If there is one area of pseudo-history that has had a staunch presence in modern gaming, it’s Greco-Roman mythology. Assassin’s Creed made a franchise out of it, and it has certainly helped that modern film fiction continues to draw a lot of inspiration from a rich tapestry of drama, action and tragedy.
One Web3 gaming studio that has staked their fortunes in this area is Vulcan Studios – a recent rebrand of Vulcan Forged.
Rather than a standalone game, the studio attempts to build a vast metaverse of games, from MMORPGs to trading cards and battle chess. None of the titles, however, is perhaps more familiar to gamers than its flagship title: VulcanVerse.
That’s the focus of this review, but we’ll also take a quick look at two other games in their current offering.
VulcanVerse
The Greek-based team of developers has certainly put their hearts and souls into VulcanVerse (VV), which is an open-world MMORPG featuring fantastical beasts and legendary heroes inspired by the ancient myths of Greece and Rome.
Player-owned assets in the shape of NFTs are what attracts players, though the team is putting a lot of effort into the lore-based storytelling to draw in gamers.
Gameplay
Vulcan City sits in the center of the fantasy game map and further divides into four quadrants, each with its own unique abilities and resources. Players can purchase land plots with PYR – the in-game utility token. PYR can also be staked, used in the game and used for payment.
Interestingly, the map is visually available as the VV blockchain explorer, with each clickable area displaying the current owner and history of changing hands.
The aim is then to recruit units known as Vulcanites, who play out the game or interact with the land and buildings on it. Each Vulcanite comes with its own set of skills, along with accompanying lore linked to its origins. These are upgradable NFTs that can be made stronger and are tradeable in the VV marketplace.
Players in VV are encouraged to transform their land into different types of terrains, each with its own set of features and benefits, giving rise to a variety of strategies.
How to earn in VulcanVerse
Vulcanites are the key to any action that can later translate into earnings. They generally perform the same core tasks with varying levels of efficiency.
Battling other Vulcanites will be the main way to earn XP, and the Attack points matter most here. XP is used to level up your NFT unit. Higher units cost more in the marketplace.
Vulcanites can also be sent out to forage, with successful foraging able to bring in PYR tokens and other NFT items. The higher the level, the farther out you can forage, and the likelier you are to locate rarer items. The higher the rarity, the more they’ll fetch when you sell them in the marketplace.
Players can also use their units to spy on other plots of land owned by other players. Espionage actions can steal blueprints for items or assets you don’t already own.
Finally, Vulcanites always defend your plot… as other players will likely conduct Espionage on you to steal your hard-earned assets!
Interestingly, Vulcanites can also be used to a certain extent in other Vulcan Forged titles, such as Berserk, which is described in the following section.
Berserk
It has been three decades since Wizards of the Coast came up with the beloved trading card games, Magic: The Gathering. In Web3 or NFT versions, they are sometimes referred to as collectible card games, and Berserk is no different in terms of gameplay.
The game involves collecting cards, building a powerful deck, and battling other players, deck against deck. Berserker decks consist of 30 cards with a straightforward objective: reduce your opponent’s hero’s health to zero before they do the same to yours.
How to earn in Berserk
Like all card games in Web3, cards are just NFTs. You battle and gain XP, which you can use to level up your cards and get stronger units so you can defeat more powerful decks. As you gain more XP, you’ll progress to different leagues and face better opponents to win even more XP and other rewards, in the form of two types of tokens: PYR, and LAVA. We’ve already covered PYR, but LAVA is an additional token.
LAVA can be earned by staking PYR, but it is mainly given out for game interactions across all Vulcan offerings. Invite a friend, join a quest, complete quests, and basically engage in any type of Web3 interaction in the game to earn LAVA. You can then use Lava to upgrade your NFTs, enter tournaments, even sell on DEXs.
Rare cards fetch a good price in the Berserk marketplace, so that’s what you’re really aiming for when playing this game. A card has stats and special effects, but NFT aficionados will likely pay attention to the Rarity Gem symbol on a card, located in the top-right corner.
Vulcan Chess
There’s no need to talk at length about a battle chess game. The rules are the same as regular chess, except for the added excitement of cinematic battle sequences. The main reason to play Vulcan Chess is to compete against other players or bots in PVP mode and earn LAVA tokens.
Player Growth and Popularity
Vulcan boasts tens of thousands community members across Discord and social media, but clearly this statistic was likely made during the boom era of NFT games in 2021.
As of May 2023, DappRadar records about 400 unique users per day engaging in around 700 transactions, connecting to VulcanVerse and the Vulcan Marketplace. This is actually a pretty healthy number of daily players when compared to most other Web3 games of the era.
Encouragingly, there has been a gradual and consistent increase in activity over the past few months, potentially attributed to the rebranding efforts which emphasize a renewed direction and remedial progress within a previously stagnant market.
Vulcan Studios did suffer from a setback in late 2021 when hackers stole almost 10% of PYR from user wallets worth around $140 million at the time, but they have since shrugged off the incident, and its CEO Jamie Thomson continues to be an active personality in blockchain gaming.
The Future of Vulcan Studios: A Promising Path Ahead
Vulcan Studios has made a significant impact in the blockchain gaming world. With its assortment of games, ranging from the strategic Vulcan Chess to the adrenaline-pumping Berserk and of course VulcanVerse it has managed to attract a sizable player base, albeit still in its growth phase.
Despite facing the unfortunate setback of the PYR hack, the team behind VulcanVerse has shown remarkable resilience in bouncing back and continuing to deliver on their promise of immersive gameplay experiences.
As the Web3 space continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how Vulcan Studios will fare against other NFT gaming platforms vying for dominance. But for now, it stands as a promising contender with a dedicated community, intriguing gameplay mechanics, and a vision for the future.
