Should You Play the Crypto ‘Clash of Clans’ Clone?

With the iOS and Android game quickly racking up millions of downloads and seeing a surging token price last month, I figured I’d start playing around with the crypto-infused game—which takes obvious cues from mobile smash Clash of Clans. As with that game, you’ll gradually build up your base’s defenses, attack other players’ bases, and amass resources over time.

But while I’m well familiar with Clash of Clans—and even covered the game’s championship in Germany a few years back while on the esports beat—Supercell’s mobile juggernaut and others of its ilk never really grabbed me. They just always sort of felt like busywork. You tap a few buttons, watch your little warriors attack a base, wait, and then repeat. Right?

That’s true with Heroes of Mavia too—but once I got into the thick of it, the simple routine of the gameplay got its hooks into me.

Suddenly I was grinding out battles to earn more gold coins to unlock the next headquarters upgrade, rearranging my base layout to better stymie foes, and learning the best way to approach battles to maximize my resource haul.

A screenshot from Heroes of Mavia. Image: Decrypt

Now I get it. So what’s special and unique about Heroes of Mavia compared to Clash of Clans?

Right now, it seems fair to say: Not that much. While this is ostensibly a crypto game and Skrice Studios has launched the MAVIA token on Ethereum, airdropped it to 100,000 players, and previously sold NFT land plots, none of that is reflected in the gameplay so far.

In fact, you could download Heroes of Mavia right now from the App Store or Play Store and have no idea whatsoever that it’s a blockchain game.

That might be for the best at this stage, really. Skrice has developed an engaging and attractive clone of one of the most enduring mobile hits on the market. Now it can build out those crypto features to differentiate the game.

Heroes of Mavia recently revealed a roadmap for such integrations. It will use Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Base for blockchain elements, and launch an in-game Ruby marketplace for buying and trading limited NFT items. Players are already earning the Ruby currency for playing battles, but there’s no way to use it. That’s apparently coming in a few weeks.

MAVIA token holders will apparently see in-game bonuses during Q2 2024, and at some point in the future, the NFT land plots will be integrated along with lending mechanics. That will definitely be interesting to see in action, particularly as Mavia attempts to shift away from being a pretty good facsimile of a tried-and-true game.

But for now, a pretty good facsimile is… well, a pretty good start.

Heroes of Mavia feels a lot more limited in scope than Clash of Clans at the moment, but that also makes it feel more like you can get in on the ground floor. There aren’t a zillion game mechanics to grok, and you’re not competing with grizzled veterans who have been playing for a decade.

You’ve already missed the token airdrop and there’s no promise that playing now is going to earn you anything of value. But this is a solidly fun and totally free mobile game that won’t overwhelm you with ads or other obnoxious elements—and I suspect Heroes of Mavia will stay in my daily rotation as I’m eager to see how it evolves into a true crypto game.

Besides, I’m this close to unlocking the level 5 headquarters upgrade.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.