With more than 200 characters, an incredible soundtrack and a unique fantasy aesthetic (think high-gothic-meets-airship-pirates) The worldwide launch of Exos Heroes is something any gacha or RPG fan should take notice of. Developed by Oozoo and serviced by LINE games, Exos Heroes is already one of the most popular Gacha-style RGP’s in Korea.

But for everyone outside of Korea, May 28th is the first chance to download the game on either IOS or Android fully translated and regionalized. Thanks to LINE Games, I got my hands on a copy in advance -- here is everything you need to know about Exos Heroes!

Next-level graphics for a mobile game

It’s 2020 and we shouldn’t be surprised when mobile games look just as good as some of their console counterparts. However, it is hard to understate how good Exo Heroes looks. Fully voice-acted characters are brimming with personality which makes combats and cut-scenes much more enjoyable than similar Gacha counterparts.

In addition, the attack and ability animations during battle look straight out of an action anime. The primary character is a young treasure hunter named Zeon. He appears first as an expected main “protagonist”, but I was pleasantly surprised with how mobile and dramatic his sword slashes are. Each character fights with flair that matches their personality, a must for the mobile RPG genre that is sure to include a healthy amount of grinding

Distinguished Art Style

One of the most refreshing aspects of Exo Heroes is the multiple art styles on display throughout the game. The overworld view switches to a “Chibi” version as your band of warriors travel throughout the world. Meanwhile, the menu screens have hand-drawn portraits of each character that especially come to life during dialogue.

Meanwhile, the primary home-screen prominently features the full 3-D models of your squad. With a tap of the screen, you can see your character's individual animations and hear their voice lines. This doesn’t seem like much when you are playing with the starting squad, but once you collect your favorite characters, it is fun to see all of the different ways the artists have brought them to life.

Strategy combat that encourages customized teams

Like any traditional RPG, each character you encounter has a specific role or niche they excel at. Tanks, Attack, Healers, Support and Chaos types (Chaos types do combinations of many things) are needed on your roster to capitalize on different enemies weaknesses. These weaknesses come in the form of elemental affinities (Fire, Ice, Nature, Light, Machinery, Light, and Dark) and each character (including your friendly ones!) are assigned an element. In combat, each character is protected by a guardian stone of their respective alignment.

In order to “Break” this stone, you must attack it with the same alignment! Enemies you haven’t encountered before have their guardian stone hidden, so you must first test the weakness with multiple abilities. Once you successfully Break an enemy, the advantage is tremendous as they are stunned and receive double damage for several turns -- creating a squad designed to quickly break enemies guardian stones is vital if you plan on defeating elite opponents later in the game.

This makes characters with AoE abilities particularly useful, as you can test the weaknesses of multiple enemies at once. However, because the goal is to match the element of your attack with that of your enemies, your enemies can have the same advantage against your characters, so watch out!

A useful AFK mode when you are busy

Not everyone has the time (nor desire) to manually grind the level ups needed to make a powerful squad. Whereas the manual grind has been a staple of RPG’s for decades, Exos Heroes includes a definitive “Sleep Mode” that allows players to sit back and do other things while the squad goes on “Expeditions”.

This mode consumes Stamina (the resources required to battle and progress through the game) so it is a great way to ensure a player isn’t wasting their Stamina just because they don’t have time to play. While your team is exploring, players can obtain experience, gold, and all sorts of items. This mode also includes a “Battery Saver” screen that allows this mode to take very little battery life -- ideal for the sleeping gamer who still needs to grind.

Exos Heroes will launch globally on May 28th, available on iOS and Android. Inven Global will be providing game guides, coverage, and everything you need to know in order to take launch week by storm and build a power-house team!

Images via Line Games