Blockchain gaming is becoming a beast to reckon with. Games based on blockchain networks have been around for a while now but since the buzz of NFTs and cryptocurrency during 2020-21, the popularity of these videogames has increased. The majority of these games require the player to connect a crypto wallet, which acts initially as registration to the game, but later can use funds to buy NFTs or LAND.
We’ve put together a list of some of the best games across the blockchain networks which require little to no startup capital. Many blockchain games are still in their infancy and require alpha keys to play, the games on this list however are all fully playable and have active player bases and marketplaces.
DISCLAIMER: Some of these games do require a financial investment in order to start playing. Please be aware that the value of NFTs in these games may be subject to market value change.
Blankos Block Party
Blankos Block Party has the potential to be an enormous game; not just an enormous blockchain game, but in gaming generally. Blankos has a bit of everything – great gameplay similar to popular battle royales, bright and vibrant environments and avatars oozing charm and creativity. Some may compare the Blanko to Vinyl Funko Pops and you can see why. Each Blanko is a basic shape with unique designs overlaid. They can be cute, they can be scary, they can be combined to create something entirely new.
Each Blanko is an NFT that can be sold on the marketplace. Of course, nobody will want to buy your basic Blanko, unless it comes from their equivalent to the battle pass, so the idea of collecting duplicates to combine them and produce something fancy is appealing. You don’t have to sell any Blanko though, they’re designed to allow players to express their personalities within the game.
And the game is great fun. Combining the feel of LittleBigPlanet and Fortnite, there are shooting games and foot racing, or you can just hang out in the block and chat to other players while exploring well-crafted hubs searching for easter eggs and hidden areas. Blankos Block Party is very accessible to players of any age and aside from the ability to use NFT avatars, it barely feels like a blockchain title.
Splinterlands
Card battlers are an ideal genre for blockchain games. In reality, card collecting is a massive hobby, so it makes sense for digital cards to be equally collectable, particularly when they are NFTs. With Splinterlands, the gameplay is automatic – once you’ve constructed your deck of cards from your collection you will place them in an order to appear on a battlefield. Once combat starts the cards take turns to act – attacking, defending and casting spells – and you hope that your decisions (and cards) are stronger than your opponent.
The card illustrations are bright and colourful, creating their own style, away from other TCGs. Where Splinterlands gets really interesting is in the card combining, where you can level up your cards to create a more powerful version. This can only be done when you have duplicates of the same card, but it adds a new layer to playing.
Of course, with this being an NFT-based blockchain game, you can sell and buy cards within the game’s marketplace. This is vital to creating a good deck as the cards you receive at the start are very basic. Splinterlands supports purchases from OpenSea, Peakmonsters and monstermarket, so shopping around for the best price is often worth the effort.
Thetan Arena
It seems like some genres enter the gaming industry and never let loose their grip on players. Case in point, the MOBA genre is still big business, even so, many years after League of Legends broke out. Thetan Arena attempts to capitalise on this while using blockchain technology. Every hero is, of course, an NFT, boasting different stats and abilities.
The basic currency token, Thetan coin can be earned from using a free account and these can be used to buy blind boxes or trade heroes. The Thetan gem however brings more of your cryptocurrency features, such as evolving heroes to power them up, or staking money into the game’s future.
The basic gameplay should look familiar if you’ve ever played another MOBA; you control a hero with several abilities or power moves and must eliminate the enemies within the given area. The mix of action and tower defence works brilliantly for a blockchain game and makes a change from autobattlers. Elevating Thetan Arena above some other crypto games is the chance to play as part of a duo, while also playing on mobile platforms rather than just PC.
Mobox
Mobox combines several aspects of blockchain abilities into one overarching title. Not only is Mobox an auto battler, where you build a hero and upgrade their skills to fight others, but it’s also a yield miner. Token Master is an auto-battler you might recognise from so many other games – you build a team of three creatures, in this case, they’re a MOMO, and they fight each other earning you gold and skill points for upgrading their attacks. A MOMO can be bought and sold on the marketplace as NFTs, and you’ll need plenty to overcome challenges.
With MOMO Block Brawler, you build a hero based on traditional classes, assign them skills and abilities and send them into more auto battles. This mode doesn’t require MOMOs to start out and you can fight individual battles against other users, or trawl through dungeons looking for rare gear to improve your hero.
Away from both of these games is the mining; there’s one area where you stake $MOBX to farm for new MOMOs and there’s another that farms in-game gold and books, to improve your hero or MOMOs. The MOMOs are cute and tap into the collectable impuls
e in our brains, more so when you begin to customise them with outfits and accessories.
Gods Unchained
While Splinterlands (above) visually taps more into Hearthstone, Gods Unchained is zooming in on Magic the Gathering. It’s not just the visuals either, Gods Unchained hopes to bring a level of complexity to the TCG genre. This is far from an auto battler and requires real-time tactics, as well as loading your deck with the best cards in your collection.
Gods Unchained feels like MtG and Hearthstone had a little NFT baby. There are all the usual TCG skills like regenerating health, spending mana points to act and combining attacks to boost your offensive plans. If you’re a fan of Magic the Gathering, the transition to Gods Unchained will be a simple and enjoyable one. And while a little crypto can ease you to more wins, the game is great at rewarding you with packs to open and cards to collect without spending a fortune.
The boards, card animations and character designs are all superb and will definitely scratch an itch you didn’t know you had. If you’re looking for a tactical game to play and hopefully earn some crypto along the way, you can’t go wrong with this one.
