Legends of Elysium: An Intriguing New Entry in the Web3 Game Space
As a voluntary bug chaser in the Alpha release of this fusion card and hex-board game, I don’t get many human opponents. At this early stage there may be only a few hundred of us so I spend most of my time playing against bots. But this afternoon I get lucky and am matched against someone who has beat me before, in other words, my nemesis.
Early on I decide to concentrate on building territory by laying down hex land tiles in an initial thrust to approach his hero. This leaves me vulnerable to his flurry of low-mana minions which soon are closing in a ring around my hero. They start picking away at him seeking the death of a thousand cuts.
I have placed land right next to his hero, but now I am so busy fending off attacks on my own hero that I can’t take advantage of his vulnerability. He seems to manage to position three attackers for every one of my defenders and my hero, though valiant, is dying a slow death.
My heart is racing as I watch my mana charge slowly build up to the point I can place my one behemoth on the board while my hero is slowly and steadily bleeding out. Finally, I have a chance. My hero is tottering, but I position my behemoth for a swift death blow against his hero from the tile I laid down early in the game. It’s his turn now. Can I survive another turn to deliver the coup de grace? I’m sweating now, and my heart is racing.
It’s my turn again with my hero still barely hanging on. But it is enough. I deliver the deathblow and win the game! For the last few minutes, I have been existing in a perfect state of “flow” defined in the American Psychological Association’s dictionary as “a state of optimal experience arising from intense involvement in an activity that is enjoyable.”
First person shooters provide intensity and the application of skill, while role playing games conjure imagination and cooperation. Legends of Elysium has found a perfect balance of the application of strategic and tactical thinking on a game board with the planning, preparation and unpredictability of selecting a deck of cards any of which may or may not appear when you need them most. The pace is leisurely but intense concentration is needed at every stage.
Most games can be finished in from 5 to 15 minutes, providing the perfect break from other tasks on your PC or Mac. This game is free-to-play, but card ownership is an important factor with sophisticated economics. With its many moving parts, I suspect skill and mastery will trump deep pockets most of the time.
Legends of Elysium is in open Alpha and is well worth jumping into right now if you want to playtest. The public Beta should come in the late summer or fall.