Blockchain, Play-To-Earn games have come a long way in the past few years. What was once just a glorified faucet/cookie-cutter gaming industry has since become much more. New games are being announced all the time with AAA graphics, compelling storylines, and innovative ways to implement blockchain technology into their game mechanics.
Today I'd like to take a look at six Play-To-Earn Blockchain Games I'm most excited about this year. All of these games have some form of "Play to Win" feature that allows you to earn money for playing. So, if your parents said you'd never make anything of yourself sitting there all day, maybe you will with some of these games. Let's get into it and let me know if you think there's anything I've missed!
1. Farsite
Farsite is a space-themed Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy (MMORTS) game. It has reportedly been in development for years by the team behind the popular game MegaCryptoPolis . It has DeFi and NFT elements and uses the cNFT model, which is essentially an NFT with ERC-20 tokens used as collateral. No official news has been announced, but Farsite will likely take place on the MATIC / Polygon network, a popular Ethereum sidechain that allows for extremely low fees and high performance.
Since Farsite is a community-owned world, players can take on a variety of jobs to earn income – jobs range from shipping to mining to management. Players can also own entire planets and receive a portion of all mined materials. The game has recently seen an increase in attention due to their lucrative referral program, but the gameplay is still 6-9 months away, with the early alpha slated for release only in Q4 2021. Either way, this game has a lot of potential, this , which reminds me the most is Eve Online - which has been around for nearly 20 years and still has a strong player base. If it achieves anything close to that, I'd love to be a part of it.
Website: https://farsite.online/
2. Lightnite
Lightnite is an online multiplayer battle royale game where each specific digital interaction between players triggers a monetary reward or punishment. Lightnite looks very similar to Fortnite in its gameplay and name, which could bode well or bad depending on people's perception here. The game reportedly has two modes, an integrated Bitcoin mode and an integrated non-Bitcoin mode. The integrated bitcoin mode allows users to collect rewards for killing players or picking up in-game items, the non-bitcoin mode has none of these features and aims to attract new players in the hope that they will turn on the bitcoin integration after understand the value.
Lightnite is built on the Bitcoin Lightning network and is now listed on the Steam Marketplace with a launch date of June 30, 2021. Developed by Satoshis.Games, this seems to be a great way to boost Crypto adoption around the world. I have a personal affinity for first/third person shooter games, so I'll be checking that out at launch.
Website: https://lightnite.io/
3. Taurion
Taurion is another space themed MMORTS built on the XAYA blockchain . Taurion has been in development for a while, but managed to secure a solid partnership with Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab – which also sponsors other notable games at blockchain like Splinterlands and Sorare . Like Farsite, Taurion boasts a fully player-driven economy, allowing players to mine, upgrade, explore, kill, ally, steal, and more.
Taking inspiration from Eve Online, Dune 2 and Huntercoin, Taurion already has a decently developed storyline. The early access alpha is out with beta testing to be released this year. My only question with this game is how it will play, they have some pictures from the early access alpha, it looks like the early access alpha would show some potential. Excited to see where this one goes.
Website: https://taurion.io/
4. Hash Rush
Hash Rush is an online Sci-Fi / Fantasy RTS game set in a galaxy far, far away. Players start on their own planet and must build colonies and mine crypto crystals. Trailers and gameplay videos I've seen show some pretty stunning graphics for this game. The gameplay seems similar to Age of Empires, but at first glance on a smaller scale and less complex. I just recently got back into Age of Empires 2 / Age of Mythology so when I saw this game I pretty quickly requested a beta key.
Hash Rush is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain with its own coin, Rush Coin, which currently doesn't have much value outside of the game. While some blockchain games require a wallet to play and have deep crypto integration, Hash Rush takes a slightly more accessible approach. No crypto or wallet is required to play the game, only ERC-20 Tokens are given as reward and ERC-721 for the collectibles. This combined with the beautiful graphics and stellar gameplay could result in Hash Rush being one of the biggest games of 2021/2022 when it is fully released.
Website: https://hashrush.com/
5. Mirandus
Mirandus is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where players can own towns, villages and local businesses. Developed by Gala Games, the same developer behind Town Star , Mirandus is also built on the Ethereum blockchain with GALA token that plays a major role in the gameplay. I'm a sucker for games like this and picked up a few small plots of land during their sale. Some of their largest pieces of land sell for $3 million+, I didn't buy my land for anywhere near that price. But for a wad of money like that, I'm sure they'll pay it back.
Mirandus is a pretty ambitious blockchain game and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Fortunately, Gala Games already has some experience in the industry, so hopefully they'll be able to handle the many obstacles that will rear their head during development.
Website: https://gala.games/
6. Ember Sword
I've talked about Ember Sword before, and that's because I love the artwork and design I've seen. Ember Sword is a sandbox MMORPG and features PvE, PvP and a vibrant economy. Players can engage in jobs such as farming or thieving, as well as creating their own buildings. They recently finished selling land, and as I said above, I'm a sucker for this type of game, so I grabbed a few cheap plots of land (which according to land perks, you should now call me Sir Absolute Unit).
Ember Sword is built on the Polygon (formerly MATIC) blockchain. Their current planned release date is 2022, but the Alpha and Beta versions should be out this year. There are no exact details, but it looks like earning will come from tokenized gear and earning in-game currency. Some of the short gameplay footage I've seen and the overall design aspect of this game looks pretty good and I can't wait to see the official game.
Website: https://embersword.com/
Final thoughts
This was really hard to do! There are a lot of new, blockchain games coming out this year and next and they look absolutely stunning. I didn't even get a chance to mention Age of Rust, Space Misfits, or Illuvium, but I didn't want to turn this article into an hour-long read. It's not even a matter of how much Blockchain gaming has grown and there's only so much more to do. Let me know if you think I missed any and thanks for reading!
I hope you liked it! Don't forget to hit that like/follow button if you want to see more.