Graphics are overrated. To get a game looking good enough to compete with the richest studios like IGG and Supercell takes an inordinate amount of time and money, and most developers can never get close.
They try, though, spending time that could have been devoted to game design on graphics that are generic and markedly inferior to their rivals. The app stores are clogged with the corpses of debut games that never had a chance of competing.
The developer of Lord of Chains has chosen to sidestep this trap by making a game with barely any graphics at all. Instead of designing 3D models and tinkering for weeks on end with combat animations they’ve poured absolutely everything into the gameplay.
In chains
The result is a classic text-based MMO where players do all of their playing via the most powerful tool on earth: the written word.
After choosing a race and subclass, each with its own unique profile of stats and attributes, you’ll get to attack and pillage other players’ kingdoms, defend your own kingdom against attacks, and send your spies out on covert missions.
As with every good text-based game, it’s all in the stats.
Let’s look at just one example. The accuracy stat determines how good your spies are at collecting the right information. So if they come back from a recon mission reporting that your enemy has someone at 1000 magic damage, but the spy in question has low accuracy, the true level of magic damage could be anything from 800 to 1200.
Becomes the Lord of Chains
Intelligence, meanwhile, determines how much information your spies can collect, and loyalty determines how likely they are to give you up if your enemy captures and tortures them.
These three stats go into establishing your spy rating. But, of course, your other characters have their own ratings, made up of their own different stats, which interact with each other in different ways.
And that’s just one tiny fragment of Lord of Chains. There are currencies, unit types, resources, clans, and much more to get your head around – all through the glorious medium of text.
You can play Lord of Chains on Google Play or web for free right now.
