World players were captivated by the realm of blockchain gaming, and it’s among the premier games in this field. The mobile RPG from Stepico Games takes you on a mind-blowing journey where you can join guilds and form powerful teams to earn rare rewards.
As an enthusiastic web3 gamer, I had the chance to experience the Canadian regional test of Guild of Guardians for quite a while. In this comprehensive review, I’ll outline my frank opinions about this play-to-earn powerhouse underlining its strong points or areas requiring improvement.
An Immersive Visual Spectacle
As soon as you enter the world of the Guild of Guardians, you are treated to a visual banquet that promises an unforgettable adventure. Mineloader, famed creators behind the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker have provided their users with visually staggering imagery achieved through smooth graphics blending, well-animated dynamics as well as breathtaking special effects.
The game levels are designed with great detail; hence every time one plays them they feel like new. Character models look particularly menacing during boss fights, which add interest to the game in general.
In addition to visuals, there is also an enchanting symphony and sound system that takes the playing experience beyond mere indulgence to new heights. A couple of bugs and performance issues arose during the regional test but these slight hitches are expected when making active progress towards full development of such games.
The Grind: A Double-Edged Sword
One thing about Guild of Guardians that didn’t sit right with me was how hard it could be at times just grinding through content within it. As someone who has been playing RPGs for years now, having spent countless hours farming for items or XP points over time, I must say that this grinder is right up there with some other games out there.
Sometimes dungeons can seem never-ending; thus boring in most cases when gone through and sometimes rewards may appear not worth it. In the Endless mode, upgrading one’s team and keeping pace with other players can take anywhere from five to ten hours a day.
While the development team has acknowledged this issue and promised to address the game’s pacing, the changes made during regional testing often intensified grinding.
It is a difficult balance to strike – anyone can make an awesome-looking game that draws players in visually but retaining their attention and making them want to actually play it is another thing entirely. Some of those in Guild of Guardians who love the project might be willing to put in such time; however, most Web2 gamers would seek easier alternatives on their respective app stores.
Optimization: The Key to Riches
This aspect of Guild of Guardians was what I loved about it because it tackled head-on one of the problems faced by numerous web3 gaming projects which is how to create a sustainable, circular economy for their tokens.
Fundamentally, Guild of Guardians is an optimization experience that allows you to collect over 40 special warriors with unique capabilities, classes, elemental affinities, allegiances and synergies. Such customization options are endless and thus allow players many choices when building their squads capable of ruling Endless Mode leaderboards.
Playing through the game offers you the chance to equip rare and limited gear from guild play and the Altar of Sacrifice, which gives additional strength to your Guardians. Making this armour requires farming for rarer ingredients, giving another level of depth.
Each Guardian can carry a unique artefact that boosts one of their abilities, and soon enough players will get relics that provide passive bonuses. And what’s more? All these items can be minted as NFTs and traded or sold among players and guildmates, making it a lively in-game economy.
The Guild of Guardians’ business model is definitely one of my main reasons for being bullish on this project. It is built in a way that would resonate with mobile RPG fans while fostering trading and cooperation; two necessary elements for a thriving Web3 ecosystem.
Missing Puzzle Piece: Player vs. Player Action
Among many other things that Guild of Guardians excels in, there was something I wish was different about it – true Player versus Player (PvP). Chris himself stated during his AMA on KaponeGaming that only PVE-based Adventure Mode & Endless Mode will be available at launch.
Do not get me wrong, these modes are obviously enjoyable but they become predictable within minutes and miss the competitive thrill against other human opponents. There’s some PvP through leaderboards but grinding mobs has nothing on beating your friends in a head-to-head battle.
Having an arena mode would alleviate the monotony of the long repetitive PvE content but more importantly, bring Guild of Guardians up to par with its competitors who all have PvP features like this.
Streamlining the Gameplay Loop
Despite having good game flow patterns to follow, there are ways in which Guild of Guardians could amp up its diversity as well as player involvement. At present, primary interactions require engaging in fights periodically while using ultimate abilities at proper times by your guardians just like AFK games do away with AFK parts yet retaining their system.
Fortunately, the development team has already confirmed plans to introduce an autocompletion feature that would spare players the agony of tapping repetitively on their screens. But it begs the question: what does it mean for a game when its players actively try to avoid playing it?
By introducing diverse gameplay modes and mechanics, both Web2 and Web3 economies will be filled with gamers constantly engaged in them. A well-rounded experience is necessary to attract and sustain a big audience needed for the game’s success in the long term.
Also Read: XDefiant Review
Final Verdict: A Promising Adventure Awaits
Guild of Guardians is a promising game with a strong economy based on trading and cooperation among players that creates a vibrant ecosystem. It also boasts amazing graphics and visuals while creating a strategic depth in terms of character customization/optimization which most RPG diehards are going to love.
The game’s entire future is predicated upon addressing grind and pacing issues as well as introducing varied gameplay modes to retain player interest. Doing dungeons over and over again for hours where there is no change between Adventure or Endless Mode can become monotonous quickly.
It is important to remember that this game, Guild of Guardians, is still in its testing stage. Some critical features like guilds, pets and minting have not been included yet.
As the game moves closer to global launch, it will be invaluable to watch how these problems evolve and how they are dealt with by the development team.
Those who seek an immersive visually spectacular Web 3 RPG experience should definitely look out for Guild of Guardians. This game could quite possibly become a shining light in the world of blockchain gaming as it has solid foundations and room for improvement; offering an adventure like no other which combines both worlds.
