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Well, First of all, I have a confession to make my dear readers: I'm a fanciness lover. With that I mean I don't usually play games whose graphics and animations aren't stylish and, generally speaking, good. I love action games from Diablo III to DarkSouls... which is why, when I first saw
HeroWarz I thought "What a lame game".
Honestly.
But I'm not the kind of guy who would judge a book by its cover, so I played it. And played it. And played it.... which brings me to my second and final confession of the article: I love stories. A game can be good, but if it doesn't have an attractive story, it may lose a lot of points with me.
You may wonder what does this have anything to do with HeroWarz. Well, it doesn't. I just wanted to point it out.
...Just kidding.
There is something called Immersion, which is how games can make us forget everything else... and HeroWarz has it, in a sense:
The first thing that introduced me in this seductive dance between game and player were the illustrations. They are great, and almost are enough as to fill the lack of graphics in the game (for me at least), as you can feel each character personality, play style... by a glance. They are diverse, from different weapons to different circumstances, as everyone has its own background story that affects the main storyline (There are additional stories that you can only unlock by playing with a certain character), all in order to fit our...tastes.
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And to complete the whole pack, they even have a mini-novel, with about a hundred pages already, with some stories about the world, which is only growing. It's as if they decided to match their lack of graphics with RPG content. In a sense, us story lovers would play HeroWarz as a book.
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(
http://herowarz.koggames.com/about/)
However, if that were enough to attract players, then we'd go to a library. That's where the game itself comes in.
HeroWarz would enter the same category as Path of Exile and Diablo III: hack'n'slash. However, instead of being a big map, everything unfolds inside a small instance where a great variety of enemies, with different mechanics and things you should watch out for, will try to finish you off as you cleave your way to the instance boss. You can play solo, or in a party which can fit a maximum of four players.
Yet, be warned: HeroWarz is beginner friendly. You could say that the first 20 levels are something like a big tutorial. Even solo isn't much of a challenge... at first.
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As a little side note, those who were to want to read the story should: One, play solo or with a fellow story lover. In every instance, one of the players becomes the story leader, and not a lot of them wait for you to finish; Two, watch the notifications that appear on the lower right corner with the symbol of a megaphone, as they are interludes between missions.
Right when we start, after choosing our team name (the name which all of your characters will show) we only have one option to play: Story missions. There are 61 in total for now, and every mission is a character level( just so you don't get too scared if you see a guy being lvl 150... ) but, as we reach level 21, we unlock one of the Third world instances.
I think I wouldn't be far off if I were to say that they are considerably harder than the story ones. Why? because they can only be played solo (At least the mirror site ones), and have mechanics. For example, the first one, as the time passes, covers the map with fire that will deal damage per second to us, so it's in our interest to finish the instance as quickly as possible... but that won't be as easy, as Hera, the boss, will heal herself if not stopped, and Sudo Akira, the other simultaneous boss, will be there to prevent that from happening.
The third world does not award us with exp, but instead give us equipment, money, pantheon gemstones (A different kind of currency), and Sidekicks, being these the main purpose for which you'd enter them in the first place. Sidekicks are characters that will aid you in battle at your call, with different abilities depending on who they are and what level they are.
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(Myriad by default will heal you when called.)
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(Hera by default will deal damage and stun the boss ignoring inmunities when called.)
However, nothing of this would be fun enough if it weren't for the awesome unique mechanics every playable character has, plus the abilities the equipment give, as some can completely change how a skill works.
For now, there are six unlocked heroes: Ara, a little girl with a water gun and some amazing moves... like throwing a giant anchor over her enemies; Audrey, a female mercenary, guns blazing style which will blow you away...with gunpowder; Nagne, A male swordsman who uses a Katana and its sheath, plus some badass aerial attacks; Derrick, a brawler for definition, who uses a giant shield to drop jaws and break bones; Hades, a grim reaper that will, with the utmost delicacy, use her giant maze and chain to take your breath away; And finally, the character I played: B, for the dualsword lovers, he is a gentle guy who is aided by female villains, with blood so poisonous that is actually orange, and a curious tendency to cutting everything up.
I'll leave you some gameplay here so you understand what I mean (Don't mind the awkward dude in the background. It's his first video):
But Masterseek, what is there to do after finishing the story missions?
Such an awesome question, my dear reader! Well, first of all I should explain that there is a stat called "Depth" which measures your equipment level. After finishing the storyline, you'll have three options to improve your depth and unlock more content: Player training, similar to Diablo's rifts to those who understand. Here you'll see three familiar maps that you already played through the storyline, each of which is only accessible if you fill the bar until reaching the black portal over it. The bosses and the mobs are random, with a chance to encounter some improved mobs that do not reach a champion or boss level, but have some annoying abilities, like attract you to them and then explode. Yeah, curse the lame explosive ones.
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These instances award you with exp, loot and money, plus an improved chance for epic equipment five times a day.
Next we have the mirror sites, which by the time you finish the storyline you won't have completed. Mechanics get harder as you go up, and the final three are a bit special: the players cap goes up to two, to match the difficulty.
And then, after completing all mirror site missions, you'll be able to enter the LABYRINTH (Caps needed to express passion). The labyrinth can be pretty difficult if you don't understand your character mechanics well, as they recommend 180 depth. However, you can solo it with less... which is just saying: it depends on you guys. Basically, you'll have to face a random third world map with increased difficulty...so yeah, for those of us who thought the game was too easy, now we are earning what we deserved for our patience.
There is more content I have yet to reach, like the pantheons, which seems to be the hardest of all instances (In fact, they were nerfed because of it) where you literally have to fight a god... but hey, Didn't you want a challenge?; And Liberation which is an improved player training instance, where you'll face four random bosses along three maps, and the four at the same time at the end. As you can see, HeroWarz is full of PvE content, which I have to say, I love.
Which bring us to the prime question: Is this all there is to it?
Well, let's start by saying that the game is in open beta. A very open, very beta phase. In fact, when I played, the cash shop wasn't even implemented and by the time you read this, it may yet to be. But don't let that stop you, as there is a lot to be released: new characters, new missions... and a PvP mode, similar to MOBAS like Heroes or league.
My conclusion?
Well, I'd give HeroWarz, as of today, a 7.2/10 note.
I like fancyness, I like good graphics, I like good stories. And while HeroWarz may lack one of them, I enjoyed my time playing it. What's more, I even found myself forgetting important issues while dashing and slicing with B (Who seems to be a little broken, in more than one way.) "Oh damn, I was supposed to take screenshots and record this mission... well, whatever, I'll do it in the next one"... It took me about four times to actually remember it.
Do you like action games? Do you like stories? Do you like fancy protagonist? Would you like something casual? Then you should totally try it. You may not stick around, but I'm sure you'll enjoy your time there... as HeroWarz is the fresh air between the old games and the new ones.
(
(Myriad by default will heal you when called.)
(Hera by default will deal damage and stun the boss ignoring inmunities when called.)
to get a completely different set of six Pokémon to use in battle.
