AFK Arena

Last updated
AFK Arena
AFK Arena cover.png
App icon
Developer(s) Lilith Games
Publisher(s) Lilith Games
Engine Cocos2d
Platform(s)
ReleaseApril 2019
Genre(s) Role-playing video game
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

AFK Arena is a free-to-play role-playing video game developed and published by Lilith Games. It was released in April 2019 for the iOS and Android. Set in the fictional world of Esperia, players collect and upgrade a variety of heroes to form a team and take part in various game modes.

Contents

Plot

Esperia consists of 49 regions. These regions continue to expand as new territories are uncovered. Throughout the realm, various towns and kingdoms are nestled within their respective regions. Currently, the land faces the looming threat of the malevolent Hypogean forces, led by Annih, the God of Death, who has breached the sealed Barred Gate.

"Dura", a mysterious figure whose origins are shrouded in secrecy, plays a central role in the game's universe. She is depicted as an enigmatic deity, revered by many inhabitants of the game's world, often associated with concepts of balance, creation, and power. Throughout the game's narrative, players uncover fragments of her history and her influence on the world.

Gameplay

AFK Arena is based around the away from keyboard gameplay, where the players continue to obtain resources and experience points, even when they are not actively playing. [1] All battles in the game unfold automatically with a selected team of five heroes based on a preset order, although the players can manually trigger the special skills. Strategical positioning on the battlefield is important, as there are combat buffs depending on hero faction, and certain heroes excel in specific positions. [2] [3]

Heroes can be upgraded and enhanced through leveling up, equipping gear and artifacts or strengthening their signature items. Each of them belong to one of the six factions (Lightbearers, Maulers, Wilders, Graveborn, Celestials and Hypogeans) and are further distinguished with a Class, Type, and Role of their own, each with its backstory, strengths, and weaknesses. New characters can be acquired through a gacha system, which requires in-game currency or microtransactions. [3]

The main storyline is divided up into increasingly more difficult chapters. Other game modes in AFK Arena include: Bounty Board (selected heroes can complete offline timed requests for rewards), King’s Tower (ascending a tower filled with increasingly difficult enemies on every floor), Arcane Labyrinth (using relics to advance) and Arena of Heroes (PvP competition against other teams for rankings and rewards). The players can also form guilds filled with other players, allowing them to collaborate on missions and participate in guild events. [3]

Reception

By June 2019, AFK Arena reached 6.6 million players. [4] The game has been downloaded more than 45 million times and has grossed almost $1 billion in all-time revenue. [5]

Related Research Articles

Guild Wars is an online role-playing game franchise developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. The games were critically well received and won many editor's choice awards, as well as awards such as "Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, as well as Best Value, Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), and Best Game. Guild Wars was noted for being the "first major MMO to adopt a business model not based on monthly subscription fees", its instanced approach to gameplay, and the quality of the graphics and play for computers with low specifications. In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold. The sequel and fourth major entry into the series, Guild Wars 2, was announced in March 2007 and released on August 28, 2012. It features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics, and continues the original Guild Wars tradition of no subscription fees. The Guild Wars series had sold 11.5 million copies by August 2015

<i>Hellgate: London</i> 2007 video game

Hellgate: London is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game originally developed by Flagship Studios, released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team led by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom had overseen the creation of the Diablo series. The original release of the game was co-published by Namco Bandai Games and Electronic Arts.

Grinding is a term used in video game culture, referring to the act of repeating an action or set of actions, including non-repetitive tasks to achieve a desired result at a level of certain difficulty, typically for an extended period of time, such as earning experience points, in-game loot and currency or to improve a character's stats. Grinding is commonly performed in MMORPGs.

<i>Guild Wars Factions</i> 2006 video game

Guild Wars Factions is a fantasy action role-playing game and the second stand-alone campaign in the Guild Wars series developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of NCSOFT corporation. It serves as both a standalone game and first expansion pack to the base game, which is referred to as Prophecies. Simply referred to as Factions, it introduces the continent of Cantha, inspired by East Asian cultures, where two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, are locked in a global persistent war. Players are able to join in this conflict, assisting their chosen faction in claiming towns on the game map.

<i>Guild Wars Nightfall</i> 2006 video game

Guild Wars Nightfall is a fantasy action role-playing game and the third stand-alone campaign in the Guild Wars series developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of NCSOFT corporation. Nightfall was released worldwide on October 27, 2006, having been in development alongside Guild Wars Factions since November 2005.

<i>Guild Wars</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Guild Wars is a multiplayer online action role-playing game developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of South Korean game publisher NCSOFT, and released in 2005. As the original installment of the Guild Wars series, its campaign was retroactively titled Prophecies to differentiate it from the content of subsequent releases. The game contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. In PvP, players may use either their co-operative characters or PvP-exclusive characters who are inherently maximum level and have account-based access to unlocked content.

<i>Guild Wars 2</i> 2012 video game by ArenaNet

Guild Wars 2 is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting Elder Dragons, colossal Lovecraftian-esque entities that have seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars (2005), a plot line that concludes in the third expansion End of Dragons (2023). The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.

<i>Rohan: Blood Feud</i> 2008 video game

Rohan: Blood Feud is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). One week of closed beta testing in America started from March 17, 2008 by publisher YNK Interactive. It ended its one week of closed beta testing. Second round of closed beta testing ran from April 3, 2008 to April 9, 2008, the open beta was launched May 28, 2008. There are other versions of Rohan Online in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and Philippines as well.

World of Warcraft, or WoW, is set in a fictional universe, its primary setting being the planet of Azeroth. The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, introduced a second planet, Outland. Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm expanded upon Azeroth and respectively added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth, and drastically changed various other continents by destroying some and unveiling new ones. The next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, added Pandaria, the southern continent previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover. Warlords of Draenor introduced the planet of Draenor, a version of Outland in a different timeline before its partial destruction. The Legion expansion took adventurers to the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea, and the damaged planet Argus, the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The seventh expansion, Battle for Azeroth, added two new island continents to the center of Azeroth: Kul Tiras and Zandalar. The latest expansion, Shadowlands, introduced the eponymous Shadowlands, a realm composed of five major zones: Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and the Maw.

<i>Prime World</i> Multiplayer online video game

Prime World was a freemium massively multiplayer online role-playing game and multiplayer online battle arena hybrid game, internally developed by Nival and available for PC and Mac with companion apps for Android and iOS platforms.

<i>Vainglory</i> (video game) Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Vainglory is a free-to-play video game with in-game purchases, developed and published by Super Evil Megacorp for iOS, Android and PC. The game is a version of the MOBA wherein two opposing teams of three or five players fight to destroy the enemy by controlling the path between the bases, which is lined by turrets and guarded by AI-controlled enemy creatures called minions. Off the path, players battle for control points that provide resources. The game was released for iOS on November 16, 2014, after being soft-launched for over half a year, with the Android version being released on July 2, 2015. A Mac and Microsoft Windows version of the game was released in July 2018. Through cross-platform play, players on all four platforms can play together simultaneously.

<i>Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes</i> 2015 video game

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is a mobile collectible RPG game. The game received a soft launch in Australia during October 2015, and was formally released on November 24, 2015.

<i>Clash Royale</i> 2016 mobile game

Clash Royale is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena. The game was released globally on March 2, 2016. Clash Royale reached $1 billion in revenue in less than a year on the market. In three years, Clash Royale made $2.5 billion in revenue according to market intelligence company Sensor Tower. It is the first spinoff of Clash of Clans.

<i>Summoners War: Sky Arena</i> 2014 strategy video game developed by Com2us

Summoners War: Sky Arena is a mobile turn-based strategy massively multiplayer online game created by South Korean game developer, Com2uS. The game was announced and released at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 12, 2014 for iOS and Android devices. Summoners War has performed successfully, with 200,000,000 downloads worldwide, and $2.100 billion in earnings. In 2020, the game had a crossover with the Street Fighter series, adding characters Ryu, Chun-Li, Ken Masters, M. Bison, and Dhalsim as monsters to the game.

<i>Arena of Valor</i> Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Arena of Valor, formerly Strike of Kings, is an international adaptation of Honor of Kings, a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch for markets outside Mainland China. As of September 2018, the game has grossed over $140 million outside China. Arena of Valor was one of the esports titles featured at the 2018 Asian Games, 2019 Southeast Asian Games, 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and 2021 SEA Games as part of the competitive sport. Arena of Valor was published in other regions by Garena, DeNA, Actoz SG, and TiMi Studio Group.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang(MLBB) is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. The game was released in 2016 and grew in popularity, most prominently in Southeast Asia.

Gameplay of <i>Hearthstone</i>

Hearthstone is a digital collectible card game released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2014, available for Microsoft Windows and macOS PCs and iOS and Android smartphones. The game is free-to-play, with players gaining in-game currency and card packs via winning matches and completing quests, while real-world money can be spent to acquire additional card packs and cosmetic items. The game has been critically well-received and financially successful, estimated in August 2017 to earn nearly US$40 million per month. As of November 2018, Blizzard has reported more than 100 million Hearthstone players. Blizzard has continued to expand the game with the addition of multiple expansions, adventures and game modes.

<i>Marvel Strike Force</i> 2018 video game

Marvel Strike Force is a turn-based role-playing mobile game by FoxNext for Android, iOS, and iPadOS platforms. The game was launched worldwide on March 28, 2018, and is primarily set in the Marvel Universe.

Free Fire is a free-to-play battle royale game developed and published by Garena for Android and iOS. It was released on 8 December 2017. It became the most downloaded mobile game globally in 2019 and has over 1 billion downloads on Google Play Store. In the first quarter of 2021 it was the highest grossing mobile game in the US. In November 2019, it surpassed $1 billion in lifetime revenue. As of 2021, Free Fire had surpassed 150 million daily active users.

<i>Coin Master</i> 2015 mobile video game

Coin Master is a casual mobile game that incorporates mechanics from village building, slot machines, and social interaction. The game was developed by Tel Aviv, Israel-based company Moon Active.

References

  1. Melani, Giorgio (2019-04-20). "AFK Arena, la recensione". Multiplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  2. Bennett, Jason (2019-11-04). "GAME ON: AFK Arena isn't asking for attention". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette . Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  3. 1 2 3 Ng Dellosa, Catherine (2022-06-29). "AFK Arena review - "Away from keyboard but here for fun"". Pocket Gamer . Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  4. Chapple, Craig (2019-06-12). "Casual RPG AFK Arena surpasses six million players as it climbs top grossing charts". Pocket Gamer . Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  5. "AFK Arena Analysis: The Road to 1 Million+ Daily Users - Udonis". Udonis Mobile Marketing Agency. 2023-12-19. Retrieved 2024-03-14.