Heroes of Mavia Game Review

Introduction

Heroes of Mavia is a newly launched blockchain game built by Skrice Studios, and is now available worldwide on the iOS and Google Play stores as of January 31st. They’ve raised money from big names like Delphi Digital, Binance Labs, as well as the streaming platform Kick. Reaching 100K downloads in its first day and over 1M downloads in total, Mavia is one of the most exciting blockchain games on the market. In this article we’ll give our review of the game as it stands, as well as discuss the broader Mavia ecosystem and the $MAVIA token launch.

Gameplay

Unlike most Web3 games, when you log in to Mavia for the first time there is no hint of any elements of blockchain meaning you can simply create an account as you would for any other game on the app store. You’re then placed right into the action, as you have to defend your base against an invading army. Once you’ve moved through the tutorial, you then have the opportunity to link your socials to your new Mavia base in order to receive Ruby, which will later on be used to buy and sell in-game NFT assets.

Mavia Starting Base, Source: Mavia Game

From there, you’re free to play the game as you’d like. The core game loop revolves around gaining resources, using those to build a better base and army, and dominating the other players by ransacking their land. For those who have played Clash of Clans, Mavia is very similar and you’ll be able to use most of the same strategies to be successful. One advantage of Mavia vs. CoC is the 3D nature of the game vs. 2D, which allows them to get much more creative with the graphics and animations.

While your base and army might start small and simple, things ramp up pretty quickly. As you progress further in the game, you unlock new units to help you defend your base or destroy the bases of others. By joining an Alliance, you can work with other players to grow your influence and reach the top of the leaderboards!

Ecosystem

There are currently 10,000 Mavia NFTs representing in-game land with three different tiers of rarity. While the intended utility for lands changed a bit from the original plan, right now they are mainly viewed as a way to earn $MAVIA. Token airdrops are the current meta in crypto and for Mavia, it is no different. In order to avoid any complications with the Apple app store, Mavia is not a purchasable in-game token; instead, it acts as a governance token for the entire Mavia ecosystem. Instead, Mavia can be earned through staking your land NFTs as well as through other competitions.

Mavia Token Price, Source: TradingView

In its current state, most of the game’s blockchain integrations are not yet live. The team is currently in process of choosing a Layer-2 to build on top of, and the full release of these features is expected to happen soon after. Keep an eye on Twitter for any announcements regarding this!

As Mavia is a game first and Web3 project second, using the blockchain integrations within the game are entirely optional. While owning land or tokens may enhance the gaming experience, it is by no means required and the game is still fun to play. For example, one of the coolest utilities of owning a land is having access to the best Clash of Clans team in the world via the discord to receive base building tips and overall strategy advice. With exciting partnerships like this and large guild communities for Web3 players to join, Mavia is off to a strong start.

The $MAVIA token was also recently launched, with supply being airdropped to NFT holders and the first 100,000 players. The token entitles holders to governance rights over Mavia, membership to the MAVIA DAO, as well as access to tournaments and competitions to win Mavia tokens. After launching at about $0.80, the price has now moved up over $7 with billions in volume traded already. There aren’t a lot of blockchain gaming tokens with games out on the iOS store, so price action should continue to be interesting as well as future listing partners. With Blockchain.com now officially listing Mavia, other large exchanges like Coinbase and Binance may be more prone to list themselves.

Verdict

As someone who poured way too many hours into Clash of Clans growing up, Mavia invokes a lot of nostalgic feelings for me. The gameplay is very similar, however Mavia differentiates enough to make it feel new and exciting with fresh characters and story lines. It is also a perfect game to integrate blockchain technology with the complex resource economy, lands/bases, and in-game assets.

Bottom line, there’s a ton of content to explore in Mavia and is truly one of the only existing Web3 games that is fun to play. With over a million downloads already, groundbreaking partnerships with the best teams in Clash of Clans, and freshly-launched token trading on some of the largest exchanges in crypto, Mavia is already cementing its position among the top blockchain games.

How do I buy $MAVIA tokens?

With the massive volume $MAVIA is doing, you may be wondering how you can trade it yourself. For US customers, it hasn’t been listed on many US-based exchanges so your best bet is to buy from a decentralized exchange (DEX) like UniSwap. However, this week Blockchain.com has listed MAVIA which means US users will be able to buy it via the wallet used by over 100 million people around the world. If you’re outside the US, you can buy MAVIA on many of the most popular exchanges including Kucoin, HTX, and Bybit.