A Game Evolution: From Arena to Journey

Disclaimer: This is my own perspective on a game that I like.

I listed gaming as one of my hobbies. I used to be a dedicated gamer when I was in college. While I couldn’t boast about any multi-days raiding events on EverQuest, I was committed enough to camp for 7-8 hours at time for rare drops. With the pressure of being an adult, I no longer am able to spend that kind of time anymore. Hence, my recent gaming genre has been turn-based or asynchronous, where one can drop in, plan, and execute some moves at any given time. My active Steam list includes Battle Tech, Jagged Alliance 3, and Civilization 6. I have also started trying out mobile games.

The mobile game I played the most until December of last year was AFK Arena. I was introduced to AFK Arena by my son, who had played this game continuously for many years since it was released. Initially, I thought it was just another niche game where players kill monster to level up and are rewarded with equipment and skin. I was surprised to see how the game gradually grows on me (my son’s assistance at the beginning definitely helped!) and how complex the game design actually is. Yet, I have not played this game again since beginning of December due to my immersion in a different game of the same developer, Lilith Games, titled AFK Journey. In this essay, I want to discuss aspects of AFK Arena that attracted me to the game, my changing perspective and interest regarding the game over time, and the new concepts of AFK Journey that help boost my interests once again.

AFK Arena

The AFK universe has both its own unique heroes with specific lores and those from other franchises (e.g. Saitama and Terrible Tornado from One Punch Man most recently). The heroes are divided into six major factions: Lightbearers, Maulers, Wilders, Graveborns, Celestials, Hypogeans, Dimensionals, and Draconis. The factions are set up to have unique faction abilities, counter system, and team bonus. To progress in the game, players fight monsters and opposition forces (could made up of other NPC heroes based on stories) and play mini games (set up as in-game events) to gain resources. More common resources then can be used to update equipments, rarer resources are used to raise heroes’ levels, and specialty resources are used to acquire more heroes. Given counter system designs and the availability of faction-specific quests, having both high level and a large number of heroes from different factions is critical to success in this game.

I started out playing this game to bond with my son. However, as I progress through the levels and acquire more heroes, I can see how one can grow to love this game. Some of the positive aspects that foster my interests include:

• Reasonable progression: The reward system of AFK Arena is well tuned to provide a reasonable developmental path for players. The types of improvements are varied: better standard equipments, better special equipments, engraving, and overall levels. As AFK Arena is free-to-play and I only paid once or twice for some special heroes that I really liked, the progression rate is acceptable as well.

• Various mini games: Small puzzles and mini games embedded within AFK Area are quite entertaining. I recalled a game similar to Candy Crush and another simple hack-and-slash variety that I spent a lot of time playing during my early stage. I was disappointed to learn that these games have not been developed for high level stages of AFK Arena.

• Events: To be honest, I did not read much into the events’ stories except considering them as special ways to acquire more resources. There are monthly events, weekly events, and special events depending on holiday seasons and/or expansion of the lores and inclusion of new cross-franchise heroes.

• Fighting graphics: Given the large number of heroes,

Interlude

AFK Journey