Shameless clone with more gacha mechanics or fun competition?
Teamfight Tactics – or TFT for short – is still the most successful auto-battler out there. Back then, some Rioters played the popular DOTA 2 mod "DOTA Auto Chess" and were inspired to develop their own version with polished mechanics. Now, TFT underwent a lot of changes regarding mechanics and gameplay, but seems to feel pretty comfortable where it ended up.
Now miHoYo is about to release their own auto-battler: Honkai: Nexus Anima. While it looks like a unique mix on the surface, it also feels like it's really heavily inspired by others when it comes to gameplay.
Some Pokémon And A Lot Of TFT
MiHoYo's in-game-footage spends three out of four minutes to only show the exploration and the semi-open world. Because what Honkai: Nexus Anima does different, is that it's a creature collector game à la Pokémon as well. Instead of having to be lucky to pull good units for your combo, you just have to farm them.
Also, I absolutely love some of the creatures' designs. Some are a mixture of food and animal like the bubble tea penguin called "Bobabirb" or a carton of milk cat called "Mimoo" who I would die for.
The in-game-footage does show actual gameplay later on, and it looks a lot like TFT. Not only does it adopt entire game mechanics, the HUD also looks almost identical. Two major things seem to be different when it comes to Honkai: Nexus Anima, though.
- You don't roll for units, you can just buy whatever unit you have already caught.
- You can choose a trainer with certain perks, and you can swap them in the middle of a match.
And here's where the infamous gacha mechanic comes into play.
Gacha In A PvP Game?
By now, everyone has heard of gacha mechanics. Similar to loot boxes, gacha games entice players to spend money on in-game items or characters. miHoYo sits at the top of developing the most profitable video games on the market with exactly those mechanics.
miHoYo seems to be ready to continue the trend of gacha mechanics in their games. It seems like you will be able to spend money on rolling for the different trainers, and it is likely that some trainers will be more rare but also have stronger perks.
Is This The Way?
The new competition combines auto-battler gameplay with creature collection elements – which is a nice touch. But, since TFT has set a high bar for polish and balance, miHoYo will need to deliver big time to establish itself in the auto-battler genre.
TFT lead designer, MortDog, said before that competition could be possible under the right circumstances.
I think it could work. It's just that you need the right team for it.
Do you think miHoYo is the right team for that job? At least some of the creature design is top-notch, don't you think? Let us know in the comments!