CURSE of AROS

   Curse of Aros, an isometric perspective pixel graphics mobile MMORPG, may look very simple and not worth playing at first glance, but once you enter the game's universe, you start to realize it's not as it seems. Even though the game is currently in its beta period, it has better gameplay and graphics than other mobile games of the same genre. At the same time, it features a skill system that should exist in most RPG games but often doesn't. I will explain these in detail further in the article. 

   First of all, I want to start by talking about the visuals, sounds, and gameplay, in other words, the general style of the game and the atmosphere it creates for us. The visuals have a structure that doesn’t strain the eyes and actually looks better as you get used to them. As I said at the beginning, the graphics are pixel-art based, but the pixelation is not harsh, so it doesn’t bother you. In terms of sound, there aren’t many options, as the overall sounds are monotonous, but when you go to other places on the map, the music changes. I would love to hear different music and sound effects, but you may not notice the lack unless you focus carefully.

   I wanted to dedicate a separate paragraph to gameplay because it is better and more detailed than the visuals and sounds, and I didn't want it to get lost in between them. Currently, you can only use a sword as a weapon (there should also be an axe), but I think over time bows and mage staffs will also become usable, since the game is still in beta and has a long development road ahead. Apart from that, you can dig holes in the desert and find some items. Of course, potions are an indispensable part of such games. There are three different health potions which we can call small, medium, and large potions. I think alchemy will be introduced in a new update, and with this, we will be able to craft different potions to temporarily increase our abilities. The game map consists of a single area; although there are a few caves, I think they are all in the same place. There is no loading screen, which is a nice factor, but one of the biggest shortcomings of the game is the lack of a map—so you have to memorize the map and locations or look them up online.

   Some of the systems I like most in the game are as follows: a meteor randomly falls and you can mine it for ores, and similarly a magical tree can grow and you can chop it down for various woods. The above two events and anything important in the game is written in the chat area, for example when someone drops a very valuable item, a boss appears, or someone gets a pet. Yes, there is also a pet system in the game; they fight alongside you and you can feed them to make them deal more damage. Most of the pets drop from monsters but the drop chance is very rare. The pets you get are kept in a place called Arosdex, clearly referencing the pokedex. It’s as if they are telling you to collect all the monsters. While we're at it, let me give you a quick piece of information: you can level up to 120, but your pets can go up to 108.

   The number and types of creatures in the game are sufficient and they have nice designs; it’s clear that care is put into them. New monsters and events are introduced at certain special times. In short, actually everything in the game is at a sufficient level, but as it gets developed, players keep saying yes, this was needed too. The items, monsters, equipment and lots of different information can be found on the game's wiki page. For example, you can find out which item drops from which monster at what rate, or what you need to craft something.

   Let’s briefly look at how the creators of this game make money. There is money called Shard that you can buy with real money, but you can also buy it from other people for in-game money. It doesn’t make a big difference, in fact I can say it only changes your appearance. In short, cosmetic items and some special pets can be purchased with them. As far as I know, no pet deals more damage than another, so there is no pay-to-win situation there either. 

   There are no systems like adding friends or forming a guild in the game and in my opinion, this is a major shortcoming because I really enjoy such social structures. I am sure those will be added over time and the game will continue to be developed according to player opinions. Even as it is now, the game's community is very nice to each other and they help newcomers to the game. As I near the end of the article, I want to mention one more thing: you can learn most of what you want to know by writing it in the chat section. We can list these commands as follows.

/help: Brings up a message showing the following things and explaining what they do.

/update: Redirects you to the Play Store page.

/discord: Redirects you to the Discord channel of the game.

/website: Redirects you to the game's website.

/wiki: Redirects you to the game's wiki page.

/patreon: Redirects you to the Patreon page.

/players: Shows the number of players on the server you are currently on.

/welcome: Shows the page you see on your first entry into the game.

/tasks - /task: Shows your active tasks and progress.

/kc: Shows how many of each creature you have killed.

/names: Shows the meaning of 6 different name colors.

   The skills you can develop outside of combat are: Mining, smithing, woodcutting, crafting, fishing, cooking, alchemy (alchemy is currently not active but will be added to the game very soon). For mining, you need to mine ores around the map. You must smelt your ores at the center of the map and then make armor at the anvil using a hammer. For woodcutting, you need to cut different trees around. In crafting, you should use the chopped wood to make runes. For fishing, you should go fishing at certain spots with a rod and bait. In cooking, you cook the fish you catch. In short, two of the skills are interconnected; you need to progress in one to progress in another. In the alchemy system to be added with the update, it looks like we will be able to gather flowers around. 

   And every time you level up, you gain 2 stat points, which you can distribute to health, sharpness, strength, defense. I ignored health and defense and gave all the points to sharpness and strength. I think armors already provide sufficient health and defense. However, if you want to change, resetting your points is really cheap. Play this game, make others play it, do everything. Go to the website and check the rankings. Make new friends and pray for updates to come faster. The developers really bring updates slowly.