Vortex Gaming

The battle royale genre, where the last person standing wins, has become a major genre with the release of numerous games after the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The intuitive goal, the ease of building a large-scale multiplayer environment, the randomness, and the sense of accomplishment when overcoming it, still attract many gamers to enjoy the battle royale genre.

Is it because it's a genre that can be at least decent if made well? Blockchain developers have been consistently releasing battle royale games, and recently, the number is increasing.

Web3 game 'Grit,' released in early access by blockchain game platform Gala Games, is a battle royale game set in the American West with cowboys. It also gained attention when it was released on the Epic Games Store. In a battle royale genre where everyone starts on equal footing, we want to find out how Gala Games incorporated P2E elements and what differentiates it as a battle royale game.

Grit follows the typical rules of the battle royale genre. When you start the game, you parachute from an airship and land in the area you want. After that, you loot guns, armor, and consumables from the surroundings and survive until you become the last person standing.

If you die in the middle of the game, you are given a chance to revive in a 1:1 duel, and if you win the duel, you can rejoin the battlefield and continue the survival game. As such, if you have enjoyed battle royale games, you will feel familiar and can quickly adapt as it feels true to the basics.

The differentiating points as a battle royale game could be found in the world setting and item looting. First of all, Grit is set in the American West and depicts the bloody battles of cowboys. Of course, the characters and the equipment they use are tailored to that era, and you have to fight with classic guns such as Winchester rifles and bolt-action single-shot sniper rifles.

One of the things that felt fun by applying the Western setting was the mounted combat. Riding horses that exist all over the field and shooting enemies while galloping across the plains is more fun than I thought. At first, the way the horse is controlled was a bit unique and not easy to get used to, but if you get used to it, you can create cool scenes like in Western movies.

Weapons range from swords and axes to revolvers, shotguns, rifles, and sniper rifles, and there is a difference in performance depending on the 5 grades. Therefore, players have to wander around looking for higher-grade equipment and sometimes kill enemies to plunder their items. However, there were quite a lot of equipment scattered in the field, and I was able to find high-grade items relatively quickly, so the burden of equipment looting was not great.

The feeling of shooting a gun was better than I thought. There were quite a few types of guns, and I felt that the completeness of the classic design and sound were well implemented. On the other hand, the gun balance and operation method were a bit disappointing. The difference in recoil for each gun was so great that it was not easy to control, and when shooting in zoom mode, the view was obscured by gunpowder smoke.

Another special feature of equipment looting is the card system. Each piece of equipment has a space, clover, heart, and diamond card displayed, and a special effect is applied to the equipment according to the card. For example, if you shoot an opponent with a gun with a diamond card attached, the enemy's location will be displayed for a certain period of time.

Since each card has a different effect, the benefits you can get in battle vary depending on what type of weapon and what card is applied. As shooting games where even a small advantage can determine victory or defeat, the looting system that affects combat adds depth to survival strategies.

The biggest disappointment is that the overall quality of the game seems low. Even if the graphics are low-spec games, the character's motion and controls are not as good as I thought. There are quite a few actions that the character can do, from simply walking and running to reloading and parkour, but it feels somewhat clumsy.

Hitting enemies with a gun, which is the most important thing in shooting games, was not very good either. As mentioned earlier, it is not easy to control the recoil of the gun, the impact when hitting an enemy was insufficient, and the aim widens greatly even with the slightest movement, requiring a static play style. However, the difficulty in hitting may be due to the use of a VPN to play the global version.

However, it changes when limited to Web3. First of all, it has almost all the content and systems that you can expect from Battle Royale. Even if the quality is low, it's not enough to ruin the fun of the game. If you get used to the game, I think you can fully feel the fun of Grit.

As a Web3 game, Grit offers Gunslinger Boxes and NFT consumables as NFT loot. First of all, the Gunslinger Box is a product containing 10,000 characters. If you purchase the box, you can get one of 10,000 NFT characters, and the character has its own unique appearance and perks. You can enjoy it in the game or buy and sell it with other people. In short, you can think of it as buying and selling skins with abilities.

NFT consumables are products that include weapons, armor, health recovery, bombs, etc. that are used in the game. There are 5 grades like equipment, and they provide the same quality as items that can be obtained in the game, but the higher the grade, the more charge counts are provided. If you bring these products in advance, you can start the battle in a much more advantageous situation than other users.

In addition, various products and content are prepared, such as a battle pass that allows people who do not own NFTs to obtain in-game products, and a competitive element that allows NFT owners to compete through victory points and earn rewards.

To summarize Grit, it is a game that provides decent fun as a battle royale Web3 game. You can enjoy it for free on the Epic Games Store even if you don't buy NFTs, and you can become the ultimate winner if you use farming and strategy well in the game. And if you spend tokens to purchase NFT characters or consumables, you can get ahead of other users.

I think it's positive that they didn't think of the game and blockchain separately, but made it so that it could blend in with the game play as much as possible. However, if you really want to make money, I don't think you should play other Web3 games. Also, even for gamers who prefer the battle royale genre, there is no reason to enjoy Grit.

First of all, you have to use a VPN because it has not been officially released in Korea, and having a high ping in a shooting game means that you cannot properly enjoy the game. Even if you enjoy it while using a VPN, it doesn't provide tremendous fun or quality that differentiates it from other battle royale games.

As a result, Grit's intention and purpose itself is good, but it doesn't seem easy to enjoy in Korea. Since it is in the early stages of service, I hope that it will strengthen its internal and external aspects by adding other NFT services or content in the future.

게임파이 인벤정수형 기자
2023-06-08