Quick(er) one today, I’m on the road.
Let’s go!
Illuvium
The Private Beta is out.
This is a big deal for a game of this caliber.
I was given early access (ahem) and haven’t been playing it as much as I’ve wanted to, but I’ve put a good 8 hours or so in, and let me tell you, it’s pretty great.
They REALLY needed to up the difficulty. If this game gets too easy, the illuvials you collect in the game become too easy to get, then they lose value tremendously, and then this game officially has a shelf life of about a year, year and a half.
But the team listened. And it’s already much harder.
Illuvials are now running around in the overworld, they run away from you, and they’re hard to shoot.
And if you shoot them enough times, all that does is open up the auto-battler, and you still have to win the match.
And then, you have to have a shard on hand, and it still has to work for you to capture an illuvial. The higher up the illuvial is, the harder they are to capture.
This is great. Think of a modern-day pokemon, but it will have so many more dimensions to it, AND you can sell your pokemons easily in an open marketplace.
I’m pumped. One problem though….
This game was supposed to be all-the-way released in 2024. No chance of that happening.
Maybe a fully-playable version will be, but there are 7 main regions in this game, and only 3 of them are playable now.
Don’t give me that “2024” shit, it’s not happening.
The great news though, and I’ve been saying this for awhile now, is that even though we’re closer and closer to release, and unlike before we actually know (99% sure) this game is going to….
Land is as cheap as it’s ever been.
You can’t play without crypton. You can’t craft better weapons and armor without solon. You can’t catch illuvials without hyperion.
If you don’t have land, you will have to pay for these items. If you do have land, you will farm these items yourself, meaning you will be able to use them for free, or sell these resources to others.
On top of having the chance to craft rare blueprints to make skins for the game itself! And I don’t need to tell you the lengths some people will go to for skins.
It’s quite the opportunity. This game needs to catch fire and take off for these things to completely manifest themselves, I fully realize this.
But as much as I don’t like to invest in individual games, I’m more than happy to take my chances here, and sink some real time into it.
Cornucopias
This game will not be out until 2025, I’ve said it before, and as of now we would be on schedule for a 2025 release.
All land zones will not be out by then, but the ecosystem should be humming along, and commerce should be active.
You can follow along with the game’s progress every week on the Copi Cafe Youtube episodes.
And it’s pretty exciting to see it all take shape, which it certainly is by the way.
Best part, yet again, is that as far as land goes, it’s only slightly more expensive than when we minted.
The concept is very different, which is good, the best games in gaming history were unique, not derivative.
Whether or not it will take off is the biggest question. But I will have a great time finding out nonetheless.
This game is on Cardano (now also on ETH and Base), so the cost of entry is a fraction of Illuvium.
This ecosystem is worth diving into. And you’ll be coming in near the beginning too.
Cardania
The cost of entry here is redonkulously cheap, but it’s an indi game, just know this ahead of time.
It doesn’t have to catch on much to succeed, but the chances of it doing so are less than my other two much larger budget games.
For example, Cornucopias now has 52 devs working on it, Cardania may have 3 or 4 tops.
But it’s a really fun ecosystem, and despite the smaller nature, they already have fully-playable games out, and I’ve been earning tokens and resources here for years now.
They’re biggest splash IMO is going to be their card game, which is already fully designed, but still needs to be finished. No date on this yet, but it’s the one major thing they’re trying to accomplish this year.
Card games do gangbusters, people love them. “Parallel”, what I would call an above-average card game, has made it’s early adopters quite rich.
“Enter the Ultraverse” from Cardania has this type of potential IMO, but if it can do 1/10th of Parallel, I may be able to move out of the homeless shelter and into a nicer homeless shelter.
Not to mention, this ecosystem is stacked with things to do, and things to earn. The founder for example, just released a mining setup where you can proxy-mine all sorts of good shit, on the ADA blockchain, and soon on the BTC blockchain!
Everyone who has come into this ecosystem via my channel has enjoyed the experience, whether they are still active at this point or not.
Conclusion
I think the real upside potential for all three of these is WELL worth the time and money I’ve put in.
Again, investing in one game to make it is not my style. But I saw the potential here, and I have not been disappointed yet.
“VP, why haven’t you gotten into the game that I like“, bro, I barely have time for these three projects, and when they come full-circle, I may have to become a hermit. I hope you enjoy your project as much as I do mine, but it ain’t hapenning.
Early adopters in a sea change such as this typically get rewarded heavily.
It’s up to you whether or not to participate, or watch the rest of us participate in it.
— VP