Idle RPGs are a dime a dozen these days, especially as more and more free-to-play games dominate the mobile market. There's certainly an irresistible appeal to games that still reward you even when you're logged out - because we all have to do some adulting, don't we? - but with Blitz: Rise of Heroes, it's a little harder to get back to the game after you've been away.
Not to be harsh or anything, but with so many idle RPGs to choose from, it can be extremely difficult for a game to find a spot in that same market. Whaleapp's attempt to grab a slice of the pie is pretty okay, but in today's highly competitive market, valiant efforts to be "okay" sadly aren't enough to stand out.
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The gameplay of Blitz: Rise of HeroesBlitz: Rise of Heroes pretty much has everything you'd expect in a free-to-play idle RPG on mobile. There's your squad of characters you can pull from a summons pool via a gacha system, and portrait orientation with a dynamic main menu where you can see your characters duking it out with their foes.
You can go through the main campaign simply by auto-battling your way through enemies, and every so often, you can reap idle rewards when you get back to the main menu or when you return to the game after logging out for a while.
Combat is a 6v6 team of melee and ranged attackers, with different builds for characters ranging from mages to tanks. You typically hold down on the Level Up button to boost your character's level and stats, as well as auto-equip items you pick up from the game's various game modes.
Apart from the Campaign, you can go on a roguelike journey through the Treasure Maze (which is by far my favourite game mode), climb the towers of the Flaming Fortress, or test your skills against other players in the PvP Arena. These other game modes are a great way to collect materials to help level up your characters when, as expected, your progress slows down in the main campaign as you get to higher chapters.
Blitz: Rise of Heroes graphicsWhile there's nothing new about the gameplay, the graphics do look good, with gorgeous character art and 3D models for the characters. Gazing at your hero collection in the Heroes menu is a joy, but seeing them in action during combat kind of makes them look a little dull. Actions aren't very smooth, and there can be too many things happening on the battle screen all at once, making everything look very clunky.
Lines of dialogue aren't voiced either, and all you can hear from the characters during battles are random grunts and warcries that, frankly, sound less inspiring and more awkward. There also isn't too much strategizing involved when it comes to battles - winning a match mainly boils down to whether or not you've got a higher character level or greater combat power.
What's the appeal?To be honest, Blitz: Rise of Heroes actually might have been more enjoyable if I didn't have any other games in the same genre to play instead. Unfortunately, it just feels a little unpolished, and is easily overshadowed by other titles.
In particular, I'm talking about Mythic Heroes: Idle RPG, which is the latest mobile game in the same genre that I recently had the pleasure of playing. It had more strategic use of skills, a more interesting narrative and character histories, amazing voice acting, and even an auto feature you can turn on to help you automatically head to the next level or stage during the main campaign.
Blitz: Rise of Heroes, while not entirely terrible, doesn't have enough oomph to get noticed in a sea of idle RPGs. There are Faction bonuses, Guild features, and your typical crafting and Ascencion features for dupes, but playing through the game made me feel like I've seen it all before. I really wanted to like this game but was sadly disappointed - and, given how pretty the character art is, it's just a darn shame.