Chain Warriors is a browser-based click-and-battle-styled RPG developed by Destiny.Games and published on the blockchain-enabled platform The Abyss.

The mechanics of the game are such that players are able to collect sets of equipment from events – mostly battles – that pop up across the maps as they level. Certain items in the game, particularly extreme rarity items, can be exchanged through a blockchain-based trading marketplace powered by Waves.

In its own marketing materials, Chain Warriors is described as an MMORPG – it is not. As an RPG it has some multiplayer aspects in that players can attack one another in a sort of asynchronous PVP mode, but there is no direct interaction between players.

The story and gameplay of Chain Warriors is not very compelling and its design is reminiscent of most clicker-heroes styled browser-based games. It may work as a distraction for extremely casual gamers with a progression system that allows for a reasonable pace of leveling, but most players will probably participate because of the chances that they can unlock and sell a powerful item.

Story, gameplay and graphics

People are not going to play Chain Warriors for the story.

Essentially, all the story is told in presentation materials and partially in the tutorial upon starting. According to the game, the royal army recently evicted a horde of monsters from a new region of the world and are working to industrialize and cultivate the land. That’s where the player comes in.

It will be your job to fight monsters, assist bureaucrats and fund infrastructure – this includes things such as a mine that makes gold over time; a workshop for selling items, improving armor and packaging items into cryptographic tokens; and opening a tavern that allows you to top off your energy.

Like many browser-based games, Chain Warriors has an energy mechanic, which is a resource the replenishes over time. Every battle costs energy, this limits the amount of time that a player can fight monsters – without visiting the tavern to top off or pay for a consumable that will give them more playing time.

As players level up, from first level to level 90, it will open up more regions of the map and with them more infrastructure buildings and stronger events.

Most of the gameplay is taken in events. Three events appear in the world at a time (in the beginning) which can be a monster to fight – which will reward the player with a piece of equipment of varying rarity at their level – blacksmiths who can upgrade (or weaken) a piece of equipment, a which who sells a potion effect at a lowered cost, and meditation shrines that provide a boost for a period of time.

Battles are fought automatically in a turn-based fashion where the player’s character and a monster exchange blows. The player doesn’t even need to watch the battle get fought, they can be skipped and it can be toggled so that they are resolved instantly.

Equipment can be sold to a vendor at the workshop for gold, the in-game freemium currency, which is used to upgrade infrastructure such as the mine, workshop and tavern.

Consumable potions and some equipment can be bought from the in-game shop for gems, which is the premium currency. Gems can also be exchanged for more gold. Gems are sold at a rate of $0.99 for 10 with one loyalty token (allows an event to be dismissed). Bulk purchases of gems come with extra gems and tokens.

The graphics of the game are a little cartoony but not without a sense of humor. Many of the monsters are lovingly painted and include a scary, shadow-encased mimic, a “nightmeowler” which is a cat creature, the “mermaidoise” which is an angry mermaid, a “Hippo-stache” which, you guessed it, is a hippo with a stache, a poison carrying octopus, and more.

The game does play music and battles create sound. However, it is not possible to control the volume of the music or sound effects – instead, there is a toggle that mutes the entire game. In our time playing, our testers ended up doing this so that we could listen to our own music while playing.

The blockchain and cryptocurrency integration

What will probably draw most players to Chain Warriors will be the blockchain integration which allows players to buy and sell high-rarity equipment for a cryptocurrency token called Waves. The Abyss publishing platform also has its own token called ABYSS that can be used to purchase games.

The Abyss announced in early September that the publishing platform would integrate the Waves Platform, an open network and decentralized environment for Web 3.0 applications, that would power a blockchain-enabled marketplace for digital goods.

Using the Waves Platform, Chain Warriors players can buy and sell high-rarity items from the game on the The Aybss Waves Item Marketplace.

Putting an item on the market costs 10 gems (approximately $0.99) and also some WAVES cryptocurrency. The item can then be listed on the Waves Item Marketplace and sold for WAVES. Users will need to use the Waves Keeper browser plugin to complete tokenization and listing on the marketplace.

At time of writing, there are 604 items on the Waves Item Marketplace with varying prices including a Sweet Tooth’s Armor for 2.8 WAVES ($2.19) and a Red Helmet for 55 WAVES (approximately $42.90). At the current exchange rate, a WAVE token is approximately $0.78.

The drop rate of items that can be tokenized for the marketplace can be extremely low and their rarity is important to their value in the game. For example, “Grand” items have a drop rate of approximately 0.8% per battle and “Legendary” items even less at 0.1% drop chance. These are currently the only two tokenizable rarity types.

The $0.99 cost (10 gems) to tokenize will most likely set a floor for how much items will sell for. Although new players do receive some free gems.

The Abyss running a Marathon event

Starting on November 7 and running until December 7, The Abyss is running a promotional event it calls a “Marathon” in Chain Warriors where the company will be giving away $12,000 in WAVES tokens to players.

To earn their way into the token giveaway, players must complete in-game tasks for points. These tasks may include equipping a specific set of the day, completing events, upgrading items, spending gold, etc. Players who complete these events are ranked competitively daily by points and the top 100 players will get apportioned winnings.

Other ways to earn tokens include players who successfully tokenize a full set of rare armor within 24 hours. The currently targeted armor set is listed at the beginning of the 24-hour period and the first player to successfully earn and tokenize the entire 4-piece set wins.

Others can get in on this via referrals and participating in the social media challenge.

This event ends on December 7, so new users will want to participate soon.

Interested in a casual game with a chance to earn some cryptocurrency?

For most gamers, Chain Warriors will not have a mass appeal, however, the promise of riches by selling and trading items with other players might pull in some.

The gameplay and story itself are not at all compelling. It is designed to be a casual, clicker-heroes browser-based RPG with limited things to do and an energy-based mechanic designed to push players to seek out the cash shop in order to progress as quickly as possible.

The levelling progression is not too slow, but it did take our reviewers an entire weekend (and many hours) to reach level 20 of 90. In that time, we did receive two items we could tokenize and put on the marketplace.

Since this is an energy-based game, there’s a limited number of events that can be run each day without paying extra. The game also has a subscription called “Aristocrat” that lasts 14 days and costs 70 gems (approximately $7). Buying this provides an extra event on the map, 500 extra energy maximum, an extra 10 inventory slots, an extra auction slot, the ability to choose an avatar, access to advanced settings (such as auto-selling items), and the ability to send monsters out to fight for you once a day.

Still interested? More information, screenshots and sign up is available at The Abyss for Chain Warriors.