Raid: Shadow Legends

Last updated
Raid: Shadow Legends
Raid Shadow Legends Logo.png
Developer(s) Plarium Games
Publisher(s) Plarium Games
Writer(s) Paul C. R. Monk
Composer(s) Paul C. R. Monk
Engine Unity
Platform(s) Android, iOS, iPadOS, Microsoft Windows, MacOS
ReleaseJuly 4, 2018 [1]
Genre(s) RPG, gacha [2]

Raid: Shadow Legends is a mobile role-playing game developed and published by Israeli game developer Plarium Games, a subsidiary of the gambling company Aristocrat Leisure. A port to PC was released on January 21, 2020. [3] It is best known for its aggressive sponsorships, which became a subject of an internet meme. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Contents

Gameplay

Screenshot of gameplay Raid Shadow Legends gameplay.jpg
Screenshot of gameplay

Raid: Shadow Legends is a fantasy-themed, turn-based role-playing gacha game. [4] The game's story takes place in the fictional realm of Teleria, which has been subjugated by the Dark Lord Siroth. Players take the role of an ancient Telerian warrior resurrected to defeat the Dark Lord and restore peace and harmony to the territory. Players must assemble an army for battles in settings such as castles, dungeons, deserts and temples defended by enemies and possible allies. [4] Throughout the game, players accumulate Shards, vessels containing the souls of past warriors. Shards come in four types with different properties. The game has two forms of currency: Silver, which is relatively easy to come by, and Gems, which are a lot more difficult to acquire. There is also a cost in Energy for running any of the campaign and dungeon stages. Without Energy you can't progress in the campaign. It runs out quickly, and after the first day players will have to be very careful not to waste it.

The game consists primarily of story-driven single-player campaign with twelve levels, each level made up of seven stages with four levels of difficulty. [4] The single-player campaign is interconnected with a multiplayer component, the Arena, to decide player rankings. Players can also join Clans, through which members fight a Clan Boss together, which brings advanced rewards. The games slogan is "Let's Play Together."

The game's narrative was written by Paul C. R. Monk, [4] and the game adopts a Western art style, and settings inspired by dark fantasy.

Reception

Raid: Shadow Legends has been praised for its graphics but criticized for its aggressive monetization in the form of microtransactions. Pocket Gamer commended the "sheer graphic quality", for its "beautifully rendered and animated" characters and a "generous experience for new players". [5] TheGamer heavily criticized the game, citing its lack of depth and freemium structure, describing it as "the epitome of pay to win". [6] Gamezebo praised the game for trading "the typical anime-style visuals for a more realistic, dark fantasy look", going on to write about "the truly stunning experience, with some of the finest attack animations and environmental effects we've seen in the genre so far." However, the article also criticises the game's underlying monetization, pointing out that progress is difficult, "particularly if you don’t plan on spending any actual money on the various upgrades". [7] In its review, BlueStacks also praised the visuals, saying, "The animations are simply spectacular, with the quality the likes you seldom see in these games," and concluding that "players that enjoy fantasy combat with a more realistic approach—similar to The Lord of the Rings —will likely have a very good time with Raid: Shadow Legends." [2] South African technology website htxt.africa praised the graphics, but overall found it boring with too many microtransactions. [8] Droid Gamers said it brings nothing new to the gacha RPG genre. [9]

Sponsorships and advertising

The game has received substantial attention for its aggressive advertising campaign, most notably its sponsorships of a number of YouTube, Twitch, and Vimeo content-creators, leading to it becoming an Internet meme. [10]

In February 2020, two tweets from a Plarium customer support agent on Raid's Twitter feed, claiming that Raid does not sponsor but rather "cooperates" with YouTube creators, gained online attention for its violations of FTC-rules requiring payments for endorsements to be disclosed to the public. Various creators contradicted this tweet, openly-stating that they were sponsored by Raid or have received offers from Plarium involving Raid-related sponsorship-deals. Plarium later posted a tweet clarifying that its earlier tweets were referring to tutorials and Raid-focused videos, not its marketing campaign. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Call of Cthulhu</i> (role-playing game) Tabletop horror role-playing game

Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.

<i>Gashapon</i> Vending machine toys

Gashapon (ガシャポン), also called gachapon (ガチャポン), is a trademark of Bandai. Among the variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys that originated in the 1960s, it became popular in Japan and elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Baker (game designer)</span> American writer and game designer

Keith Baker is an American game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing. In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boomzap Entertainment</span> Video game developer

Boomzap Entertainment is a casual games developer registered in Singapore with a virtual office environment. It was formed in 2005 and has released 50 games to date that are ported on various platforms. Boomzap has developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, Wii, iOS, and Android. Its games are available on games portals such as Big Fish Games, Yahoo!, WildTangent, GameHouse, Google Play, Amazon, iTunes, Steam and others.

<i>The Banner Saga: Factions</i> Tactical role-playing multiplayer video game

The Banner Saga: Factions is a free-to-play multiplayer fantasy tactical role-playing video game, developed by Stoic as a spinoff of The Banner Saga and published by Versus Evil. It was released for personal computers in 2013.

<i>The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot</i> 2015 video game

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot was a free-to-play action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The game combined castle building and dungeon crawling mechanics: each player built a castle filled with traps and monsters and then attacked other players' castles, earning gold and equipment. While the castle attacks were single player affairs, the game required the player to be online as the castles they attacked were those of other players. The game also received a mobile version in July 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Game system for tabletop role-playing game

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.

Video game monetization is a type of process that a video game publisher can use to generate revenue from a video game product. The methods of monetization may vary between games, especially when they come from different genres or platforms, but they all serve the same purpose to return money to the game developers, copyright owners, and other stakeholders. As the monetization methods continue to diversify, they also affect the game design in a way that sometimes leads to criticism.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plarium</span> Video game software company

Plarium Global Ltd. is a video game developer, publisher and subsidiary of the Australian gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure. It is known for creating mobile, desktop and browser games in various genres including MMO, RPG, action, strategy, and casual.

<i>One Piece Treasure Cruise</i> 2014 video game

One Piece Treasure Cruise is a free-to-play role-playing video game set in the One Piece universe, developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released for Android and iOS platforms. As of September 2019 the game has exceeded 100 million downloads worldwide. It features gacha game mechanics.

<i>Gacha</i> game Video game business model

A gacha game is a video game that implements the gacha mechanic. Similar to loot boxes, gacha games entice players to spend in-game currency to receive a random in-game item. Some in-game currency generally can be gained through game play, and some by purchasing it from the game publisher using real-world funds.

<i>Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery</i> Role-playing video game

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a role-playing video game developed and published by Jam City under license from Portkey Games. The game is set in the Wizarding World and based on the Harry Potter novels written by J.K. Rowling. Hogwarts Mystery follows a player character entering the fictional school of Hogwarts and is set before the events of the novels. The game released on 25 April 2018 for Android and iOS devices. Many of the actors from the Harry Potter film series provided their voices for the game.

<i>Mario Kart Tour</i> 2019 mobile game

Mario Kart Tour is a 2019 kart racing mobile game developed by Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for iOS and Android devices. The game was announced in January 2018 and was released on September 25, 2019, on Apple App Store and Google Play.

<i>Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2</i> 2018 mobile game

Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for iOS and Android. It is part of Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) series, which in turn is part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The plot follows a player-customised character who battles demons with a smartphone app. The game was presented in the 2017's Tokyo Game Show by SEGA and Atlus. It was initially released in January 2018, in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and later released worldwide. A mode similar to Pokémon Go was later added after the game's launch, showing demons in augmented reality.

<i>War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius</i> 2019 video game

War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a tactical role-playing game co-developed by Square Enix and Gumi Inc. and published by Square Enix for iOS and Android devices. It is a spin-off of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius that draws inspiration from the Final Fantasy Tactics series of games. The game was released exclusively for Japan in November 2019, and a global version was released in March 2020.

<i>Disgaea RPG</i> 2019 video game

Disgaea RPG is a spin-off title of the Disgaea series for iOS and Android devices. It is published by Nippon Ichi Software and jointly developed by Drecom and ForwardWorks. It was released in Japan on March 19, 2019. The game is free-to-play and monetized with microtransactions to obtain in-game currency; this in-game currency allows players to collect randomized characters in a gacha system.

Disney Mirrorverse is a 2022 mobile role-playing game developed and produced as a collaboration between Disney and Kabam. The game is a crossover set in a fictional universe adjacent to other Disney canon and features characters from many films and franchises re-envisioned in a new storyline. Released internationally on June 23, 2022, it was positively received by players, while critics were more ambivalent towards the game.

Torchlight: Infinite is an action role-playing game and the fourth game in the Torchlight series. It is developed and published by Chinese company XD Inc. for Android, iOS, and Windows. These versions are all cross-platform.

References

  1. ↑ "RAID: Shadow Legends - Apps on Google Play". Google Play. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 "RAID: Shadow Legends—a grittier and realistic twist to traditional gacha games". BlueStacks . 7 March 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  3. ↑ "Plarium Releases Acclaimed Collection RPG 'RAID: Shadow Legends' on PC". www.businesswire.com. 2020-01-21. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Takahashi, Dean (28 February 2019). "Plarium's Raid: Shadow Legends takes collectible RPGs into mobile". VentureBeat . Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Jordan, Jon (25 March 2019). "How does Raid: Shadow Legends engage, retain and monetise?". Pocket Gamer . Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Raid: Shadow Legends Is Absolute Trash And We're Not Afraid To Say It". TheGamer. 2020-03-04. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  7. ↑ Fox, Glen (1 March 2019). "Raid: Shadow Legends Guide – Tips, Cheats and Strategies". Gamezebo . Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  8. ↑ Lotz, Brendyn (13 August 2019). "We played Raid: Shadow Legends so you don't have to". HTXT. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  9. ↑ Mayhew, Ash (3 March 2019). "Raid: Shadow Legends Review – The gacha RPG to rule them all?". Droid Gamers. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. ↑ Roque, Jack (27 December 2019). "Plarium's Aggressive Marketing of RAID: Shadow Legends Pays Off". Gamer Empire. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Raid Shadow Legends Twitter Account Claims They Do Not Sponsor Anyone *Updated* | Gameverse". gameverse.com. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  12. ↑ Worrall, William (2020-02-28). "Raid: Shadow Legends Just Got Caught in the Stupidest Lie Imaginable". CCN.com. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.