Aerthlings revives toys-to-life with NFC figures and a lineage-based trading system
Physical collectibles return to mobile
- Aerthlings is now available on iOS and Android in the US
- NFC FIGs unlock characters while staying in your digital collection
- Lineage system rewards all previous owners when figures are traded
Toys-to-life has had a complicated history. Skylanders made it feel magical, Amiibo made it feel collectible, and then the whole thing collapsed under the weight of plastic figures nobody had shelf space for. Aerthlings is taking another run at it, launching in the US on iOS and Android with a twist on the formula that's at least trying to do something different.
The setup is straightforward enough. You buy physical cube-shaped NFC mystery boxes called FIGs, scan them into the game, and a character hatches into your roster. From there, it's a mobile RPG – levelling up, battling, rebuilding a shattered planet called Aerth while fending off the Moonlings who broke it in the first place. The RPG itself is free. The FIGs are sold separately, which is where the business model lives.
The more interesting angle is how trading works. Usually, with physical collectibles, trading means giving something up. Here, when you pass a FIG along, your digital character stays in your collection.
The FIG earns you Mutation Points, and every time it changes hands again, everyone in its ownership history gets a cut of the rewards through a system called Lineages. It's a smart enough mechanic; it makes trading feel less like loss and more like an investment.
Mystery boxes are mystery boxes, of course. The thrill of the rare pull is very much part of this, and with 24 character species across varying rarities in the Genesis Collection, the completionist math is already doing what it's designed to do.
The team behind it comes from Osmo and Sphero, and previously published Beasts of Balance, so there's genuine toys-to-life heritage here. There's also a 10-episode animated series on YouTube that's already cleared 3.5 million views, so there may be some traction here at least.
Aerthlings is free on iOS and Android now.
If you're after more to explore in the RPG space without the physical side of things, our list of the best RPGs on Android is a good place to start.
