Atlas Empires

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Use your dirigibles to take over the planet with: Atlas Empires

I bring you a blog about a geolocation game that plays like Pokemon go but with a collection of random stuff nearby and as far as I can tell there is no need to travel to places for resources as everything spawns around you. It seems some locations will give you small bonuses if you visit them but this game is very safe to play during the current times.

You pic a basic avatar for your character. There appear to be a few avatars you can unlock later using avatar coins but I never made it that far. You can not change how the avatar looks at all and it is displayed as part of your profile.

When you choose an initial place to build your base you get a screen here that shows your location. This game seems to uses the Open Streets API based on other games I've seen like this one. 

When you click on the base button you are presented with a large square area where you can start building different kinds of RTS-like buildings. You have a tower defense style area where you have to build up defenses to block other players from attacking and taking your resources. Some buildings will produce one of the 3 main currencies, gold, wood, or stone. This game has some microtransactions to buy runes that allow you to purchase rarer items. Be sure to protect your center base well because if this building is destroyed the enemy attack wins.

Each building can be upgraded using a large number of resources. Each upgrade adds hp to the building and makes it harder for your enemies to damage them. You have to be mindful of how you build up because you will unlock storage buildings for each resource, if you fill them up you can not upgrade other buildings until you get enough space for the materials needed. 

When you click on the picture of your character you will find all the hidden quests that give you runes. I have only found a few things requiring these and its stuff from the shop. You can also get a free stuff from the shop by watching optional videos.

You can click on the leaderboard button and see where you ranked. Each battle will give you more crowns and allow you to climb the leaderboard.

Here is the main game field. You build a base and as you can see I live in the middle of nowhere and stuff will randomly spawn around me all day long. This game is easy for anyone to play from home and stay safe. One last thing I need to go over and I do not have a screenshot of is the main battle troops you must find. There is a cardshop you can find or summon which allows you then to get 1 free card every 12 hours then you pay a progressing amount of gold to roll another gotcha for a new troop. If you have enough cards of a troop you can then level them up at the training grounds. 

It cost 10 gold to scout an enemy to attack. This is done globally and you do not have to leave your home at all to engage in PVP. I do not have any screenshots of the battle system. If you can clear all buildings you get 3 stars and better rewards.

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Normally I avoid PVP based games because most of them are pay to win. This game has some small elements as you can pay to instantly build everything or pay a monthly subscription to have two buildings going at the same time. Other than that, this game seems to be a bit more chill compared to other heavy PVP strategy building games.

Story:

 0 of 5 cogs.

There are some events it looks like but, nope, no really story here.

Amount of ads:

 

Optional Only

This game only has optional ads you can watch to earn a few things along the way. The game is very light in the way of ads.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I only recall seeing an ad for this game once. The ad did not show much in the gameplay department, but the screenshots on google play shown enough that it uses the same kind of system as Pokemon go and similar AR games.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The graphics remind me a lot of Torchlight. There is a subtle steampunk atmosphere to the game but no story beyond that. The graphics have a cartoony aspect to them and the design of the avatars can not really be taken too seriously. I will note here, the game claims to have Augmented Reality but there is nothing in this game that uses AR. 

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is a bit slow. You can explore around a lot and build up your base easily enough. As long as I've played this game I have yet to be attacked by a random player. There does not seem to be a revenge mechanic at all so it seems like it's easy to build up an army to take on the world. Eventually the ability to join a clan opens up as you level and I feel the game may get more complicated after that point.

Free play:

💯%

This is a surprising game that doesn't feel like it's pay to win. There seems to be generous amounts of items that spawn in the world and as long as you can walk around your neighborhood, you can easily play this game for free.

Fun factor:

😺 Surprisingly f2p.

Are you an indy programmer or game dev?

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