For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Fortress Saga: AFK RPG on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game from CookAppsGames is also out on #Android.
Fortress Saga: AFK RPG has risen to the top of the gaming charts on #iOS so i was keen to see what it was about the game that was so popular. i cam away from this hour with the game very impressed with it. the team at CookAppsGames have created a highly accessible game, one with a great soundtrack, and even managed to combine the tutorial into building how the world works. Fortress Saga: AFK RPG also makes smart use of the phone's screen, making sure to not only avoid the dynamic island but also the curves at each of the four edges.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Tailed Demon Slayer: RISE on my iPhone 14 Pro. This game from CookApps is also out on Android. i haven't played the original Tailed Demon Slayer so this was my first time playing in this game world.
The start of this game is great but also a little weird. It's great because it does a good job of telling a story, putting the game and the game world into context. it's simple approach to world building is effective. so much so that i was waiting for more all throughout this video. and that's the weird thing about this game, so much effort is put into creating context, telling a story, and then the game does nothing else with it. Early on, i was always expecting the game to slow, or even stop, to tell more about the story. but once i realised that it wasn't going to, i was a bit disappointed.
That's kinda true for other aspects of the game. there are times when so much effort has clearly been spent on something and then it stops. the tutorial is a good example of this. the start of the game does a good job slowly introducing the game right up until it stops doing that and as this video goes on i found myself asking more questions. For those who have watched my Mobile Friday videos, you'll know that i appreciate games that slowly introduce themselves even if it means stopping players from accessing parts of the game. and whilst this game did a good job of that, i was able to get clothes and equip them long before the game's clothes tutorial. there's also an instance later of the game starting a tutorial, then showing an advert for said item in the store, then finishing the tutorial. putting an advert half way through the tutorial made no sense.
Ultimately, this aren't huge complaints. they only stick out because of how well the rest of the game is designed. This is one of the better autobattler RPGs i have ever played. having a good start of the story helps, as does a good tutorial, but one of the smartest things the developers did was trying to hide the grind. it took around 45-50 minutes before the grind became noticeable and i applaud all the clever ways they designed the game to try and hide the grind. There is the main "story" battle, then there are dungeons, there's also improving the stats of your character, there's summoning equipment, and then improving your current equipment. there are also quests to aim for, and when you do you can collect the earned items. But if you want more rewards, you can watch adverts. you can also earn things from the Battle Pass, Season Pass, 7 day missions, Quests, Album, and the Advance System. all the while, the game is still progressing, you're still earning money and experience. Essentially, the game is grinding in the background but it's hidden by everything else there is to do in the game.
It was a little much at the start, but once i realized what was happening and that there's no rush to do things it did become easier. For example, the Repeat Quest keeps track of your progress. so if you've completed a quest a few times, you'll still get the correct amount of reward. By the end of this video, i still had a lot left to unlock so there could be other ways the developers have tried to hide the grind.
The core gameplay is good, the graphics are good, the music is good, and the tutorials are good. there is a lot to like in this game. it also doesn't force adverts upon us, nor where there any additional downloads before we could start playing. Oh, the music is also good too. there's soo much to like about this game that it's easy for me to recommend this game to fans of the genre, to those curious, and to those looking for a new game to play.
