Wow! I, and many others, have waited for this moment for close to 3 years now. I can remember the hype of the original land sale back in 2018. It was a very special moment then, and its an even better moment now to see the result of all the hard work this team has put into building Axie Infinity. And to remember that this is just the beginning…there is so much more to come. These are exciting times and I am prepared to protect Lunacia on this journey.
Let’s get into the review…
The first thing that I noticed and enjoyed were the sound effects of the game. The music is adventurous and motivating to the point where you feel upbeat and energetic playing the game. The music does not lull you to sleep, it keeps you engaged. Also, the fire crackling was an incredible touch. There is nothing more soothing and relaxing than listening to a fire crackle. With the fire being the center of your plot, you can always hear that noise and feel at home. The attention to detail is evident.
The next detail that really stood out, and we knew it would, is the Axie Art. The ability for the team to translate the Axies we see in battle and in our inventories to the Axies we see in game is truly incredible. Each part keeps its uniqueness and you can still easily identify all of them by just looking at them. They are still the adorable, or even more adorable, Axies we know and love.
Similar to the Axie art is the item art, which is just as beautiful. What stood out to me the most with regard to items is the size of them. When viewing the items in the marketplace there was no way to judge how big the items were relative to the Axies themselves. Before going into gameplay, I had the assumption that the items would be relatively the same in size, however I was pleasantly surprised seeing how they weren’t. I think it gives a nice appeal, especially when passing by your plot or your neighboring plots, when you can clearly see the items. What fun would flexing your mystic items or your decorated plot be if your neighbors couldn’t see them clearly?
Further with items (aka artifacts in game), I thought that the ability to select items for your plot was user friendly. Even though there were some bugs with regard to placing down items, which is expected with an early demo, the swapping of items in and out of your plot is fairly effortless. Since decorating is a major part of the demo (there is a decorating competition), it is important that the process of decorating creates a good user experience.
After selecting your Axies and your land parcel to start the game, you enter the game itself. The layout of the game is clean, as you can see in the picture below.
The Axies you selected are in the top left along with their respective quick key. Also, there you can find your Axie Inventory and your plots. I really like the convenience of this layout. You can easily switch from Axie to Axie and the camera view travels instantly to their location. This makes it easy if you have one Axie in Luna’s Landing, one at your home plot, and one at the local resource node. There is no wasting time trying to find/switch to each of your Axies. The ‘tab’ key also has this functionality, again, making it fast to switch amongst your Axies.
The ability to access your Axie Inventory allows for team switches if/when you battle Chimera. If you needed to add a tank or swap out a DPS for battle, you can do so from anywhere on the map. Also, the plot swaps are quick allowing for you to change the plot you are editing whenever you feel.
Next up in the layout we have the map and settings.
When playing the game you quickly realize there are multiple map views that allow you to travel around Lunacia. The first is just the basic view of your Axie and the land plots around you.
This view is good to play the basic functions of the game, as in collect resources, decorate your plot, move around, or find Chimera to battle.
The next view is the medium zoomed out Map view.
This view is good for eyeing up your general area and whoever owns the land around you. It also allows for you to see the general direction of your Axies. The one thing that I wish we could do with this view is zoom out further. A wider view would allow you to see more of your plots and the plots around you. An owner of a 10x10 estate probably would not be able to see the full extent of their estate in one view, which is something that you definitely want as a land owner. More specifically, if you are going to build large structures in the future you want to be able to properly design and control your area before undergoing major construction.
Also, a wider view would make movement around the map easier. This view works well if you want to quickly move medium distances on the map. Think moving from your plot to the closest resource node. These medium movements shouldn’t be something you have to go to the Lunacia map for so by zooming out more you solve this issue.
The last map view is the view of Lunacia in its entirety. With this view you can see the entire map. Obviously if you want to travel or go to a completely different side of the map this will allow you to do that quickly. One click takes you from home to Luna’s Landing. Pretty nice.
That sums up Part 1 of the Project K Land Demo Review! In Part 2 I will get into the contest submissions, the social side of the land demo, and the inventory/weapons/resource mining! If you liked what you read, please follow me on Twitter!
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_YCB
Or in Axie Infinity’s Discord as YCB: https://discord.gg/axie
Thank you!
