Role Playing Games (RPGs) are already fun on their own as it lets you live the life of a character which most of the time is in a fantasy setting. (who doesn’t want to wield magic weapons?) Most games also come with a background story that you unfold as you continue playing through the game. But what if a beloved RPG is combined with a match-3 type game like Candy Crush? This is what Call of Antia aims to be! Let’s take a look at Call of Antia’s take on the Match-3 RPG blend.

Background

Call of Antia is an RPG developed by FunPlus, a Switzerland-based developer and game publisher with operations in China, Japan, Spain, Singapore, and other countries. Released in January of 2022, Call of Antia places players in a war between gods where they must thrive in the world of survivors, Antia. Players can collect over 50 heroes as they stave off the dark forces from conquering their last place of hope.

Graphics and Gameplay

Call of Antia’s graphics is mainly 2D with hints of 3D animation here and there, especially when you are attacking and using the hero’s abilities. The game is bright and looks like something you’d expect from a mobile game released over the past 5 years. The heroes look like they came straight from a generic MOBA game, but they are adjusted to fit a more bright and clean animation.

The gameplay is a mixture of city-building and match-3 like Candy Crush. The different gems that you match correspond to elements in the game which include: Fire, Water, Earth, Light, and Dark with each countering their respective elements like fire and water or light and dark. Matches against the element’s counter only deal half the damage.

Matching gems activate a character’s attack and fill a bit of their mana pool. Once their mana is filled, the character unleashes its ability which can be a damage spell, a buff/debuff, or a heal. The key here is to create a balanced group of Offensive, Healing, and Support Characters so you can face any challenges that might come your way.

Both PVE and PVP are available currently with each game in any mode consuming an energy charge that’ll take a day to fill back up. The heroes you use can be equipped with weapons most of which can be crafted at the blacksmith that you can unlock in the game’s city building along with other shops that are often found in this type of game genre.

Heroes come in different star levels from 2 to 5 stars which are usually locked behind a paywall. There’s also a gacha mechanic in the shop called summoning which means you aren’t really guaranteed a 5-star character unless you’re incredibly lucky.

Earning Potential

There’s nothing posted on the game’s website or any of its social media currently that it’s a play-to-earn or an NFT game.  Nothing that I could find connects it to crypto or the blockchain at all. Although you’ll see the game appear on sites that compile p2e games. 

There’s no official statement yet from the team/developers if they are ever planning to go this route either.

Final Thoughts

Although it is not a Play-to-earn game, I think Call of Antia is doing a lot of things right (gameplay-wise) as I believe they created an interesting mixture of Match-3 RPG for mobile. Even though they aren’t the first to do it, the heroes and dragons progression is enough to keep players coming back to the game after that energy bar is back up. I just wish that they’d offer more gems and refill the energy faster because trying to go the PVP route as a F2P player is almost impossible.

Overall, with a few tweaks, I think that Call of Antia could be a better game. They already have a loyal player base and a solid game overall, if you want to try it, I believe you can grasp the game even if you don’t spend. Although far from perfect, Call of Antia is a game worth checking out. If it ever gets a p2e version, it’ll only add to the appeal of this game of dragons, magic, and strategy.