Dawn of the Immortals is a free-to-play, fantasy MMORPG on mobile devices with high quality graphics, real-time action combat, persistent and instanced maps, lots of quests, an in-depth pet system, and streamlined gameplay.
Classes and Character Creation
Dawn of the Immortals begins with a bright and colorful Character Creation screen that features 6 different characters. Players can choose one of these 6 characters who represent the 3 different classes (Magus, Berzerker, and Priest) with male and female counterparts. Magi are ranged sorcerers armed with staffs that deliver powerful elemental spells upon their foes. Berzerkers are large melee warriors armed with two-handed axes with high amounts of health and decent amounts of damage. Priests are short, half-human, half-animal creatures that specialize in healing and boosting defense. Each character has 5 different hairstyles, which represent the game’s only appearance customization. All the characters, however, are very detailed and are different in both appearance and gameplay.
A Charming Fantasy World
Dawn of the Immortals has a semi-open world that combines persistent areas with instanced quest dungeons. The world is colorful and the graphics look great for a mobile game. Players start off on a grassy persistent area where there are NPCs to talk to and monsters to fight. Dawn of the Immortals has many persistent areas full of quest NPCs and monsters although these areas not super large and players won’t spend too much time in each of these maps. There are, however, a lot of these maps that greatly vary in environments and themes and there are occasionally some other players roaming these areas. Towns are also persistent and players can find shops, quest NPCs, and other players in the main city.
Questing and Instanced Quest Dungeons
Questing plays a large role in Dawn of the Immortals. Players will constantly move from one quest to another and the game is very beginner-friendly as it guides players to where they need to go. The game has an auto-move feature which is extremely convenient. Tapping on your quest overlay take will you straight to the quest NPC you need to talk to or the monster you’re supposed to fight. Questing usually involves killing a certain number of monsters or talking to a certain NPC. These monsters can be in the persistent areas or the instanced dungeons. Quest NPCs will teleport players to instanced dungeons very often for part of the story, and players will have to solo these areas and complete the quest objectives. The instanced dungeons are quite varied in appearance and the story is somewhat interesting and well-written to aid in the RPG gaming experience. Most objectives in these dungeons, again, are just talking to NPCs and killing monsters but there is usually also a powerful boss to defeat. Overall, questing was very simple and beginner-friendly with the auto-move features but at the same time, very convenient and still interesting to see how the story unfolds and what new areas you will be brought to next.
Simplified but Engaging Action Combat
Dawn of the Immortals features action, hack and slash combat, but is slightly different than the action combat seen in most other games. Players can move their character with a virtual joystick on the bottom left of their screen and have a button on the bottom right to attack, as well as skill hotkeys. Unlike other games, where tapping the attack button will stop your character and make them attack, the attack button in Dawn of the Immortals acts as an auto-targeting mechanism that takes your character to the nearest enemy (if there is an enemy nearby). Once you’re within attacking range (depending on your class), tapping the attack button again will make your character attack and you have to keep tapping to keep attacking. It’s a bit more simplified because technically you don’t have to move with the joystick during combat. If you just keep tapping attack, your character will automatically keep moving to nearby enemies and attacking them. You can, however, move and attack at the same time which adds some kiting fun for the Magus and Priest classes. Using skills also changes up the monotony of spamming the attack button. This game may feel automated to some players due to the auto-move questing and auto-targeting combat.
A Loyal Pet that Fights by Your Side
Dawn of the Immortals has a fairly in-depth pet system that most mobile MMORPGs lack. Players start off with a cute, little, green tribesman pet after completing the tutorial and there are many more pets that can be acquired throughout the game. Pets have various skills that can strengthen themselves or the player, and weaken enemies. Pets can level up by fighting alongside the player and they also get experience when players complete quests. Once a pet has enough “STAR” experience, players can level them up with in-game gold for pets levels 2-5. To reach pet level 6 (max), 3 of the same pets at level 5 must be combined. Pets can be obtained from pet summons (in-app purchase) and from certain instances that drop Pet Eggs. The pet system offers players a unique companion to fight by their side and an additional entity to level up and customize.
Cash Shop/In-App Purchases (IAP)
In-app purchases in Dawn of the Immortals offer players advantages and bonuses but are fairly lenient. Gems (the premium currency) can be used to purchase pet summons and pet items, which include pet enhancement items, pet skills, and pet exp stones. Gems can also be used to purchase equipment enhancement supplies, in-game gold, and cosmetic outfits. There is also VIP statuses players can purchase which gives bonus exp, increases in PVP challenge limits, opportunities to enter special instances, and other bonuses. Paying players can get advantages by obtaining unique pets, items to level their pets faster, exp boosts, and enhancement supplies that allow them to upgrade their equipment faster than others. Spending money, however, is not necessary to enjoy the game but paying will decrease the time spent grinding and offer other bonuses, which in my opinion, is still not really required.
Final Verdict – Great
Dawn of the Immortals was developed by Perfect World Entertainment and had a big name to live up to, but it managed to succeed in many levels. Although the game might feel automated and paying members do have some advantages, Dawn of the Immortals offers impressive graphics, persistent and instanced maps, action gameplay, lenient in-app purchases, and streamlined questing that makes it a very enjoyable mobile MMORPG that all gamers should try out.
