Realm of War, the first Age of Sigmar video game, is out for both IOS and Android devices alike. Join us as we review the game!
Sure you could consider the new collectible card game (CCG) for Age of Sigmar a video game as well because it is also on IOS and Android, but it’s technically a physical card game as well, so this is the first pure video game.
Check out our thoughts on the AoS Conquest card game here.
One thing to note before reading this review, is that this is very much a free to play game where you are always going to have pay to win opponents. This game follows that same model as progressing takes time if you choose to not put any monies into the game, or you can pay a couple of dollars and get instant progression.
I’m reviewing this as I am interested in video games for Age of Sigmar as it gives us the first visual representation of the game. (Outside the card game). Also, I am a sucker for all things Age of Sigmar so figured I would try the game out.
Personally, I am familiar with free to play games having dabbled into them here and there over the past couple of years so I kind of knew what I was getting into.
The Gameplay:
The game is pure PVP where your goal is to kill your opponent using creatures and spells that you summon by generating “power” over time. Your main hero is static with two lanes your creatures can take. One is a little bit longer but gives you a point for summoning a powerful “Realm Monster” and leads directory to your opponent’s hero.
The other is more straight forward and leads to a tower located in front of your hero that when it is destroyed you have a wider area of summoning and get a victory point. You have a “hand” of cards that represents your heroes, units, and spells which you can play within your summoning area as soon as you have enough “power”. The battle ends when you kill your opponent’s hero or when the time limit is up, and the winner has the most victory points.
The Cards:
Cards are generated by opening “comets” which take a time (or money) to open, the better the comet the longer it takes to open. They have gems, coins, and cards inside of them that you can use to upgrade your cards, buy rare comets, or collect enough of the same card to upgrade one. Cards have a rarity that tells you how hard they are to come by, along with a card level, and a start rating.
You can upgrade the cards by spending in game currency (or real money) to level them up to make their stats better. Heroes all have an additional ability you can use one per summon which does something unique to them. You create a list of cards that you choose to bring from your pool and they are then randomly assigned to your “hand” when you start a match.
Five Things I Liked:
- It is very cool to see the visual representation of the Age of Sigmar Universe, even within these little gladiatorial arenas.
- Games are fast and often over before the time limit, letting you complete your daily quests quickly.
- There is a variety of units and spells that you can summon and having to choose a hand before battle makes it, so you need to think about how you want to fight.
- Knowing what units to summon to counter other units and when to use their special abilities makes for some skill required when fighting a battle.
- Nothing is 100% behind a paywall, so if your willing to invest the time you can unlock everything. (It’s a lot of time)
Five Things I Did Not Like:
- Rare cards are better in all aspects of the game, and there is defiantly a power creep when leveling cards up. Some cards are just must add into your deck.
- There is no campaign at all which is a bummer, you must PVP to complete all your daily quests.
- The tutorial is not helpful at all, basically, they introduce the game over three battles and then throw you to the wolves, without explaining much.
- All the arenas are the same just with a different skin, so the novelty wears off quickly and you realize all the battlefields are the same.
- You must level to new “rankings” to unlock cards, which is annoying as you lose power level on losses. Often you will be close to moving on but play against people who have dropped more money on the game then you and you get knocked back down.
The Verdict:
If you can get over the pay to win aspect, then the game is fun and fast paced. You also must like grinding (unless you pay real money) to progress, but if you are just playing it as a distraction or to kill some time it is enjoyable. Personally, I played it for about a week making sure I did my daily quests and unlocking comets, before I stopped playing and uninstalled it.
It wasn’t the pay to win part, but rather I liked other free games that I had more than that which I would rather fire up. However as far as free games go it is one of the better ones I have played, and it was enjoyable seeing some of the AoS miniatures brought to life. My verdict would then be to for sure install it and give it a go for a couple days, before sinking any money into it.
It is worth the price to see some of your favorite models brought to life on the battlefield. If once the novelty wears off and you are enjoying the game it’s a win, if not simply uninstall it and it has costed you nothing but some free time.
To be honest after writing this review I kind of have this itch to jump back in again and collect some more cards…
