Anybody remember Cookie Clicker?
Yeah, we all do. It was a huge hit back when it launched seemingly out of nowhere and got us all addicted for a week, and then we left feeling like our time was consumed by the cookie monster.
It wasn't really fun, it was just... satisfactory. Number go up, mind go happy.
The last game I played in this vein was Adventure Capitalist, and somehow I got over 40 hours in it on Steam, which is absolutely ridiculous.
But I've always felt these games don't have much to grab you. Once you've done everything, it's game over. Numbers become meaningless. You have more cash than there are atoms in the universe.
I feel like Tap Ninja is shaking up the formula... At least a little bit.
I can't say I don't feel a little silly writing a post about clicker games, but this one has got me hooked good. I know, 2.6 hours of progress isn't much, but this is an idle game, you check in, do what you need to do and log off.
Those 40 hours of Adventure Capitalist were spread across an entire YEAR.
So, this has your standard fair of clicker conventions: Buying things that make the numbers go up idly;
Buying upgrades to make it go faster and even ascending, which is just resetting your progress so you get a bonus for the next "playthrough", but this is where I feel this game starts to deviate a little.
Ascending in this game doesn't just reset your progress and make you gain money faster, it also gives you elixir points which you can use for various skills... Which are all intended to make you gain more money faster, but it's different from something like Adventure Capitalist where you can sacrifice angels to just get upgrades, here, things are way more varied and one major difference from this to other clicker games is how you click.
Here you can see 3 things that are pretty integral to adding to this game's gameplay experience. The first is that column on the right with that orange-like currency you get randomly or by paying up. It's the way the devs make money and it's something I'll rarely use.
The second, are the achievements. This game has loads of them, and you get them by just doing stuff, making that neuron activation even more real. And it doesn't constantly spam you, they actually make a little sense with how they're achieved.
And the third, and most important of all, are the enemies on screen. Here you don't just click click click, you have to click at a precise time to kill the enemies coming your way. This sounds like a small yet cumbersome difference but this is how the game grabs you way more than other idle clickers. Because killing an enemy gives you a SIGNIFICANT amount of cash. And if you keep killing them, your combo meters goes up, which gives you even more money. And the money you win from them + the combo meter can both be upgraded permanently or on that playthrough.
It's actually something that adds much needed interaction to not make the game feel mindlessly boring.
And this combat thingy also plays into another "feature" of the game, which are the challenges.
To partake in these challenges, you need keys, which are dropped by enemies and given every 24 hours. It's not as terrible as it seems, but it can be a little annoying.
The challenges are so simple I didn't even bother capturing footage.
It's just you in a dojo, killing guys without any upgrades. At the end, you get stars and money.
With these stars, you can get skills, just like any other RPG skill tree, one that you can even reset and reallocate points.
This adds another layers of complexity which honestly feels a little undercooked. It could be a lot better, and the gameplay could certainly be a lot more interactive.
But if you take past clicker games into context, this is a really good departure from the norm. Of course we've seen others trying to change up the formula, but this is the first time in many many years, 8 years for me, that something in this genre has actually caught my attention.
And I just felt like it deserved a post here, some free publicity.
It's genuinely addicting, and I blame myself for playing it.
I just bought Persona 4 Golden, which is an incredible game from an incredible franchise, yet I have less playtime there than I do in this game. And I feel stupid, but whatever, that's life.
Hope you have a nice day, I'll go play some Persona 4 now so that the guilt doesn't bite me in the buttocks.
See ya, HIVE mateys.
