Because of my regular commute by train, mobile games have become more and more my way of passing the time. The latest game that has my attention is Heroic: Magic Duel, the latest game from Serbian developer, Nordeus. I don’t have much experience with the Arena/Lane Strategy genre but this one definitely has me hooked.
This gives off the feeling of combining Plants vs. Zombies with Hearthstone. You have minion cards of various values which you place on the board in the hopes they make it across the board to attack and ultimately destroy your enemy’s gate before your opponent attempts to do the same.
While it’s super easy to grasp, the customization and upgrading of your units is where the action really gets you. According to the in-game database, there are over 50 cards that you can use in your block. With your deck holding 12 cards, you can really go to town with customization.
Because of that and the fact that as you progress you unlock heroes, who grant special abilities while in battle, the kinds of players you face off against can vary greatly from match to match.
Content such as additional Heroes, Cards, and Arenas are gradually unlocked as you win battles. Win a battle and gain as much as 30 points (if your match goes into overtime you only get 15 points). Meanwhile, losing battles costs you points (more points are lost the higher you are in the standings, currently I’m losing 27 points if I lose).
Yes, like most mobile games, this one has its fair share of stamina mechanics that control the pace of play. For every win, you receive a reward chest. However, each chest takes anywhere from 3-12 hours to unlock. As you can only hold four reward chests, if you decide to keep playing, you miss out on the more.
Of course, you can pay to unlock the chest faster, but even for the lowest priced chest, it’s not cheap to do this multiple times.
Having played this for a few weeks now, there has only been one PvE opportunity, which ran over a weekend. It was fine and it also encouraged joining and playing with a Guild, the lack of regular content like this each week is tough. Even if the cadence of PvE content is only once every two weeks, it’s something that would keep people coming back.
I have strong hopes that Heroic Magic Duel will be successful for Nordeus in a very competitive landscape. The battles are fun and the customization offers a lot of depth. For anyone looking for a fun mobile game to play in short bursts, you really can’t go wrong.