The gaming industry is evolving. Valued at over $300 billion as of March 2022, the sector has gone from being an amusing pastime to a cultural spearhead that has helped shape the way that we interact with both technology and each other. The eSports sub-sector alone is expected to climb in value to $3.5 billion by 2025, and over 2.84 million people used game streaming website Twitch concurrently last year.
The rapid evolution of the industry and the growth of decentralized systems has opened the floodgates for developers, allowing them access to new implementation options, thus exceptional new experiences for gamers. One example is Game Finance (GameFi) — an evolution of traditional gaming, based on blockchain technology rather than centralized systems, and typically one that gives players financial incentives to interact with the game.
As the envelope gets pushed further with blockchain-based games, the GameFi space is rapidly growing in stature, and will invariably become the market leader, much in the way that mobile gaming rose to absolute dominance in 2016. With so much attention now being placed on GameFi titles, projects are pulling out all the stops to give players the ultimate experience from both a gaming and financial point of view.
One title, in particular, is set to overtake the competition with its own fun and unique angle — namely using modular freedom to allow its users to customize their very own NFT vehicles, then take to the wastelands to obliterate others in bloodthirsty skirmishes that make Twisted Metal look like a stroll in the park. Its name?
MetaClash: Digital Avatars of Destruction
What is MetaClash?
The game’s full name is MetaClash: Digital Avatars of Destruction, and its vehicles are the eponymous D.A.D.s that players will use to crush, skewer, blast, and ram each other into the dirt.
Being meticulously built on the lauded Unreal Engine, MetaClash will seamlessly blend exceptional graphics with a science fantasy setting to create a hyper-realistic and engaging world that players can battle — and die — in.
Each Non-Fungible Token (NFT) vehicle will have many customisable parts that players can earn or purchase from either loot boxes or a dedicated marketplace, (close to 100 by the time the game launches, and +100post-launch). All of these can be implemented into a variety of sections of the D.A.D.s themselves, including chassis, melee section (typically close-range armaments mounted on the front), main weapon, sub-weapon, and vehicle tracks (to improve mobility).
All of the various modular parts that can be added to a vehicle will fall onto a six-tier rarity scale ranging from ‘common’ to ‘mythic’, and aside from its scarcity altering the strength and efficacy of the part, will also have a drastic effect on the value of the D.A.D. if listed on the aftersales marketplace.
On top of all this, there will be cosmetic styling and color options, as well as three vehicle classes — Offensive, Defensive, and Support — which all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses and completely alter the way players interact with both the environment and other players. This litany of options add up to provide a true sense of creative and gameplay freedom that has been severely lacking in blockchain games up until this point.
Once players get into the game itself, they must work strategically either on their own (1v1) or as a team (5v5) — utilising the skills of their specific D.A.D in order to secure victory either against enemy mobs or other players, all while avoiding death from their opponents or environmental phenomena (such as nuclear bombs or deadly sandstorms). Depending on the game mode, if a player manages to win the battle they could earn multiple types of rewards such as the game’s currency, ION, or native governance token, $PCORE.
It’s not just vehicles that players get to control either; each D.A.D comes with its own avatar, which is effectively its driver and operator, and is derived from one of three warring factions: Telum, Machina, and Invictus. Who the player decides to choose will serve the larger narrative, and shape the way that the game unfolds.
And indeed it is the gameplay itself that is key to the whole project, and the team behind MetaClash aren’t holding anything back in that regard. Players can choose from a number of different game modes, including Team deathmatch, Escort the Cargo, and Faction Wars, which combined offer up a number of exciting ways to interact and earn.
Beyond the game: a Metaverse
Within the larger scope of the MetaClash ecosystem itself, individuals can be not just competitors but also land owners too, helping the creators decide on new tournaments, and earning a cut of the proceeds when the victors are declared.
As the metaverse grows, new game titles will be added and new technology such as AR and VR will be increasingly utilized — all with exceptional interoperability, providing a seamless and smooth experience based around numerous virtual events, ever-evolving entertainment and social hang-out spots. A monumental effort by anyone’s standard, but one that will be exceptional if pulled off by the right team.
Speaking of the team, it seems like the individuals behind MetaClash have all of the merits necessary to get the job done. Comprising a number of talented individuals — ranging from seasoned game designers, competitive gamers, marketing and financial experts, as well as blockchain and game development virtuosos — collectively the team have all angles covered to grow a thriving ecosystem that could potentially be engaged with by millions.
Of course to assist that scale, adoption, and acceptance of the decentralized scene needs a boost, as DeFI is often seen by the masses as too ‘complex’ for the average person to engage with. The team is aware of this too, and has endeavored to make playing and earning cryptocurrency as seamless an experience as possible, by creating easy-to-connect-to dashboards and conversion platforms that will allow players to earn tokens and swap them intuitively, drastically lowering the barrier of entry, and making it accessible for everyone — all while providing an engaging and rewarding video game experience.
The alpha version of MetaClash is due for community release in Q3 2023, and looks set to use its fun gameplay, unique modularity, and growing ecosystem to help redefine the type of game experiences that blockchain titles can deliver.
If you want to find out more about MetaClash, then you can head over to the official website or communicate with the team through the chat channels.
