Review: Blocklords

[Originally posted on January 18th 2024]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V_zmXMIdl0

“The most ambitious strategy game of our age.”

TLDR: 

• Good aesthetic

• Potential for world-building

• Too restrictive on customization

• Lacking strategy depth at this early stage

  
  

How to play

• Free to play on Epic Store

• Some content NFT locked

  
  

Game Loop

• Your first choice is which region of the world you want to settle

• Each region has specific benefits and central buildings

• Once you’ve picked your region you settle your farming village

• Initially, you just had a central house and some workers

• Getting your workers to gather resources is your priority

• To guide you through the process there are quests for you to complete

• These quests provide rewards

• As you complete different buildings additional teams of workers and buildings are unlocked

• Each team of workers has a specific role

• The workers then have a range of tasks they can complete in that role

• These tasks consume energy

• If your workers run out of energy they need to return to one of the houses and eat

• Collecting a variety of resources you either spend it to complete new buildings and items or you can sell it for gold to the central market

• When picking where to place your buildings you are limited to 1 or 2 spots

  
  

• Some buildings have additional options for you to choose which affects the tasks and resource output performed there

• Now and then you will also encounter events - these give you options to choose with an unknown outcome

• There may be other mechanics I hadn’t tried yet, but at the point of writing I had completed all the builders and workers and my village was running along pretty self-sufficient.

  
  

Game feel

• The graphics and animations are engaging

• Having a whole map to choose from with different regions having different bonuses gives you some early strategic choices

• After picking your zone though the choice reduce

• Each building only has 1 or 2 options with no customization or optimization possible

• Villagers all have specific roles, reducing any strategic choices

• The events are nice but rare

• Possible to get soft/hard locked if you run out of food and gold at the same time

• Some tasks took several clicks for a full process for no real added strategic choice

• Could benefit from a speed-up mechanic as the lack of options left you with nothing to do for periods

  
  

Rating

• Looks nice

• Some good interactions

• Too simplistic right now - kids paint by numbers village management

• Maybe worth a look just to appreciate the style

• Currently too shallow to recommend to a lover of the genre

• Hopefully, future development will add more depth

  
  

Web3 integration

• To access the play to earn version you need a Land NFT which is on eth

• The game’s coin ASG is also on the chain

For more information follow their Twitter to keep up to date.