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Hero Wars (video game)

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Hero Wars
Developer(s)Nexters
Publisher(s)Nexters
Platform(s)Android, iOS, Web browser
ReleaseMarch 2016
Genre(s)Action/RPG, MMORPG

Hero Wars is a free-to-play browser/mobile role-playing video game developed and published by Nexters. It was released on social media platforms in March 2016. The Android and iOS releases were both available by the end of 2016. After a rebrand in July 2023, the Facebook/browser version of the game was renamed Hero Wars: Dominion Era, while the mobile version became Hero Wars: Alliance.

Game content

The action takes place in a world called Dominion, where heroes must face hordes of demons trying to take the land by storm. The player is tasked with assembling a team powerful enough to win the war.[1]

The game is set in a medieval world that has some sci-fi elements. Some of the characters are magic users, while others prefer science and technology.

Dominion's capital and the emperor's seat of power is Strongford. The game also takes players to other locations, such as elf and troll lands.

The character races present in Hero Wars include humans, elves, trolls, titans, drommers, demons, and the undead. Each race has its own unique skills.

Gameplay

The main aim of the game is to collect heroes using Gacha mechanics. Players don't get to choose upgrade paths for the characters. Each character starts out with certain items; other items can be obtained through leveling up. Equipment is class specific, so a tank cannot use a mage's armor or weapons, and vice versa.[1] One of the ways to upgrade a hero is through equipping them with better items to increase their stats. In total, Hero Wars has over 50 heroes.[2]

Character classes in Hero Wars

  • Tank: a warrior who fights on the front line and can withstand heavy damage
  • Support hero: helps their allies by healing and buffing them
  • Healer: heals their allies
  • Mage: casts various spells
  • Control hero: specializes in slowing down, stunning, and freezing groups of enemies
  • Marksman: specializes in ranged combat
  • Warrior: specializes in melee[3]

The player assembles a team of heroes, each with their own skill set. The team can then battle in a wide variety of PvE and PvP game modes, such as the Campaign, the Arena or Grand Arena, the Tower, the Outland, and the Expedition. There are also limited-time events.[1]

The majority of the storyline can be explored via the Campaign. As of 2023, this includes 190 missions spanning 13 chapters in Hero Wars: Alliance and 15 chapters in Hero Wars: Dominion Era. Some of the modes are available from the get-go, but most of them have to be unlocked by leveling up the hero team. Once the player reaches level 30, they unlock the ability to join guilds, cooperate with other players to receive rewards, and take part in the Guild War.[4]

In Hero Wars: Dominion Era, level 40 players get the ability to go on Adventures with two other teammates (there are 13 Adventures in total). Level 65 players get access to Asgard, a mode that pits guildmates against a boss and his minions.[5][6]

Battle mechanics

By using regular attacks, every hero accumulates energy that they can eventually spend to perform an extra-powerful strike. Every Campaign battle has 3 waves of enemies that the player needs to defeat. The battle ends when all enemies have been defeated, or when all heroes are dead.[1]

Differences between Hero Wars: Dominion Era and Hero Wars: Alliance

Hero Wars has supported both browser and mobile play since 2016, but in 2023, the versions officially separated. While maintaining the same core game mechanics, the two versions have some differences.[4]

Hero Wars: Dominion Era is the browser version. In this version, players are able to recruit pets, a feature that significantly affects the power balance in battle through the introduction of an additional character who buffs their owner. At higher levels, players unlock Adventures that have additional room for strategy—they pick and choose which battles to join and which ones would be better to avoid.[4]

On October 3, 2022, Nexters removed the game from the VK and Odnoklassniki social media platforms, posting instructions on how to transfer in-game progress to other accounts on the game's official website.[7]

Hero Wars: Alliance is the mobile version of the game. This version includes a unique game mode called City Gate—a series of battles where the player needs to solve a number puzzle to win. The hero has to have more power than their opponent. When the hero wins, the enemy's power gets added to their own. The player needs to defeat their opponents in the right order to reach and best the final boss.[8]

Statistics

As of 2023, Hero Wars: Dominion Era has had 35 million installations. Its total revenue comes to $350,000,000.[9]

As of 2023, Hero Wars: Alliance has 130 million installations. Its total revenue comes to $1,200,000,000.[9]

As of November 2023, total playtime for Hero Wars amounts to 2615 years. An average daily session takes 70 minutes. The monthly player count peaked in April 2021 at 680,000,000 users.[4]

Promotional marketing

In 2014, Nexters became the first studio whose ads showed puzzles that did not have a direct connection to the actual gameplay.[10] Public reception of this strategy was initially negative, but some elements from these ads were later incorporated into the game as mini games.[10] The company also used this marketing strategy for Hero Wars.

According to a study conducted by Nexters, 75% of users in the US and Europe find non-core-gameplay ads to be more engaging than traditional ones. Depending on the region, 35% to 46% of users attracted by such ads responded that they kept playing the game to make a final decision.[11]

In 2023, Nexters launched cinematic live-action commercials in the US, Germany, and Poland.[12]

The company is also working on hybrid casual games related to the Hero Wars universe, revealing character backstories through sequels, prequels, and spin-offs.[13]

As of December 2023, the game has several derivative works, such as a Webtoon comic and the Lost Hero animated short, which depicts the game's protagonists, Galahad and Aurora, as they battle the Archdemon.[13] [14]

Reception

The GameRanks portal rated Hero Wars a 6.5 out of 10, noting that it looks like a mobile version of League of Angels II. The reviewer named Hero Wars' free-to-play distribution model and good customer support among the game's advantages.[15] MMOSquare called Hero Wars easy to learn and noted its well-implemented PvP mechanics.[16]

Awards

In 2016, Hero Wars won VK's Best Video Game award[17] and was named The Most Epic Game by Odnoklassniki.[18]

In 2017, Odnoklassniki included Hero Wars in their Best Browser Games list.[19]

In 2018, VK awarded Hero Wars the title of The Best Game of the year.[20]

In November 2019, Hero Wars was nominated for the Users' Choice Game of 2019 award at Google Play, Russia.[21]

On March 1 and April 20, 2020, Hero Wars was the Game of the Day in the App Store, Russia.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Robbins, Marc (2018-06-12). "Hero Wars (Nexters) Beginner's Guide: Tips, Cheats & Strategies to Win Epic Battles". Level Winner. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  2. ^ "Review of Hero Wars - MMO & MMORPG Games". Mmo&Mmorpg. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  3. ^ "Hero Wars – Fantasy Battles - Beginners Guide 2023 - Playoholic". www.playoholic.com. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  4. ^ a b c d "Lubisz gry mobilne? Koniecznie sprawdź Hero Wars!". ITHardware (in Polish). 2024-01-02. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  5. ^ "Hero Wars – Fantasy Battles - Beginners Guide 2023 - Playoholic". www.playoholic.com. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  6. ^ "Asgard". herowars.zendesk.com. 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  7. ^ "Перенос аккаунта Хроники Хаоса с ВК, ОК, Мой Мир, Games Mail Ru (My Games, vkplay) на hero-wars". Хроники Хаоса (in Russian). 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  8. ^ "City Gate". herowars.zendesk.com. 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  9. ^ a b bot, Telegram (2023-11-24). "Отчет GDEV: платящих пользователей стало больше, касса Hero Wars: Alliance достигла $1,2 млрд". app2top.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  10. ^ a b Writer, Guest (2023-04-14). "Nexters on why mobile devs resort to Non-core GamePlay Ads and is it worth it". Game World Observer. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  11. ^ "Nexters / Misleading Ads Report / Mar 2023". pitch.com. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  12. ^ "Hero Wars: Take a break from your routine • Ads of the World™ | Part of The Clio Network". Ads of the World™. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  13. ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (2023-12-11). "GDEV makes a big bet on Hero Wars Universe". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  14. ^ Alliance, Hero Wars. ""Lost Hero" Animated Short | Hero Wars Alliance | Mobile RPG Game". PinQueue (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  15. ^ "Hero Wars - I Love IT". www.iloveit.net. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  16. ^ "Why Play Hero Wars?". www.mmosquare.com. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  17. ^ ""Хроники Хаоса" и Pig Bang стали лучшими играми года по версии ВКонтакте". App2Top. 27 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  18. ^ ""Если кто-то что-то безоговорочно утверждает, то, скорее всего, он просто в этом не разобрался"". VC. 2016-12-26. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  19. ^ "«Одноклассники» назвали лучшие игры 2017 года". App2Top. 29 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  20. ^ "«ВКонтакте» опубликовала десятку лучших игр платформы в 2018 году". DTF. 2018-12-26. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  21. ^ "Google Play запустил голосование «Выбор пользователей: игра 2019»". App2Top. 12 November 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  22. ^ "Хроники Хаоса — игра дня". Apple. 2020-03-01. Archived from the original on 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
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