The next time a skeptic questions the momentum of the blockchain gaming market, kindly inform them that the industry had attracted over 1.5 million users by the end of 2021, with daily trade volume from gaming dApps climbing as high as half a billion dollars. Then cackle with satisfaction.
The breathless rush by gamers, developers and investors into the gamefi (gaming finance) space was triggered by the potential for profit via play-to-earn (P2E) mechanics, but also by the opportunities for rich gameplay thanks to the deployment of blockchain and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
To date, most blockchain games have offered up simple 2D worlds based around turn-based mechanics, focusing on earning potential rather than fast-paced gameplay. But thankfully, that is starting to change…
Epic War, Entrancing Gameplay
Epic War is the first blockchain-based FPS (first-person shooter) that provides Triple-A graphics and gameplay in delivery of its virtual reality (VR), free-play-to-earn (F2P2E) metaverse.
Interestingly, the fully 3D blockchain shooter is just one part of the envisaged Epic War universe, which will expand to include a series of comic books and films. The gaming narrative sees players take part in battle royales where they must contend with other gamers as well as hostile NPC creatures on a treacherous foreign planet. Other notable elements include team battles featuring up to 16 players (8v8) in a single session. Boss battles test players’ abilities even further, and come in three different difficulty levels: normal, hard, and super hardcore.
The native token of Epic War ($EWAR) is used to create new in-game characters, weapons, gears, battle maps and purchase NFT items. It can also be used for governance purposes, giving holders decision-making privileges on the future of the project. EWAR tokens are awarded to players and teams who triumph in battles, and these tokens can subsequently be used to improve the attributes of player-characters or sold to the highest bidder on exchanges.
Both winning and losing players will have the ability to earn unique NFTs after each session, with tokens representing in-game items like weapons, gears and maps. Such artefacts can be sold, traded or rented to other players for profit, and they are also dispensed upon the completion of challenging in-game quests.
Epic War’s game engine was built from the ground up using C++ code, and leverages the acclaimed Unity Engine as the technical foundation of its gameworld. The Unity Engine is employed by many mainstream, Triple-A game publishers, and has been used in such releases as Escape From Tarkov, Cuphead, Wasteland 3, Subnautica, and many more.
Future Milestones
The team behind Epic War hails from Vietnam, where they have years of collective experience in game design, blockchain development and full-stack coding. They also partner with Japanese studios to develop Open World gameplay and VR metaverse phase. By mid Q2 2022, the team aims to release a beta version of the PvE and PvP game modes, alongside its DAO governance system, where players will be able to have a say in future development decisions. The IGO (initial game offering) for the native EWAR token will also take place before the end of Q2. Ongoing roadmap milestones portend a full game release and multi-chain integration by the end of Q3.
Multiple blockchain ecosystems will play host to Epic War when it is complete, including Binance Smart Chain, Solana, Polygon, and NEAR, in an effort to give players the maximum number of benefits offered up by various networks (speed, low fees, access to native stablecoins, etc). Gamers can also look forward to Epic War’s Beta Test launch coming this March.
The long-term goals of Epic War include integrating VR support and building out an expansive metaverse world where players can interact with the game in a virtual 3D space. Epic War builds on the promise of gamefi by extending blockchain gaming to the level mainstream gamers expect, while integrating crypto and NFT rewards for the benefit of successful players.
