IN the past couple of decades, mobile games have grown extremely popular, far outpacing even console games. For instance, companies like Konami, who previously made games for consoles and PC, transitioned towards mobile gaming in the mid-2010s due to its profitability.
Arguably the biggest, most popular format when it comes to developing mobile games is the gacha mechanic, which is part of the word gashapon that originates from Japan.
Remember those vending machines that were extremely popular from the 70s to late 90s, where after you put a certain amount of coins into the machine’s slot, and turned a knob, it would pop out a capsule with a toy inside?
Essentially gambling due to the random nature of what would be inside the capsule, the gacha mechanic of vending machines was adapted heavily into mobile games.
Players would spend their real world money to buy in-game currency. Then, they would use that currency to gacha or “pull from a machine”, and depending on their luck, they would either get something of high value or absolute trash.
Due to the nature of gambling and the dopamine hit in a gambler’s brain when they get lucky, mobile games structured around the gacha mechanic are huge moneymakers, particularly in countries like China and Japan, where players are known to splurge hefty amounts of real hard cash for advantages in these particular games.
As the popularity of these games boomed, game publishers pushed out mobile games that heavily leaned into getting players to gamble. Not long after, other publishers moved away from centralising gacha in their game design, so that players could play for free and spend money if they wanted to.
Here is theSun’s top five picks of the best gacha-light games.
Dragon Ball Legends
In Dragon Ball Legends, players can put together their dream team to fight other Dragon Ball characters, as the story is from the point of view of Shallot, a brand new character first introduced in this game. The gameplay is a mixture of real time fighting and card deck gameplay, where character actions in battle are dictated by the types of cards that are drawn from the deck.
Honkai: Star Rail
Released last year, MiHoYo’s Honkai: Star Rail is the company’s latest anime-styled gacha role-playing game (RPG) and it is a classic turn-based RPG.
As Star Rail’s lead character, players join a large cosmic train that travels the universe along the “star rail”, while helping others along the way. The summary may seem simple, but the actual writing and story progression in Star Rail is unexpectedly deep.
The game is also known for being relatively light on the gacha component, as players can progress through Star Rail without spending real world money, as various activities in the game will reward players with the currency needed to “pull” new characters.
Genshin Impact
Also developed by MiHoYo, Genshin Impact sits on the other side of the same coin as Star Rail. In the game, players assume the role of “the traveller” and their fairy companion, as the duo journey across seven continents.
What separates this game from its successor Star Rail, is how Genshin Impact is an action RPG game set in a fully open world. The combat system is very fluid and responsive, and there is also a multiplayer component with co-op support for up to four real world players.
Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space
Though console games have shied away from turn-based role-playing games, mobile games are leveraging off the genre, and like Star Rail, Another Eden is a hit gacha game due to that feature. The game follows the story of Aldo, who has to save his abducted sister Feinne.
To spice things up, developer WFS incorporated new mechanics in the game, such as Switch, which allows players to trade active and reserve characters during battle.
For its gacha, players will enjoy how they do not need to spend real money to pull characters, as the game has many ways to collect the “chronos stones” in-game currency.
Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent (COTC)
COTC is the prequel to the first Octopath Traveler game on the Nintendo Switch, and like it, does not have a primary main character. Set on the continent of Orsterra, the game’s story is epic in scale and perpetually evolves as Square Enix gradually releases more content.
For the first arc in COTC, new players will collect three magical rings held by a wealthy drug heiress, a warmonger and an insidious playwright-cum-actor, which will culminate with players attempting to stop a mad king after he kills his own daughter.
The gameplay in COTC is similar to Another Eden’s classic turn-based battles, but more complex and requires thorough understanding of various gameplay mechanics. Like the other gacha games listed above, COTC uses an in-game currency in the form of rubies, which can be bought with real money, or progressively and generously saved from logging in daily, completing activities and story objectives.
The game also has several events – usually for festive periods such as Chinese New Year – and there are even crossover events, where players can try to pull characters from other franchises. At the time of writing, there is an ongoing crossover event with characters from Bravely Default, a 2012 game.
