Title: Archero
Developer: Habby
Publisher: Habby
Released: April 23, 2019
Platforms Available: iOS, Android
Platform Reviewed: Android
Maturity: Everyone 10+
Reading Time: 9 minutes
Gameplay Mechanics
Archero is a mobile rogue-like action game where you control an archer navigating through different levels, filled with all kinds of enemies, bosses and obstacles. The controls are simple: your character automatically shoots when stationary, and you move by dragging your finger on the screen. The real challenge is in dodging enemy attacks and managing your positioning.
You must constantly balance moving (dodging) and shooting, which can be tricky, especially as enemies swarm you. Each level is a single room filled with various monsters and traps, and clearing all enemies allows you to move to the next room. The difficulty ramps up quickly, requiring you to think strategically about your movements and attacks.
As you progress, you gain experience points that allow you to choose from random upgrades that you receive every time you level up, adding a nice layer of strategy. I enjoyed experimenting with different power-ups combos, like multi-shot, piercing arrow and ricochet arrows, or getting all orb abilities to circle around me, which significantly changed how I approached each level.
Graphics and Visuals
Archero features bright, colorful graphics with a cartoony art style. The character designs are simple but distinct, and the animations are smooth. Each environment is vibrant and detailed, from lush forests to dark dungeons. The enemies are varied, and their attack patterns are easy to distinguish by the visuals, which helps with planning your moves.
Sound and Music
The soundtrack in Archero is upbeat and matches the game’s fast-paced action well. The sound effects are apparent and provide good feedback for your actions, like the sound of arrows hitting targets and enemies making distinct noises when defeated.
While the music and sound effects are well-done, they didn’t stand out as much as the gameplay and visuals. There were moments when I would lower the volume to focus more on the visuals and gameplay. However, the audio cues were still helpful for understanding enemy attacks and my own actions.
Multiplayer and Online Features
Archero is primarily a single-player game with no traditional multiplayer modes. However, it occasionally features events that introduce multiplayer elements. Read more about it in the events section following.
Events
Archero regularly features events that provide additional challenges and rewards. These events vary in theme and difficulty, offering players unique opportunities to earn rare items, exclusive equipment, and significant amounts of in-game currency. Here are some of the notable events.
- Daily Challenges: These are short, time-limited events that offer rewards for completing specific tasks. They are a great way to earn extra resources quickly. I found these challenges to be a fun addition, providing daily incentives to log in and play. Completing the daily challenges became a part of my routine, and they often pushed me to try different strategies.
- Weekly Events: These events typically last for a week and involve more complex tasks than daily challenges. They often require players to complete multiple objectives or reach certain milestones. The rewards are usually more substantial, meaning you have bigger chances to obtain rare gear and large amounts of in-game currencies. These events kept me engaged and motivated to play regularly.
- Special Themed Events: Occasionally, Archero hosts special events tied to holidays or game updates. These events introduce unique levels, enemies, and sometimes limited-time power-ups or abilities. These events often reward with exclusive items and are always worth participating in.
- Hero Trials: These are events where you can test new heroes or specific abilities. They provide a great opportunity to try out different playstyles without committing resources to unlock the heroes permanently. I found these trials to be a useful way to decide which heroes to invest in. Testing out a hero with a unique skill set helped me figure out if they fit my playstyle before investing heavily in them. This will come in handy in the late game, since you will need quite some time to unlock the heroes.
- Guild Events: Although Archero is primarily a single-player game, some events encourage community engagement through guilds. These events involve collective goals where all members contribute to achieving a target. Joining a guild for these events was rewarding, both in terms of in-game benefits and the social aspect, since there is a chat too. Also certain microtransactions will reward the rest of your guild a chest.
- Duo Mode Event: This event allows players to team up with a friend or another player online to beat the challenges together. It’s a temporary cooperative mode that is active once a week. The Duo Mode event is a refreshing break from solo play and is definitely one of the highlights when it’s available. I personally enjoyed it a lot!
Overall, the events in Archero are well-designed and add significant value to the game. They provide variety and keep the gameplay fresh, offering players new challenges and rewards regularly.
Blacksmith and Gear Upgrades
In Archero, the Blacksmith plays a crucial role in upgrading your gear. Upgrading weapons, armor, and accessories is essential to progressing through tougher levels. The Blacksmith allows you to enhance your gear using resources collected from your runs and events.
You can also fuse duplicate items to create stronger versions, or dismantle them to get resources. I spent a lot of time optimizing my gear to find the best combinations for different challenges. The gear progression system is pretty good and well balanced too, but do expect to invest some time into grinding for specific items!
Talents
Talents in Archero are passive abilities that provide boosts to your character. These talents can be unlocked and upgraded using in game gold. Talents can enhance your health, attack speed, dodge rate, and other attributes, making a significant impact on your performance. One thing worth noting is that you can’t choose which talent you want to upgrade, it will be randomly selected from the list of your talents.
Dark Mode
Archero also features a Dark Mode, which is a much more challenging game mode, hardcore mode if you will. Levels are darker, both in terms of visual design and difficulty. The enemies are tougher, much tougher, from their health pools and abilities to their hit points, everything is scaled up, and the level designs are not forgiving either.
Replayability and Longevity
One of Archero’s strengths is its high replay value. Each run is different due to the procedurally generated levels and random power-ups. There are also various heroes to unlock and upgrade, which also have their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses.
I came back to the game frequently for the past few weeks, since there are many chapters and events to clear, so it is definitely a game you could play for a while! As I wrote before, he game also includes daily and weekly challenges, which provide additional incentives to keep playing too!
User Interface and Accessibility
The user interface in Archero is clean and intuitive. Menus are easy to navigate, and important information is clearly displayed. The controls are straightforward, with simple touch and drag mechanics that work well on mobile devices.
Technical Performance
Archero performs well on mobile devices. I didn’t encounter any crashes or significant lag during my playthroughs. The loading times are quick, and the game is optimized to run smoothly even on older devices.
Personal Impressions
Playing Archero has been a fun and challenging experience. I enjoyed the blend of rogue-like mechanics with the simplicity of a mobile shooter. The game can be pretty tough, especially as you advance to higher levels, and maybe grindy if you focus on the main gameplay, but since there are so many events all the time, that should not be a problem.
Additional Insights
Archero includes microtransactions, which can help speed up progression or unlock new heroes, but they aren’t necessary to enjoy the game. The game is well-designed to be played for free, though spending money can provide a shortcut.
There are also ads you can watch for extra rewards, but you are not forced to do otherwise! So it is up to you whether you want to watch them or not! Rewards can actually be decent compared to the other games with a similar ad-reward system.
Conclusion
Archero is a well-crafted mobile game that offers a lot of fun and challenges. It’s perfect for quick sessions or extended play, and its replayability keeps it fresh over time. While there are areas for improvement, the game’s strengths make it a standout in the mobile rogue-like genre. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an engaging, fast-paced yet strategic mobile shooter game. It is worth noting that Archero won the Game of the Year award in 2019, too!
Where to Buy Archero
Google Play (Android): Available for free with in-app purchases. Download it from Google Play.
App Store (iOS): Available for free with in-app purchases. Download it from the App Store.
Official Page: Visit the official Archero page for more information.
Subreddit: Join the discussion on the Archero Subreddit.
