When a mobile game showed up bearing the logo of the most iconic role-playing game of all time, I had to check it out. "Warriors of Waterdeep" is a Dungeons & Dragons branded, free-to-play mobile game set in the classic "Forgotten Realms" universe.
"Warriors" is a turn-based, tactical game that sees players using a team of four heroes to battle through monster-filled dungeons and fight other teams for supremacy. There are about nine hero units to use, with units being unlocked over time rather than acquired through random draws.
Most of the game involves fighting through various dungeon encounters — your team of four will go up against a group of skeletons, or goblins or the like, in a single-screen, tactical battle. Defeat the enemy team and move on to the next room full of enemies — usually three rooms in total, and sometimes there's a boss enemy to fight at the end.
It's important to note that while "Warriors" is D&D themed, it does not use the D&D gameplay mechanics. Instead, there's a rock-paper-scissors style of combat where certain hero archetypes do more or less damage to other archetypes and various combat moves may or may not resemble D&D spells and abilities.
Playable characters grow in power in two different ways. First, they can gain experience and level up. This increases their base statistics, such as attack power, damage, hit points and armor class. Gaining levels allows units to use better equipment. Equipment is the second way characters get stronger. Rather than needing to acquire new and multiple units through a random draw system, instead, equipment is gained that way.
Each unit can wield one weapon and wear five pieces of armor. Gaining multiple copies of a piece of armor allows it to be leveled up, which increases that equipment's attributes and gives the corresponding unit experience points.
Equipment also determines the abilities of each character. For example, my warlock's accessory, Blessed Grimoire, makes available the skill Hunger of Hadar, an area-of-effect attack that damages all nearby enemies for 50% of my damage ability. It also has a cooldown of five turns.
If I don't like that skill, I can choose a different piece of equipment, such as a Lucky Grimoire, that will reduce an enemy's attack power for three turns and increase the warlock's attack power.
Most skills and equipment have names that are references to D&D abilities, spells and the like. For example, Hunger of Hadar is a D&D 5th Edition area-of-attack spell used chiefly by warlocks. The game also makes frequent reference to classic "Forgotten Realms" characters and places, such as Durnan, the proprietor of Waterdeep's Yawning Portal inn. The monsters that appear in combat are also based on the extensive lore of D&D, with enemies such as slimes, animated armor, skeletons, rust monsters, spiders and more appearing, although behaviors and abilities are more D&D-inspired than faithful re-creations.
There are two types of currency in "Warriors": gold and gems. Gold is common and must be spent to increase the levels of heroes and equipment. Gems are more rare and can be bought with real money, as "Warriors of Waterdeep" is yet another free-to-play, but pay-to-win mobile game.
The benefit of using real money is basically just to speed up the game, but it's not necessary to enjoy it. The game seems fairly generous with how it doles out equipment, gold and gems to players. The main way to acquire these staples is by opening chests, which can be earned when defeating stages in the main storyline and completing dungeon runs in challenge events. Chests acquired this way open immediately.
Chests that unlock over time can be acquired through a real-time, player-versus-player battle mode that pits your four heroes against someone else's four heroes. Winning a battle awards players a chest with a timer conveying three, eight or more hours. More rare chests take longer to open but hold better rewards.
This type of reward system is becoming more common, also appearing in games such as "Clash Royale."
In addition, players can earn a daily chest by defeating 20 enemies in this battle mode. There's also a free chest given every three hours in the shop.
Gems can be bought outright and then exchanged for gold, equipment packs or more chests.
There's also a "VIP Benefits" monthly subscription for $10 that gives players another free daily chest, a better gem-to-gold exchange rate and the chance to get a VIP bonus from any chest. Whether that's worthwhile just depends on the player, I guess.
"Warriors of Waterdeep" is worth checking out, but don't expect the full-fledged tabletop experience.
Title: "Warriors of Waterdeep"
Platform: Android, iOS
Cost: Free
Rating: 10+, Some fantasy violence, but otherwise unobjectionable
Score: 6 out of 10
Style on 11/18/2019