that they need to be good games first, but hopefully they are an endangered breed.

Edited by Benjamin Schiller.

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