2024 saw the continued growth and expansion of the gaming space in web3.
This post will cover some of 2024's biggest and hottest games, what they’re about, how to play and why they’re garnering so much interest, so let’s dig in!
Off The Grid
Perhaps the biggest web3 game launch of 2024 goes to the Early Access release Off The Grid. Developed by Gunzilla Games, an independent AAA game development studio with acclaimed director Neill Blomkamp [1] serving as their Chief Visionary Officer alongside several other industry veterans at the studio.
The game made headlines earlier in 2024 when it became the most popular free to play game on the Epic Game Store [2] and the most watched game on Twitch boosted by popular streamers such as timthetatman, ninja and shroud [3].
The games’ backdrop is Teardrop Island, a dystopian, cyberpunk esq future where large corporations loot and plunder for valuable resources creating a dangerous and hostile environment.
Off The Grid is a Battle Royale and Extraction third person shooter game calling itself an ‘Extraction Royale’ featuring a few unique takes on the genres to set itself apart.
Cyberlimbs - Prosthetic, technologically advanced limbs that you can augment your character with providing deep gameplay meta and customisation. Cyberlimbs can be looted from crates or even taken from fallen enemies! Limbs can be swapped and changed mid-match adding to the strategic choices available whilst in game [4].
Integrated Story Line - Promising a 60-hour narrative experience, the game will interweave PvP and PvE gameplay creating a unique campaign. Gunzilla hasn’t revealed too much about the campaign to date, we’re expecting more information this year.
Dynamic Environments and Movement - Teardrop island features a dynamic environment where weather and destructible elements change up the second to second gameplay. The environment is designed vertically which reminds me of Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 & 4 traversal which we haven’t seen for a while.
Some of the controversial news during the Early Access launch was the fact that many players didn’t know and discovered that Off The Grid was a blockchain game (the game is on Avalanche with its own subnet - GUNZ). The developers have made some smart choices in how the blockchain elements are optional, taking a back seat to the main draw of the game and have been made as invisible as possible (just the way it should be).
Players can earn $GUN tokens through various in game, daily and weekly challenges and finishing position in matches. $GUN earn rate can be increased with the OTG Pro subscription that awards you $GUN just for the purchase, unlocks the Battle Pass which has more $GUN unlock opportunities and increases your $GUN earn rate by x5 (OTG Pro subscription currently $11.99 USD).
The game features HEX loot (HEX boxes can contain cosmetics as well as modifications) that you can extract during a match at a HEXtractor. HEX loot takes time to extract, creating conflict zones with you having to defend the location and other players able to intercept and keep it for themselves. Another interesting dynamic is HEX boxes can be taken from enemies, the general location of enemies that have possession of HEX’s are shown on the mini-map adding further tension and excitement to carrying the loot…
Once extracted, HEX loot can be decoded by using $GUN tokens. The contents of your HEX can now either be equipped or traded on the marketplace. Note, you must have a Pro subscription in order to trade.
The $GUN token is yet to be listed and currently only usable in game. The developers are rolling out the economy in stages which makes a lot of sense so everything is carefully balanced.
Another pretty major first for the game was releasing on PS5. With both Xbox and Playstation having pretty tight restrictions on NFTs and web3 integration in general, it’ll be interesting to see how Off The Grid handles its console versions to ensure compliance with first party policies whilst at the same time creating a composable economy and ecosystem across all platforms.
Off The Grid recently had one of its biggest updates since the Early Access launch in October [5] and is currently available on the Epic Game Store for PC, Xbox and Playstation [6].
Pixels
Pixels is a browser based, 16-bit esq pixel-art, free to play social sandbox where players farm, craft and build their virtual lands completing various quests and tasks to earn Coin and $PIXEL.
Though not technically a 2024 release, Pixels migrated to the Ronin network in late 2023 and has quickly become one of the most popular games on the network with over 9m unique players and ~400k DAUs (Daily Active Users) in December [7].
Something that I really like about the migration is the player support, articles and help Ronin provided to make the migration as smooth as possible [8] including integration of socials, phone number and Ronin Wallet making it as easy as possible to get started. It’s not without its issues however, as following the link to create a Ronin Wallet if you log in via socials takes you to the player dashboard where new players won’t know how to proceed.
Once you’ve logged in you’re led through an in-game FTUE (First Time User Experience) teaching you the basics of your inventory, planting and growing crops. With me going through a new play through in December the game and characters are Christmas themed.
You soon get your first starter land that comes with 6 soils, 4 trees, a Mine and a starter home.
Once through the tutorial you can visit the town Terra Villa to socialise with other players, visit the various stores and locations and take part in activities.
In the town you can see and interact with other players in your vicinity and even visit their Specks of land to see how it’s grown and how they’ve customised it.
One improvement the team could make is to the crafting or cooking mechanic which can be cumbersome requiring you to wait for the activities to be completed. Similar games in the genre let these activities take place in the background letting you revisit the locations when you’re ready.
The game also introduced pets, an NFT that follows your character in game acting as a status symbol as well as providing some utility by adding more storage slots and increasing your interaction radius within the game. Pets can be earned in game from special challenges or purchased and traded on the marketplace [9].
Gameplay
What started as a farming sim is evolving into an ever expanding social MMO.
The games’ major updates are released as Chapters. Chapter 1 introduced us to the basics of the game, quests, crafting and player skills. Chapter 2, released earlier in 2024, came with some major updates with more community features and cooperative tasks and activities, mini-games, the introduction of the marketplace to buy and sell crops and crafted goods and a deeper crafting system.
Economy
The game has two main currencies: Coins which is a game bound, soft currency and $PIXEL which can be transferred to outside the game.
Complete quests and tasks, sell items in the marketplace to earn Coin and $PIXEL. I like that the marketplace is gated by their reputation system so you must have played and experienced the game a certain amount before you can trade [10].
Another way to earn $PIXEL, one that is becoming increasingly popular amongst web3 in general and games is Play to Airdrop (P2A). The idea with P2A is to earn points by completing in-game quests and earning badges, $PIXEL was airdropped based on leaderboard position at the end of the event [11].
You can also buy Farm Land to expand upon what you can do with your Speck of land [12]. There are 5,000 total Farm Lands that sold out over a year ago with an original price of 0.06 ETH [13]. Pixels Farm Land currently has a floor price of 1.19K RON which is about ~0.69 ETH [14].
The game also features a VIP Membership which has additional cosmetic and functional benefits [15].
The game used to have another currency called $BERRY that has been phased out in early 2024 [16].
Overall Pixels is a rather fun and social gaming experience that is constantly evolving with the chapter seasonal structure and expansions. There’s much to see and do in the game and with the social and community features getting deeper and more robust, Pixels will see its player retention and engagement continue to increase [17].
Illuvium
Another high profile web3 game that has seen significant hype and saw its official release on mainnet in June 2024 is Illuvium [18]. Fan anticipation has been building since its initial announce in 2021 with an active community on Discord, X and reddit.
Illuvium is an ambitious, one of a kind ‘universe of games’ that consists of four interoperable games:
Overworld
A free-to-play, open world sci-fi exploration game where you encounter and try to capture Illuviuals. It combines elements of an MMO game, Monster Hunter esq hunting and collection, survival and RPG elements of resource gathering, crafting and leveling.
Overworld features impressively lush visuals crafted with its unique setting and art direction. Built with Unreal 5 the world features vast and varied regions and biomes to discover and explore with dynamic weather events to navigate.
After the opening intro cinematic you are taken through a series of tutorials guiding you through the basics of the game from movement, shooting and traversal.
Movement is fluid and fast with the boost jump and flight sharing the same energy bar that auto regenerates providing some good verticality options.
You soon land on Sanctum Mesa where the tutorial continues. You can press 'M' to access the map, I like the highlight feature on the map that shows where you have travelled during the session.
As you progress through the tutorial you capture your first Illuvial and can go to the Arena to battle.
Each Illuvial has different abilities and is classified in one of four categories:
Fire
Earth
Air
Water
Once captured, you can fight them in the Arena to add them to your Arena team (which we’ll cover more in the Arena section).
Everything you do in the game requires energy which regenerates over time so is something you need to keep an eye on.
Economy
Whilst the game is Free to Play and you can progress without spending any money. The game features three currencies that are available in the official store called The Exchange.
Crypton - Resource required to travel between regions and stages
Solon - Required for crafting weapons, armour and upgrades
Hyperion - Required to cure shards which can then be used to capture Illuvials.
You can travel to different Stage Worlds for each region from Stage 0 to Stage 3, higher stages provide higher odds of finding valuable Illuvials and resources but cost escalating Crypton to enter. Crypton can be earned by selling items or purchased from the store. At the time of writing this article, Crypton was priced at $0.0088 per Crypton so entry into each stages is currently:
Stage 0 - Free
Stage 1 - 150 Crypton ~$1.32
Stage 2 - 300 Crypton ~$2.65
Stage 3 - 1350 Crypton ~$11.92
Stage 2 costs double the entry fee from Stage 1 but there's quite a jump in Crypton cost to enter Stage 3 which should offer considerably higher value Illuvials and loot (disclaimer, I did not purchase any Crypton during my playthrough).
Solon can be earned in game through exploration, combat or purchased in the marketplace. Solon is required in order to craft and upgrade weapons and armour and operate specific in-game items. Solons’ price in the marketplace is also currently at $0.0088 per unit.
Hyperion - This resource is required during the Illuvial capture process. Hyperion is consumed when curing shards, the process from which the Illuvial creatures are captured and added to your collection (if you have multiple Illuviuals of the same type you can fuse them for a more powerful, higher rarity Illuvial). The amount of Hyperion required increases based on the Illuvial rarity. The price of Hyperion in the marketplace too is $0.0088 per unit.
Several bundles of resources are available in the marketplace ranging from $10 - $183 with the more expensive bundles providing greater value for each unit of resource.
All three currencies detailed above are in-game, Illuvium also has the ILV token that is an ERC-20 token that can be traded outside of the game. The $ILV token can be staked to earn $sILV2 revenue distribution. Illuvium’s price hit an all time high late December 2021 and is currently hovering around the $40 mark [19] [20].
There’s so much to explore and do in Illuvium that feed the core loop of explore - gather resources - forge upgrades - capture Illuviuals. Through its expansive locations to the various stages to explore, Illuvium can keep you engaged for up to hundreds of hours.
The game isn’t without its gremlins and has seen numerous updates since launch with live service updates still happening regularly with many of the initial criticisms being addressed such as the tutorial system to some performance improvements (still needs further improvement). The game still has plenty of scope to expand on the lore throughout the universe which I hope to see in 2025 and beyond.
Arena
Arena is the second game in the Illuvium universe, a tactical auto battle arena where you can capture Illuvials (from Overworld) to add them to your team and battle other teams, either AI or other opponents in a competitive multiplayer match.
Arena mode is broken down into two types, Survival and Gauntlet.
Survival is PvE where you take on endless waves of enemies to see how far you can progress. The mode features random decks that frequently change providing a good opportunity to experience new Illuvials and deck compositions.
Gauntlet is PvP and broken out between Casual, Ranked and Leviathan:
Casual - Good for practicing and learning the mechanics of Arena or trying out new tactics. No win loss records or ranking changes to worry about but with limited rewards.
Ranked - Structured rank play where you’re matched with similar ranked players.
Leviathan - The most competitive, higher stakes and higher reward mode where you can play against other players with equally rare Illuviuals. A good entry point for those that have invested money in the marketplace and / or have played Overworld for an extended length of time.
Once you’ve selected your mode of play you build your team of Illuvials based on their affinities (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) [21] and classes (Fighter, Bulwark, Rogue, Psion and Empath) [22].
Different combinations of affinities and classes have synergies that can boost their effects so strategic team building is a key part of a winning strategy.
I like that the game has starter teams for those new to the game or that want to experiment with different Illuvials without having to capture or purchase them first.
There are also Augments and Armaments to boost your teams adding even more layers of strategy and depth to your Illuvials and Ranger who is always present during battle.
Once your deck has been built you can auto battle in your chosen mode. If playing PvE you get a chance to view your opponents deck to further strategise how to organise your playing field. For each round you have a certain amount of energy that can be used, each card / item / Illuvial costs energy so you must make your selections wisely.
Arena mode is a great addition from Overworld offering a different type of play once you’ve gathered a collection of Illuvials or if you’re looking for a change of pace with PvP competition.
Zero
The third game in the Illuvium universe is Zero, a strategic city-building resource management game.
The goal of Zero is to produce resources required in the Illuvium ecosystem that we covered in the Overworld section: Crypton, Hyperion and Solon. These can be transferred into Overworld or sold on the marketplace and converted to ETH to cash-out of the game. There are other ways to earn from Illuvium Zero which we’ll get into a little later in this section.
Zero, like the other games in the Illuvium ecosystem, can be F2P or a premium experience. In the F2P version any resources farmed stay within the Zero experience, this has drawn some criticism from players who would still like some level of interoperability with the other games.
For the premium experience, you can purchase an NFT plot of land and harvest resources which can then be transferred to the other titles or sold on the marketplace.
Land initially went on sale in 2022 selling out in a Dutch auction manner generating over $72m in revenue [24].
Lands are broken out into tiers, similar in structure to Overworld regions with higher tiers offering more resource and fuel extraction potential with an increased number of fuel sites. Floor prices of Tier 1 land are currently around 0.030 ETH ~$103.00 [25].
After you have acquired your land you can start building your Nexus (the hub for your city that acts as the base for the level of your buildings) and the various building types including extractors so you can start resources gathering.
The other objective for playing Zero is to acquire rare blueprints. Blueprints enable you to create unique assets or skins for your Ranger that you can keep in your inventory to use in Overworld or sell on the marketplace. They create another strategic and resource loop for your land that you can balance with fuel extraction to maximise the return from your land.
Economy
There are several ways to earn from Illuvium Zero:
Land appreciation with your city buildings adding value
Fuel extracted from your land
Blueprints discovered
Assets produced from Blueprints
Potential to rent your land (not officially supported yet)
If you’re a fan of city-building, resource management games and are already invested in the Illuvium ecosystem, Illuvium Zero provides another compelling piece of Illuvium experience.
Beyond
Beyond is a collectible card game that features hand drawn, visually beautiful cards where you collect, customise and compete with other players' Illuvitar collections (Illuvials meets Avatars).
The aim of the game is to have the most valuable collection possible with the greatest power score to climb up the leaderboards.
You achieve this first by purchasing D1SKs from the primary or secondary marketplace from other players, D1SKs are the equivalent of card packs from other games. D1SKs come in two types, Standard or Mega. Mega D1SKs are more expensive and guarantee you a rare Illuvitar.
Current prices for D1SK packs. D1SKs are released in Waves providing a steady stream of new content over the coming years.
Once acquired, you open and collect Illuvitars, Accessories or Backgrounds.
Each Illuvitar has six accessory slots that can be optionally filled to customise and increase its power further.
As you open more D1SKs, you acquire more Illuvitars and accessories, complete sets, trade with others and continue to upgrade and bond accessories to your Illuvitars.
Any Illuvitar you hold can be used as your PFP in your profile across the Illuvium ecosystem.
Beyond offers a deep, customisable experience that offers yet another welcomed type of play and collection to the Illuvium ecosystem [26].
Illuvium wrap-up
Web3 gaming is about transparency, building in public and releasing early and often. Illuvium exemplifies this new world, engaging with their community through thick and thin which is really commendable, especially when feedback is critical. Illuvium engages with the community primarily through Discord, post regular updates on their official website and even has an announcements panel right at the start screen for the game.
Their most recent update covers how they’re going to silo development on each game with releases focused on a single game at a time. This approach makes a lot of sense and probably a decision that should have been made sooner for higher quality and meaningful updates. It’s tricky having to support games that are already live whilst concurrently developing the next iteration(s), it takes a lot of coordination and additional development resources, time and money to achieve [27].
Illuvium is a unique experience not just in the web3 space, but gaming in general. Its lofty ambition of creating a whole new universe for players to be immersed in is something every gamer should try.
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References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neill_Blomkamp
[2] https://decrypt.co/285896/avalanche-shooter-off-the-grid-becomes-top-free-title-on-epic-games-store
[3] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/avalanche-based-off-grid-shooter-072028963.html
[4] https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/best-arms-legs-in-off-the-grid-cyberlimb-tier-lists-2937756/
[5] https://x.com/playoffthegrid/status/1866840443725434917
[6] https://gunzillagames.com/en/off-the-grid
[7] https://www.footprint.network/@Ming/Pixels-Dashboard?series_date-79426=past90days&game_name=Pixels
[8] https://support.roninchain.com/hc/en-us/articles/20253981990427-Pixels-on-Ronin-Guide
[9] https://help.pixels.xyz/en/articles/8461803-what-are-pixels-pets
[10] https://help.pixels.xyz/en/articles/8058321-reputation-limits
[11] https://x.com/pixels_online/status/1748446140469739863
[12] https://marketplace.skymavis.com/collections/pixels-farmland
[13] https://help.pixels.xyz/en/articles/6685259-nft-farms
[14] https://www.footprint.network/@StellaL/Pixels-Farm-Land-NFT-Collection-Dashboard
[15] https://help.pixels.xyz/en/articles/8058326-pixels-vip-membership
[16] https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/news/30297/pixels-phasing-out-berry-pixel-launch-binance/
[17] https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/news/36207/pixels-expands-pixel-token-utility-pixel-dungeons/
[18] https://illuvium.io/news/illuvium-official-launch-date
[19] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/illuvium/
[21] https://illuvium.fandom.com/wiki/Affinities
[22] https://illuvium.fandom.com/wiki/Classes
[23] https://illuvium.io/news/illuvium-arena-ascendantguide
[25] https://illuvidex.illuvium.io/zero/lands?_gl=1*qc82wh*_gcl_au*ODE2OTgxNTk3LjE3MzQ3MTgyMjc.
[26] https://illuvium.io/news/illuvium-beyond-a-collectible-card-game-with-endless-possibilities
[27] https://illuvium.io/news/illuvium-overworld-a-new-dawn
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About Sparsity - Sparsity is a multi-chain acceleration layer for real-time transactions. By 10x transaction speeds, Sparsity enables highly interactive decentralized applications and on-chain games to deliver a frictionless and secure user experience. Games built with Sparsity are live on major L1&L2.
Founded by technical and product experts from MIT and top-tier gaming companies, Sparsity brings decades of experience in network research and game design to push the boundaries of blockchain performance and bridge the experience gap for mass adoption.
About the author - Charnjit Bansi, a design and product leader who served at some of the worlds most prestigious web2 and web3 studios across the globe from Polygon, Yuga Labs, Mythical Games, Activision and EA. All his releases have either been critically or commercially acclaimed with all his work having sold over 180 million units (and counting!) generating over $5b in revenue.
