Looks like it's space week! Over yesterday's article about Farsite I've almost missed an even more important announcement coming from eXode! After more than a year of waiting, we'll finally see the first release of colonization gameplay. Not in a month, not in some weeks, it's going to be within the week! To tell the truth, I really did not see that coming but I'm certainly not going to complain! I've did countless articles on eXode during the last months and if you put them all together, you could probably assemble a whole book out of them. Nevertheless, I want to once more talk about why I'm so excited about eXode, why I think it's in a unique position in the blockchain gaming world, and why I very much believe that this might be one of the first blockchain games to actually make it to the mainstream world. What I'm not going to do is reword the announcement article, though. So if you are interested in all the juicy details on what to expect from the upcoming release, make sure to read the official announcement post once you are done here.
So what is eXode? I've tried explaining that in simple words a countless times already and it's still easier said than done. In short, it's a card based space exploration and colonization game. In the year 2325 the human race has colonized its side of the galaxy. Then, out of nothing, an alien exterminator species attacks mankind. Not just one planet, one space station, but the whole of humankind at once. Every new game of eXode puts you back to that exact moment. You are a star captain docked somewhere at a remote space station when the aliens attack. During that Evacuation stage it's up to you to refuel your ship, save as many civilians and cargo as possible, and get out there alive before the aliens blow everything up. If you do manage to survive, you will escape to the other end of the galaxy as mankind's only hope of preventing total extinction.
In order to do so, you'll establish a colony somewhere on an (ideally) habitable planet. Before that, though, you first need to find a suitable planet among the stars. During that short Scanning phase, you will go through different scanning options, see what planets you came out next to, but also check the passengers you managed to bring with you and also deal with the possible damage your ship will have suffered during the escape. Once you found a suitable candidate for colonization, you'll have your pilot land your ship there and start to establish your new colony. This Colonization phase is going to be the major part of the game. Contrary to Evacuation and Scanning, this will be more laid back, more focused on decision making and slowly expanding your colony while dealing with all kinds of threads that might come up.
Everything you take with you on a new Evacuation will be represented by NFTs like the ones shown above. These cards can come from booster packs, contract drops, or Origins (think Starter Packs), but they can also be found and earned within the game as legacy rewards or for accomplishing certain achievements. As such, you will only ever have to buy an Origin to enjoy eXode while everything else is strictly optional and many (unique) assets can be earned just by playing the game. It's important to understand that you will never loose these NFTs (well unless you sell them to other players of course). If one of your characters dies during Evacuation, his corresponding NFT will go on a cooldown but once that has run out, you are free to use your card again. Characters aren't the only thing represented by NFTs though, there are ships, weapons, even software, colony buildings, drugs, and so much more. Even now, there are already hundreds of cards available in the game, all with their own unique effects.
Nevertheless, eXode is certainly not the only game set up like that, there's a real NFT craze out there and there are dozens of other projects out there with pretty similar names attached to them. So why is eXode so unique? Well, there are quite some reasons, so please allow me to walk you through the most important ones.
eXode is a game first
This is such an important fact, I simply can't stress that enough. Most so called blockchain games are basically just a gamified investment scheme, some of them not even delivering any actual gameplay besides clicking a single button every XX minutes. These games are more worried about their tokenomics, doing presale after presale, basically just trying to earn as much money as possible before even thinking about what their actual gameplay is going to look like. eXode is the exact opposite of that. While valuation, the ability to earn while playing, and everything else are still important parts of the game, it's still a game first and only a blockchain title second. Just ask yourself - how many of your blockchain games would you be playing if they weren't actually running on the blockchain? To me, that's exactly one game - Splinterlands. Everything else is only "played" because there's money to be made. eXode is a game that I would love to play even if there was no blockchain technology involved at all. When I found out about the game a year ago, I joined because I was interested in the gameplay, in the vision @elindos put out there. The fact that it was running on blockchain was just a bonus to me.
From everything I've seen so far, the scope of eXode is literally going to blow every other blockchain title out of space. This is a full fledged game, with deep decision making, constant progress, many different viable builds. Characters level, minerals are mined, new technology is discovered. That's just way more than any other blockchain title is or even tries to be. Obviously, creating all that takes its time and as I mentioned above, I've been waiting more than a year for the release of Colonization. Even at that, this is just a first iteration, with many more to follow. But that's what's making the game so interesting to me - this is a game I want to follow and play for years to come!
eXode is running on Hive
Another extremely important part of what sets the game apart from many other titles. Hive is so much better at managing transactions in a near-instant time frame. There are no fees, no limits. You want to buy or sell an NFT? On Hive this is done within seconds. There have been quite some interesting titles out there on ETH but the truth is, ETH is just not made for gaming. Gods Unchained wasted almost a year on creating their own side-chain on ETH just so they could make trading and minting cards viable again. eXode will have none of these issues. It will be fast, scalable, and running without gas fees no matter how many players show up in the end. Like @gillianpearce commented on yesterday's article about Farsite, once I hear a game is running on ETH, I usually loose interest immediately.
eXode is made by a honest and passionate developer
This obviously is something a bit more personal than the other two top reasons, but it's just as important. Ever since I've joined the game's Discord more than a year ago, I've spent countless hours talking to @elindos, discussing various topics and ideas. If I've learned one thing about him, than it's that he's the honest kind of guy. In the end, he obviously wants to be able to make a living from eXode just like any other developer would. But that's not what keeps him going. He has a vision for the game, he's been wanting to make that game for a decade. Whenever he's making a decision, he's trying to look at the whole picture, trying to understand what's most going to benefit the game just as much as its players. He's somebody what will rather take a little longer and earn a little less than to rush things just so he can earn more money faster.
But he's also a guy that's full of ideas. He literally has hundreds of things in his mind that he wants to add to the game eventually. As I've mentioned above, I'd love to play eXode for years and I'm happy to know that @elindos has more than enough crazy ideas to make that a wholly enjoyable process.
If you've been following my articles for a while, this is probably no news for you, but I'm passionate about eXode. It's the game that really got me into the blockchain gaming world, and it's the one game that I'm the most hopeful for. This is still going to be a long and sometimes challenging journey. Not everything will be perfect when Colonization launches in a few days. But I know it will be glorious and it will be just the beginning of a wonderful journey across the stars.
So - if you want to be part of that journey, now is a great time to get onboard and join eXode. You will need to get at least an Origin sold at 10$ each from the store to get you started. After that, everything is strictly optional. If you join the game or if you already joined but don't own that many cards yet - just leave me a comment here with your account name and I'll make sure to get you some cards to really get you started on your own colonization adventure! I for one can't wait to set foot on an alien planet as soon as possible!
And that's all from me for today, thank you all for reading and see you next time!