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Web3 Gamer: Gods Unchained app drops crypto, Kings of Fighters Arena review

Immutable Games, the publisher of Ethereum NFT card game Gods Unchained, announced Monday that it will release an expansion pack called Dread Awakening, which will feature a crossover with the upcoming mobile role-playing game Guild of Guardians.

The Dread Awakening set, slated to drop on April 23, will include 148 cards minted on Immutable X, an Ethereum scaling network originally created by the publisher. Guild of Guardians, also from Immutable Games, is set to hold its global launch on May 15.

"This was a really fun expansion for us to work on because we've been able to lean into the creativity and lore of Guild of Guardians, while working really closely and collaboratively with a team that is quite literally sitting right next to me," said Gods Unchained Executive Producer Daniel Paez, in a release.

The expansion's "cosmic horror" theme “introduces new mechanics and cards that will reshape the meta and hint to a bigger world than ever imagined," the announcement added.

"What makes this even more exciting for me is the anticipation of things to come from this collaboration,” added Paez. “IP crossovers are just the tip of the potential we can unleash with web3 gaming—true game interoperability is right around the corner.”

Paez previously spoke with Decrypt’s GG about the potential for interoperability in blockchain games. Gods Unchained previously launched on Ethereum years back, but now uses Immutable X for cheaper and faster transactions. The game recently expanded to iOS and Android, with Immutable claiming a 60% jump in monthly active users.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.

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Updated Jul 9, 2024, 8:49 p.m. Published Jul 9, 2024, 7:27 p.m.

8 min read

Crypto as a whole is, I think, at something of an inflection point. With the recent “bull run” either on hold or cut short with prices below 2021 highs, the mounting crypto-speculative mania of the past decade seems to have settled down. That puts a premium on products that deliver, instead of just making big promises.

That includes blockchain-backed gaming, which has been on the horizon since the announcement of Ethereum, and which I’m happy to report is actually becoming a Real Thing. In the past, “blockchain games” have often been hasty cash-ins designed to entice speculators rather than players. But, as an embarrassingly experienced gamer who spent my childhood loading Doom from a DOS command line, I’m happy to report that blockchain games are now emerging fully-cooked: that is, many are at least as enjoyable as games that have nothing to do with crypto.

What follows is a lightning-round of quick reviews of a selection of blockchain games. Each game is judged on standard metrics of gameplay and graphics. But unlike more conventional games, blockchain games should also be evaluated for their onboarding experience and tokenomics.

Onboarding is significant because games are great ways to attract people without crypto experience, and hitting them with a laundry list of complicated tasks before they can play is a great way to lose their interest immediately. And tokenomics matter because they’re hard to get right, and the temptation for developers to be shortsighted and self-interested is strong.

Also worth noting: The reviews below are mostly based on fairly short play time (and few if any of these games are deep enough to demand more.) The reviews are also based on the current state of these games: Roadmaps and projections are all well and good, given the financial stakes, this is a “verify, don’t trust” situation.

Note: I had also planned on reviewing Nifty Island and My Pet Hooligan. But Nifty Island was offline for maintenance when I tried to log in. While My Pet Hooligan (which is in Early Access) looks and feels great offline, it’s a PVP shooter, and the game’s few servers weren’t cooperating when I tried to play.

Hamster Kombat (Mobile/Telegram)Onboarding: A

Gameplay: D

Graphics: A

Tokenomics: D

It’s new, it’s hot, it’s incredibly effective at what it was designed for – but Hamster Kombat isn’t really “a game.” At present, the only ‘gameplay’ proper is clicking one object for points, then spending those points to earn more points. If there’s any actual “Kombat,” it’s completely opaque to me as a new player. Instead, Hamster Kombat, where you play the role of a growth-minded CEO of a crypto exchange, gamifies social engagement, offering in-game “gold” for things like following and promoting the game’s X/Twitter account, or recruiting friends.

The scammy vibes of this pyramid-built-on-nothing element are impossible to ignore, but one thing can’t be denied – it’s working, driving the “game” to huge popularity (see Jeff Wilser’s recent feature on the growth of Hamster Kombat and other TON-based games. The tiny bit of gameplay is impressively addictive (I’m clicking right now …). And, in most other respects, Hamster Kombat is top-tier, with a flawlessly smooth interface and, most impressive of all, a truly effortless onboarding experience that’s integrated directly into Telegram. That both mutes the impression of scamminess, and leads one to believe promises that a real game will emerge from beneath this perpetual self-promotion machine.

Unfortunately, though, gameplay evolution seems to be a low priority for the devs for the moment. The Hamster Kombat roadmap includes gameplay upgrades like “Squad Kombat,” but by far the most focus is on an upcoming airdrop, with a token that is promised to be integrated into gameplay. It seems iffy to release your token before anything resembling an actual game, so between that and the fact that the financial tease is probably leading to a lot of people wasting their lives clicking on a phone, the hamsters get a “D” on tokenomics.

Pixels (Web Browser)Onboarding: C

Gameplay: A

Graphics: A+

Tokenomics: A

Proof that low-hanging fruit can be delicious. Pixels is a resource-gathering and building game, a bit like Farmville, but with a lot more style. Even the writing is good, in its cutesy way, which is really notable. There are also promised and plausible extensions into more active forms of gameplay, such as dungeons, but the simple harvest-cooking-sale loop is already satisfying in itself. There are definitely periods of downtime in the early game, but that’s what you’re signing up for – this is a game you can run in the background and check in on every once in a while (I’m making Popberry Jam while I write this).

The graphics and overall vibes of the game are also excellent. The game is designed in a nostalgic 8-bit style, one seeming reason that Pixels actually has NFT imports. You can play as your Pudgy Penguin or Bored Ape, and the Pixels team has guidelines that allow any collection to submit game versions of PFPs. This unambiguously rocks, increasing the value of the entire Web3 space, and reflecting what seems to be the team’s more general deep alignment with crypto ideas and values. At the same time, there’s an outright downplaying of the possibility of massive growth in token prices, which is equally refreshing.

In what will become a theme, however, I was annoyed by Pixels’ onboarding process, which frankly seems to directly contradict the care and values on display elsewhere in the game. While Metamask login is teased, it no longer works for new players, who must instead download and install a boutique wallet for Sky Mavis’ Ronin Network – an EVM chain that has its own flavor of Wrapped Ether (WETH), but otherwise seems to only handle assets on Mavis’ own Ronin Network. This is an illustration of a common misalignment of incentives in Web3 gaming: there are big incentives to use an attractive game to rope users into your niche network, instead of improving interoperability by using a more widespread public network. It’s a toxic dynamic the industry should be wary of.

Gods Unchained (PC, Mac, iOS, Android)Onboarding: B

Gameplay: A

Graphics: A

Tokenomics: B

It’s time for a horrifying confession: In 2019, I decided to spend money on Gods Unchained NFT cards instead of buying a Cryptopunk. I could have retired by now on a Punk or two, but it is illegal for anyone to make fun of me for my choices. (Mostly, buying a Punk was just incomprehensibly complex back then.)

In 2019, Gods Unchained was a concept rather than a working game, so I am ecstatic to report that not only has it become a game, it has become a really good game, with a blockchain use case that makes sense. It also has really solid user and trading metrics, with more than 200,000 holders recently trading over $250,000 worth of NFT-based cards per day. I also had great luck with matchmaking – casual queues are very short, indicating a lot of players are online actually playing, not just trading.

One possible criticism of Gods Unchained is that it’s, in essence, a copy of Hearthstone, the World of Warcraft-based CCG. Of course, there are other digital card games out there with similar-enough formats and gameplay, but GU has detailed similarities, down to the points and stats of specific (reskinned) cards. Honestly, though, there’s no real shame in that – Hearthstone is an incredible game, and, having familiar mechanics, makes GU quick to jump into.

Gods Unchained also looks and plays great, though its designs and illustrations are quite generic. Specifically, the way the game marks the rarity of cards is pretty opaque, muting one major fun part of playing a CCG.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t downsides. GU becoming part of the “Immutable Passport” ecosystem adds a seemingly pointless layer of intermediation. Why can’t I just sign in with Ethereum via Metamask, where my cards are, and which the game ultimately connects to anyway? Plus, Immutable itself uses Google or email login rather than its own wallet – which seems convenient until you remember this is an entirely superfluous step already. On the other hand, I was surprised by how smoothly I was able to connect back to my pre-Immutable GU account.

Finally, the tokenomics of Gods Unchained barely matter … and that’s great. You earn cards and packs for playing in a way that, again, will be familiar to Hearthstone players. And there are daily quests that can earn you $GODS tokens, which I would assume can be swapped for real money somehow. But, in stark contrast to Hamster Kombat, these are nice bonuses for playing a game that’s inherently rewarding – not bribes for endlessly clicking on a static image.

Guild of Guardians (iOS and Android)Onboarding: A

Gameplay: F

Graphics and presentation: D

Tokenomics: C

I’ll admit up front this is Not for Me, but somehow, this dungeon roguelite auto-battler with actual animation is less engaging than clicking a still image in Hamster Kombat. “Auto-battlers” strike me as bleak artifacts of our era, games that play themselves with the goal of producing player satisfaction without player effort or skill. In the case of Guild of Guardians, the only gameplay seems to be tapping a few heroic special abilities, if you feel like it – but you’ll “win” either way. I wrote this review while the game was playing for me, and I don’t think I missed much.

The game is also aesthetically janky as hell, from middling graphics to truly bad interface and design, and generally feels like it was built by contractors working to an investor spec rather than actual game designers. On the plus side, it was seamless to log in to, and I didn’t get a cringey crypto-based sales pitch. On the other hand, I can’t imagine any human ever caring about this game enough to connect a crypto wallet to it, and its backend tokenomics are utter boilerplate, with a vesting schedule that seems to privilege insiders.

Rumble Racing Star (PC, Mac)Onboarding: C

Gameplay: D

Graphics and Presentation: D

Tokenomics: F

One thing I noticed during these reviews is that many games built or backed in Asia still appear to be in a token-bubble mindset. The homepage of Rumble Racing Star is a good example, starting with an immediate pop-up encouraging users to spin a wheel and win obscure crypto tokens and NFT prizes. At the same time, I was unable to find any meaningful description of the game’s token design from the front page. Where you’d normally find a white paper there’s only a vague gameplay description.

Unfortunately, the game itself reflects this – it’s basic and, to be blunt, janky as hell. At its core it’s a Mario Kart knockoff with lawnmowers for carts, but the tracks, characters, and vehicles are uninspired, and worst of all, the controls are unreliable and “squishy.” This surely isn’t the last we’ll see of blockchain games that haven’t figured out that they have to be good games first – but hopefully, they’re a dying breed.

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Gods Unchained, a digital collectible card game, topped CryptoSlam’s non-fungible token (NFT) sales chart on Wednesday for the second consecutive day, though it recorded a drop from the previous day.

Gods Unchained had over US$612,000 in sales on Wednesday, down from US$930,000 on Tuesday.

The Immutable network, where Gods Unchained resides, recorded over US$806,000 in total sales on Wednesday, which was the fifth in the industry.

Ethereum led all chains in NFT sales with US$4.37 billion.

The second-ranking collection for the day was DMarket on the Mythos network. The collection, which represents in-game items, had US$539,193 in daily sales across 26,277 transactions.

Solana Monkey Business took the third spot with daily sales of US$567,134 across 117 transactions. The Solana-based collection has been climbing the all-time charts.

It currently has US$207.7 million in all-time trades and is eyeing the 30th spot, now occupied by SATS, a BRC-20 NFT set, with US$211.4 million.

The Solana blockchain, hosting the Solana Monkey Business collection, reported total sales of US$3.13 million for the day, the second-highest sales tally among blockchains.

DogeZuki Collection on Solana came in fifth for the day with US$414,755 in sales, while c_HyPC on Ethereum came in sixth with US$338,791.

Post Views: 23,082

Gods Unchained stole the spotlight after topping the NFT collections ranking, courtesy of strong sales. GODS registered a ‘God candle’ as whales demonstrated an interest in the project. Play-to-earn game Gods Unchained [GODS] has experienced a surge in activity in the last two days as the crypto market enjoyed some bullish relief. This contrasted with the slow situation that has gripped the market for weeks.

Recent data indicated a strong uptick in Gods Unchained-related activity. This included transaction activity, especially in relation to in-game NFTs.

According to Cryptoslam.io, Gods Unchained had the highest NFT sales in the last 24 hours at $761,618. This represented a 12.76% uptick during the same period.

Source: Cryptoslam The number of Gods Unchained-related transactions rose by 68.65% during the same 24-hour period and to 89% in the last seven days.

Gods Unchained: Who is driving the momentum? The surge in demand for Gods Unchained NFTs correlated with the demand for the game’s native token. AMBCrypto’s analysis revealed that the robust momentum was whale-driven.

The large holders net flow metric revealed that large holders net flows surged by 952,830 GODS in the last two days.

Source: IntoTheBlock But how has this affected the GODS price? The token pulled off an impressive 221% uptick in the last seven days, with most of the gains occurring between the 15th and the 17th of July.

This aligned with the surge in NFT trading activity that we observed during the same period.

Source: TradingView Pump and dump, or the start of a major rally? GODS’ chart revealed that its price traded at $0.3696 at press time, which represented a 12.46% dip in the last 24 hours. So, there was some profit-taking after the bullish bounce this week.

The dip also signaled that the momentum might not be backed by continuous demand.

Zooming out on the price chart, AMBCrypto discovered that the massive price surge this week occurred after bouncing from near its lowest historic levels.

Therefore, we will continue observing to see if the recent whale activity may attract more attention towards the GODS token and the Gods Unchained game.

If so, there is a likelihood that the bullish momentum might be sustained for longer.

In summary, although the recent price surge and the associated demand for the GODS token has triggered some excitement, there is still a long way to go.

Read Gods Unchained [GODS] Price Prediction 2024-25

GODS peaked at $8.34 during the 2021 bull run, and it traded at a 95% discount from its all-time high at press time.

Therefore, the GODS token may offer significant gains for traders if it sustained robust bullish demand in the next few months. The fact the game is still registering healthy activity is a good sign. 

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Over the recent 7 days, the non-fungible tokens saw a significant rise in sales. The top NFT collections over this week in terms of sales take into account Solana Monkey Business, DMarket, DogeZuki Collection, Guild of Guardians Heroes, and Gods Unchained Cards. The well-known NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam has provided the respective ranking of the NFT projects.

Solana Money Business Maintains Its Top Position among the Top NFT Projects in Terms of Sales According to the platform, Solana Monkey Business took the 1st position among the NFT collections witnessing significant sales. In this respect, the non-fungible token collection recorded sales of up to $4,185,567 worth this week. This figure indicates a decline of nearly 18.42% in Solana Money Business’ sales over this period. The Mythos-based NFT collection DMarket witnessed $4,108,309 in terms of sales during this week.

CryptoSlam added that DMarket went through a dip of 0.54% in the recent seven days. After that, another Solana-based DogeZuki Collection occupied the 3rd place with sales of nearly $3,291,844 worth. Dissimilar to the above-mentioned two NFT collections, the DogeZuki Collection saw a rise in its sales rather than a slump. The NFT collection experienced a 3.12% in its sales this week. A week ago, the Gods Unchained Cards NFT was standing at the 3rd spot while DogeZuki Collection obtained the 4th position. Additionally, $?? BRC-20 NFT was the 5th on the list at that time.

Gods Unchained Cards Drops from 3rd to 5th Spot The Immutable-Zk-based Guild of Guardians Heroes obtained the 4th spot in the list with a sales volume of almost $3,099,078 worth. The NFT collection made a remarkable spike of up to 235.80%. The last entry in the list includes the Immutable-based Gods Unchained Cards. The NFT collection secured the 5th position with a sales volume of $2,766,701 worth. However, as per CryptoSlam, it went through a 21.12% plunge in sales over the above-mentioned time.

AUTHOR

Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.

Gods Unchained, a trading card game on Ethereum layer-2 network Immutable zkEVM, announced the launch of a battle pass ahead of its upcoming season and the new Fallen Age expansion coming on February 18.

The pass, which comes has one free tier and two paid tiers of premium rewards, will be available for pre-purchase from February 9 to February 17, offering users a 25% discount on the top two tracks, Premium and Shiny which are priced at $6.99 and $39.99 respectively. 

With each pass tier, users are granted perks like new exclusive cosmetics, as well core card packs and Fallen Age packs from the new expansion.

As users move up tracks, they are granted additional perks like the Gods Unchained token (GODS) on Ethereum. Purchases of Premium or Shiny tracks will offer users 28 and 47 GODS tokens respectively, approximately $3.35 and $5.63 worth at current prices, with additional GODS rewards available as they play through the season.

The Fallen Age expansion set that arrives with battle pass season one will feature 56 cards, with seven legendaries and seven mythic variants, including two new gameplay mechanic cards: “Wither” and “Raid.” 

Gods Unchained released its Tower of Dread expansion pack in October. The turn-based card game is available and free to play on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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Following a $50 million loss in 2023, blockchain game developer Immutable claims its 2024 performance has rebounded, with revenue exceeding $110 million.

Blockchain game developer Immutable, best known for titles like Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians, has reportedly improved its performance after reporting a $50 million loss for 2023, the Australian Financial Review reports, citing the firm’s recent filings.

Immutable’s financial results for 2023 showed a big loss, which the firm blames on a tough crypto market, global regulations, and high marketing costs. Still, the blockchain game developer is optimistic about its future.

In a commentary for the Australian Financial Review, a spokesperson for the firm said that Immutable is performing way better now, adding that the firm’s revenue for the 2024 financial year has already surpassed $110 million, a 50% increase from the previous year.

The revenue surge came after Immutable rolled out its own layer-2 network Immutable zkEVM, developed in partnership with Polygon Labs. Immutable is also investing in the web3 gaming sector, launching a $100 million fund to support game developers.

In March 2022, Immutable raised $200 million in a Series C funding round headed by Singapore’s state-owned investment company Temasek, putting its valuation at $2.5 billion. Other investors that participated in the funding were Mirae Asset, ParaFi Capital, Declaration Partners, and Tencent Holdings.

In late February 2025, Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson shared that several gaming companies valued over $1 billion seem open to launching tokens. This comes as on-chain gaming activity sees a surge. According to DappRadar’s games report released on February 13, blockchain gaming reached over 7 million daily unique active wallets in January 2025, a 386% increase from the year before.

Table of contents

Guild of Guardians became the leader of non-fungible token (NFT) collections in terms of weekly sales, recording $20,733,871 sales. This is a significant growth of 26.94% over the previous period. The collection is also growing rapidly in terms of transactions, and the current rate of increasing transaction volume is 4.96%, with a minor increase of 5.99% in the number of buyers. These numbers indicate the continued interest in this digital asset, as it is popular in the fields of gaming and NFT.

Courtyard, a Polygon-based series, resulted in sales of $15,809,759 and has been reduced by 7.43%. The collection had a high level of transactions, with 82,133 transactions, and the number of buyers rose by 78.35%. Nonetheless, the seller population declined significantly, which indicates increased buyer demand.

Gods Unchained is another significant collection in this report, with a staggering 61.76% rise in sales to a total of $7,045,482. The transaction count of Gods Unchained increased by 34.81%, a sign of high interaction with the collection, especially among the buyers, whose involvement rose by 22.75%. The performance of the collection points to a positive trend in the Immutable-Zk ecosystem, which fits in the progress experienced by Guild of Guardians.

In the meantime, PGNFT, an NFT on the BNB blockchain, recorded a rise of 114.97 percent in sales to equal to $4,700,260. Transactions in the collection increased by 99.10 percent, a sign of its growing presence in the market. The buyer base of the collection also increased significantly, which speaks of a favorable attitude of the market towards it, additionally fixed by an even more gradual increase in transactions.

Mixed NFT Market Trends with Standout Surges Most collections have recorded significant growths, but others have recorded a decline or slight increases in their sales volumes. Mythos-powered DMarket earned DMarket $8 972 162, with a significant rise of its sales by only 0.91%. Similarly, XSY Deposit, an Avalanche-based offering, experienced a very slight sales growth with just $6,666,254 and registered zero growth in transaction volume and number of buyers and sellers.

STRAT Option launched on Ethereum and rocketed, as sales grew by 3,700.15 percent to 4,882,227. These numbers, where the sales increased by 781.38% and the number of transactions rose by 688.89%, indicate an increased demand in Ethereum-based NFT products.

Comparatively, CryptoPunks witnessed a decrease in the number of transactions while its sales increased by 36.72% to $1,627,522, another indicator of the continued significance of the collection in the broader NFT market.

AUTHOR

Crypto journalist with years of experience providing in-depth analysis and news on blockchain and decentralized finance. With a keen eye for detail, Shahzaib delivers insightful articles that explore the latest trends, market movements, and innovations within the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. His work focuses on educating readers while offering expert commentary on the evolving landscape of digital assets, DeFi protocols, and the broader impact of blockchain technology.