Weekly Crypto Gaming News – Chainlink, Axie Infinity, Ethermon, Grasshopper Farm, Ubisoft, CryptoZoon, Legends of Bezogia

Crypto hello to all the 1st and 2nd players!

Read in today’s digest:

The developers of Axie Infinity are planning to upgrade the combat system.
Grasshopper Farm got a new crafting expansion for weapons.
Ubisoft-backed Nine Chronicles started the very first arena season.
Ethermon is planning to change the design of 3D battle mechanics in Decentraland.
Chainlink solutions were integrated into CryptoZoon and Legends of Bezogia.

Axie Infinity Is on the Way to Battles V2 Combat System

The creators of Axie Infinity posted the September update where they announced that development on Battles v2 (Axie Infinity: Origin) is accelerating. The upgrade should bring a lot of improvements and introduce the game to new audiences.

The gameplay is promised to be faster and more dynamic. One of the most prominent features will be a demo mode without any money injections, just for a trial. The in-game land will also be used. Crafting, harvesting resources, and building mechanics will become available there as well as an open amusement park with a lot of mini-games.

Unfortunately, the release date has not yet been announced. The first ones who test Origin will be a group of the best Axie battlers.

Flipsider:

As the release date is pending, Axie Infinity: Origin can become an object of waiting for a hoping Hachiko herd. On the other hand, it’s great that the team has plans for further developments and improvements. The GameFi industry does not stay still, so players need to be impressed.

Grasshopper Farm Released New Crafting Expansion

The team behind Grasshopper Farm are moving further with Enjin Jumpnet integration. Recently, they implemented the crafting mechanics of weapons, which can be bridged to the Mainnet via Enjin token. This means that we’ll get the possibility of using them in other games from the Enjin ecosystem if the developers support such functionality.

Grasshopper Farm is a blockchain game you can play directly in Telegram messenger. The only requirement is that it is compatible with the Enjin wallet as the game is a part of its ecosystem. The game is in the RPG/Arena genre and the main purpose is, obviously, to farm the grasshoppers: collect them, complete quests, and battle opponents.

Flipsider:

My feelings regarding the game’s visuals remains oxymoronic: it’s clunky and weird as well as eye-catching and appealing.

Ubisoft-Backed Nine Chronicles Starts Season 0 with Prize Pool and NFT Drop

Ubisoft became one of the first big gaming industry players joining the blockchain world. The French game publisher already partnered with Tezos, created a mentorship “camp” to help young blockchain developers, and even had a slight touch on Axie Infinity.

One more blockchain project they back is Nine Chronicles, a free-to-play RPG on blockchain. The project finally released the first arena season 0, which is a brand-new journey with a winning pool for the top players who successfully finish the story. The prize drop includes 896K NCG (the game’s currency) and 240 season exclusive NFTs.

Also available will be an arena mode, including P2P gaming where players can try their hands with real opponents.

Flipsider:

No great complaints about the project. The local token is not listed on any exchange. So, the only way to use it as an in-game currency. However, Smooth Love Potion (SLP) from Axie Infinity was in the same situation until the game itself became big enough. So, only time will tell, in this case.

Ethermon is Changing the Design of 3D Battle Mechanics

Ethermon is one more Pokémon-inspired project in today’s digest. It’s interesting how blockchain gaming pioneers are interested in pet/creatures/monsters collecting/breeding/battling games. On the one hand, it’s understandable. First of all, such a genre is easy to develop. Secondly, blockchain features are most suitable for the genre. On the other hand, we need diversity.

The Ethermon team released the September update as well. Moreover, they also announced a slight change in gameplay. So far, the “button smash” approach prevailed in the battle mode, which is more relatable to clickers. Thus, the developers promised to drag the gameplay into a more turn-based RPG. To clarify, this is regarding 3D battles that are taking place in Decentraland. Local 2D combat system will be untouched.

The update’s release date is the same as Axie Infinity’s: to be announced. Nevertheless, those who want to volunteer for the project can join the testers guild already.

Flipsider:

The only remark here is that developers have tried to create a new game out of the old one. While 2D RPGs exist on the website, Decentraland has to hold a fully-fledged Ethermon 3D MMORPG. These two genres require different approaches in development.

Chainlink Solutions Were Integrated Into CryptoZoon and Legends of Bezogia

While some crypto blockchain platforms take the approach “slow and steady wins the race,” Chainlink is one of the projects stepping on the toes of cutting-edge technologies. Its Price Feeds and VRF (Verifiable Random Function) solutions happened to be in the right place at the right time during the play-to-earn blockchain gaming boom.

While the first one is an advanced network of professional nodes sourcing data about market prices, the second one is a top-notch random number generator on blockchain, with support for smart contracts.

Thus, the recent updates: Price Feeds were integrated into CryptoZoon and Chainlink VRF in The Legends of Bezogia.

Cryptozoon is one more creature collecting game, similar to Pokémon or Axie Infinity. The play-to-earn elements include battles, farming, and training your ZOANs, the local monsters. Unlike the mentioned analogies, the combat mode here is not visualized at all. The outcomes of a battle are shown in text. In my humble opinion, it’s a little bit of an idle approach.

The second project partnered with Chainlink is Legends of Bezogia. This one seems even less finished. The only things we have are an NFT marketplace with a variation of the same character and ten-seconds of gameplay video. The game’s genre is announced to be MMORPG. That’s all we know so far.

Flipsider:

The visuals of both games leave much to be desired. If the CryptoZoon is already available for playing, the second project is too raw. We shall see what’s next. Maybe the integrations are only starting points.