New Trends in Fully On-Chain Games: 5 Notable Games to Watch in January
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New Trends in Fully On-Chain Games: 5 Notable Games to Watch in January
This article introduces five blockchain games worth watching in January 2024.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: WASD
Translation: TechFlow
This article introduces five on-chain games worth watching in January 2024. The author, WASD, shares not only basic information about each game but also their latest developments and upcoming events. These include Sky Strife, Dark Forest Arena, Tarochi, Force Prime Heroes, and Aether Sands—showcasing the vibrancy and diversity of the on-chain gaming space.
January will be a significant month for on-chain gaming, with a wave of new product launches, updates, events, and game tests rolling out over the next 30 days.
In this piece, I’ll preview what’s coming by highlighting five games I’m most excited about. Let’s dive in!
Sky Strife
Overview
Sky Strife is a turn-based real-time strategy (RTS) game built by Lattice using the MUD framework.
In Sky Strife, you can participate in 2- to 4-player PvP matches where the objective is to destroy opponents’ bases while defending your own.
Upcoming Developments
Sky Strife is launching its next persistent game test (Season 0.1), running from January 8 to January 30 on the Redstone Holesky testnet.
While detailed structure for this season hasn't been officially released, it's likely similar to previous ones—Lattice will probably host multiple free-to-play matches daily during this period.
One thing we do know for sure: players participating in these matches will earn Orbs.
Orbs are ERC-20 tokens distributed as match rewards and can be used to create private games between public matches.
Additionally, users will be able to mint a new Season Pass NFT, granting access to exclusive matches, maps, and the ability to launch whitelisted games.
I had a lot of fun playing Sky Strife during Season 0, so I’m already counting down the days until Season 0.1 begins.
Dark Forest Arena
Overview
Dark Forest Arena is a community event hosted by dfDAO on the Gnosis chain for the game Dark Forest.
Dark Forest is an MMO where players compete for control of a zk-SNARK-obscured galaxy by conquering planets, scoring points, and climbing leaderboards.
Project Update
The latest competition launched in Dark Forest is the "speed round," where players aim to capture target planets in the shortest possible time.
The event started on December 31 and will last two weeks, with prizes awarded to those achieving the fastest capture times.
I think this is a great way to re-engage users with Dark Forest and showcase the game to newcomers like me who weren’t around during its peak.
I haven’t seriously tried the game yet, and while I almost certainly won’t win, I’m still eager to jump into the arena—literally.
Tarochi
Overview
Tarochi is an on-chain RPG developed by Paima Studios using the Paima Engine on XAI.
The game draws similarities to Pokémon, allowing players to explore, complete quests, battle, and capture monsters.
Project Update
Paima plans to run a test for the latest version of the game (Season 1) in January.
Access will be granted to members of their Discord server, so if you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Season 1 will introduce several new features, including PvP combat (currently PvE-only) and a tradable in-game gold currency.
Additionally, players will be able to trade their game state.
Overall, I’m very excited for Season 1 and eager to try out these new mechanics.
I believe introducing PvP will make battles more engaging, and I'm curious to see how the player-state trading market evolves.
Force Prime Heroes
Overview
Force Prime Heroes is a fantasy game built by Force Prime using Dojo and Unity.
Heroes was created during the recent Dojo Holiday Game Jam hackathon and is set in a land called Arcanus, where players must defeat a creature known as "The Bone Dragon."
To achieve this, they’ll collect chests and engage in PvE combat by deploying five different types of units.
Project Update
Although the client is currently downloadable and playable on Windows, Force Prime Heroes plans to release a web version soon.
The team will also host a tournament later this month, where players can compete for prizes and influence.
I’m not a Windows user, so I haven’t had a chance to try Heroes yet.
Nevertheless, I’m excited about the upcoming web release and the tournament, and I’m looking forward to my first hands-on experience with the game.
Aether Sands
Overview
Aether Sands is an open-world game developed by k0 Labs using MUD.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the game challenges you to rebuild civilization by planting and protecting a sacred tree known as the Temple Tree.
You accomplish this by extracting and managing resources like water, using machines called Harvesters.
Project Update
Aether Sands held its first public test last month and will begin its second test in mid-January.
While the first public test lasted about 24 hours, few details have been shared about it.
But based on what I know of the game, I’m really looking forward to trying Aether Sands.
It reminds me of Primodium, and open-world games are one of my favorite genres—even outside of blockchain gaming.
A Great Start to a New Year
As you can see, January promises to be an exciting and dynamic month for us on-chain gamers.
New versions of Sky Strife, Tarochi, Force Prime Heroes, and Aether Sands are launching, while Dark Forest Arena is already live and playable!
Over the coming weeks, even more product releases are expected. This pace of innovation isn't just exciting—it's a strong bullish signal for the future of the space.
In short, 2024 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for on-chain gaming.
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