On my first foray into the 'free-to-play' section of Steam, one title caught my eye - Clicker Heroes. From the title I assumed that this was a generic click-fest ARPG, but indeed the game was altogether more compelling and original than that. I was surprised to find a game with a mechanic similar to the mini-game implemented into the 2015 Steam Monster Sale; a mini-game which I found rather enjoyable - despite the unmanageable amount of lag and single-minded game-play. But could this formula generate enough interest in itself? The mini-game after-all was something you invested 5 minutes a day in when passing by the market-place, but never for a minute would I have thought about sitting there for a couple of hours mindlessly clicking away.
Clicker Heroes: Game-play.
The single aim of Clicker Heroes is level progression. Each level has 10 monsters to kill and every 5th level houses a boss, which must be killed within a 30 seconds time-limit. A simple mechanic with an even simpler game-play.
Your weapons of choice are the various heroes which you can acquire by spending gold, which is dropped from monsters are rewarded in quests. You can also choose to invest gold into leveling up your current heroes rather than waiting to but a new one.
As you level your heroes they will gain access to additional stat-buffs or abilities - but at a certain point these will dry up (around level 75-150). Don't be put off however, as even the lowliest hero can pack quiet a punch later in the game, as they gain x4 damage multipliers every 25 levels & x10 damage on level 1,000.
Contrary to what the title may have you believe, there isn't an overly huge amount of clicking going on in this game, in-fact only the first hero you acquire directly contributes towards your click damage. The 'auto-attack' heroes will deal most of the damage for you, outside of the boss fights that is, & generally I held off from the clicking until I had an appropriate ability engaged.
Your heroes never rest & they continue to farm gold or level progress even when the game is shut-down; most your progress will occur while you are AFK.
I realised quite quickly that essentially all I was doing was investing time to help the game defeat itself, the decisions and actions you take have little input into the direction the game takes. Indeed, the only real decision you'll be faced with, is deciding on when the right time to 'ascend' is. Ascension, is an ability unlocked by one of your heroes, which basically restarts the game - any hero souls you amassed in the previous play-through adds 10% onto your DPS, so the level-grinding is less severe.
1 Hero Soul is obtained for every 2000 levels invested into your heroes Alternatively they can be obtained by defeating primal bosses, which are found after level 100, or from mercenary missions - another wait for reward dynamic to the game. While at first reverting to level 1 may seem like too much of a grind, the added damage really adds up and you can breeze past the first 100 levels with ease after a small handful of Ascensions.
One further aspect which can help make the grind easier is by ways of achievements, each unlocked achievement adds increased DPS, gold gain or some other minor-boost. I suppose achievement hunting could be the hook for most people and with this added bonus, it could very well be enough bait to keep people on board.
Free to Play or Pay to Win?
Like all F2P games there are micro-transactions. Players can purchase rubies which can be used to invest in gilded heroes (buffed up versions of unlocked heroes) or other upgrades. Is this pay to win? While the method may not be quiet as neutral as cosmetic upgrades, there are a couple of reasons which bring me to the conclusion, that no this not pay to win.
Firstly the game is single player, so you by paying for these rubies you are not getting an unfair advantage over a human opponent.
Also as the game essentially plays itself, you are merely speeding up an inevitable process rather than breaking-through a barrier which may prove difficult to circumvent otherwise.
As you level your heroes they will gain access to additional stat-buffs or abilities - but at a certain point these will dry up (around level 75-150). Don't be put off however, as even the lowliest hero can pack quiet a punch later in the game, as they gain x4 damage multipliers every 25 levels & x10 damage on level 1,000.
I realised quite quickly that essentially all I was doing was investing time to help the game defeat itself, the decisions and actions you take have little input into the direction the game takes. Indeed, the only real decision you'll be faced with, is deciding on when the right time to 'ascend' is. Ascension, is an ability unlocked by one of your heroes, which basically restarts the game - any hero souls you amassed in the previous play-through adds 10% onto your DPS, so the level-grinding is less severe.
1 Hero Soul is obtained for every 2000 levels invested into your heroes Alternatively they can be obtained by defeating primal bosses, which are found after level 100, or from mercenary missions - another wait for reward dynamic to the game. While at first reverting to level 1 may seem like too much of a grind, the added damage really adds up and you can breeze past the first 100 levels with ease after a small handful of Ascensions.
Clicker Heroes: Verdict.
The repetitive circle of Clicker Heroes may seem less of a grind the more you progress, but this title acts as nothing more than a game you check-in to for 5 minutes; it certainly isn't a game that will keep you up until the wee hours of the morn - perhaps that is the beauty of Clicker Heroes; it may as well be called "AFK Heroes" or "Checker Heroes", as your contribution is not always needed in order for you to progress. However, for me this makes the title somewhat pointless and I don't consider a title which lacks any required skill or effort on the players part as a game.
3.5/10 - Perpetual idling - Don't wear out your index-finger with this one. But if you must, you can check it out on Steam here.
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