Finding Neverland in the footsteps of Genshin

By Aditya Deshbandhu

As it marks its two-year anniversary, Genshin Impact is the gold standard for free to play (F2P) roleplaying games as developers across the world try to capture lightning in a bottle for a second time. The Legend of Neverlandis a free to play RPG that also tries to emulate Genshinas it builds a world that attempts to offer players expansive areas of play peppered with Gacha (slot-machine) mechanics.

First things first, the game is spectacular looking and instead of a band of heroes Neverland uses fairies as it tries to get you to build a formidable team to face its various challenges. The fairies are classified as per rarity and also carry a star rating that can be increased through a process called “ascension.”

The lead character can be played across four classes – ranger, gladiator, scholar, and craftsman, each is representative of a unique way you can play the game. The sound effects are superb, and I really liked the tempo of the background score and in the early game stage I really like Neverland as it seemed a worthy contender.

Few hours into the game, my experience suddenly went downhill though when I realized that all navigation and traversal in the game’s gorgeous world was automated. A design choice that made the game seem like me tapping an endless list of items on a to-do list. There was simply no scope for exploration – a key part of RPG and open world experiences. When combat sequences were unlocked, I soon realized that I was often extremely overpowered, and I was clearing levels in a matter of seconds. The challenge was simply non-existent, and I had no reason to strategize.

The Gacha mechanics while well designed gave me enough resources to have two mythical fairies as allies quite quickly and I was simply out of reasons to stay invested in the game.

To design a world this beautiful and restrict game interactions to such a limited degree seems a problematic decision as this game can also be played in an idle/away from keyboard (AFK) form. You simply cannot hope to beat Genshin if the game’s design does not give players enough reasons to be invested. Neverland struggles from this flaw to a great degree.

Another case of “what could have been,” I think you are better of playing Genshin as it begins year three than The Legend of Neverland. There is simply not enough for this to stand out.

Sneak Peek:

Title: The Legend of Neverland

Developer: GameArk Global

Game Type: RPG with Gacha elements

Platforms: Androidand iOS

Price: Free to Play within game purchases

Verdict:

Innovative Gameplay: 2.5

Game Handling & Quality: 3.5

Value for Time: 2.5

Potential Progression without in-game purchases: 3.5

Overall: 3

What Stands Out

– The design and style in the game are like an anime, the attention to detail in character and class design is quite high.

– The background score is composed well, and it elevates the combat experience quite significantly.

Fails to impress

– The exploration dimension of this RPG is minimal as you simply need to click a task and the game’s AI automatically traverses to that location. It seems a disservice to the gorgeous world designed

– The transitions are a bit abrupt, and the levels are cleared too simply, I was at Lvl. 30 in less than an hour. Strategy is minimalistic here.