AFK Journey Could be So Much More and Earn So Much Less
If you have been online at all recently you may have been hit with an ad or two for AFK Journey, the latest attempt to swindle you of all your money in the hopes you can collect a cute elf or lion man.
This game is my favourite way to keep my phone from getting bored while riding the bus.
AFK classically means away from keyboard and It denotes the genre this game is solidly in. The Journey part of the title is what you will be doing to the cash shop for the battle pass.
It’s a hyper polished game that removes some of the busy work this genre can sometimes bring. Gear can be auto equipped by class and your entire harem matches the level of your top five characters, giving you the flexibility to change your party composition at any time without getting punished for it.
All of this takes just enough clicks to make you feel busy and important. A lot like clicking the refresh inbox button at work and getting no new emails. In fact, frantically scrolling Google images for hot maidens and occasionally deleting a shortcut off your desktop will give you about the same rush as playing this game.
There are a few engaging game modes like a PvP arena which is a venue for whales to suplex you and a roguelike type mode where you build a team from scratch. It’s actually pretty good. but these feel more like diversions than a primary occupation.
AFK makes floppy wrist gestures toward the MMO genre with an overworld where you can see other players wandering around
Unfortunately autorouting to Quest objectives and even treasure chests flattens that experience to the point the world is little more than another pretty screensaver with the occasional attempt at a world puzzle.
Now I know that this is an entire genre of game and that it has it’s place and it’s incredibly popular for a reason. but wherever that place is, it’s not in the same postcode as me. And this isn’t AFK’s fault, it’s mine, I’m the problem. I’m just mad because this is game is so beautiful.
But If they followed my advice and made a more hands-on experience instead of billions of dollars they could be making millions of dollars almost immediately.