Raid: Shadow Legends

"This title is advertised as free-to-play, which is true, I guess. But it's not free-to-play in the same way as Path of Exile or Warframe are free-to-play. It's a kinda demented pseudo-free-to-play."

- Upper Echelon Gamers Raid: Shadow Legends is a free-to-play fantasy gacha RPG developed and published by Israeli game developer Plarium Games for mobile and PC.

Why It Doesn't Deserve Sponsorship

 * 1) Over-saturation: Although it claims to be one of the most "ambitious" mobile games of 2018, it's yet another gacha-based fantasy turn-based RPG that has been all but done to death. Many examples of this type of game such as Epic 7, Fate/Grand Order and Summoners War have existed on mobile platforms for a very long time and the only major difference Raid has is that it has a more western fantasy style while almost all other gachas tend to adopt an animesque style.
 * 2) Again, like many games of this genre, Raid may be free-to-play, but it is also blatantly pay-to-progress. It's very difficult to obtain legendary heroes and the only other option in the game is to summon them by collecting various materials, leveling, and promoting other characters. However, many of these materials are obtained from time-limited events, which are nearly impossible to win without decent heroes or something green and flat out of your wallet...
 * 3) * The game's underlying structure also encourages aggressive spending. Every time you head back to the main menu, it thrusts a bunch of promotional "pay-to-win" pop-ups in your face, and even something as simple as unequipping a rune (which should be available for free) can cost large amounts of resources.
 * 4) Because of the pay-to-win nature of the game, making progress in it is actually quite difficult without spending money in some way, as the game keeps on tossing you useless materials.
 * 5) * While Raid claims that it has more than 400 champions, it's very hard to collect even a fraction of them due to how much the gacha system is rigged against you.
 * 6) False advertising: The game claims that it has "thrilling gameplay", but it's literally just like any other turn-based RPGs, just turn-based clicking. In fact, the game even included an "auto-battle function" so you can skip the "thrilling gameplay" altogether. As D'Angelo Wallace claims: "One doesn't play Raid: Shadow Legends so much as one watches Raid: Shadow Legends."
 * 7) * Speaking of the ads, there's also the over-saturation of ads. Advertisements for Raid have literally flooded every social media platform and a large number of YouTubers (mh:amazingyoutubers:JonTron, mh:amazingyoutubers:Caddicarus, TheGamerFromMars and mh:besttvshows:The Angry Video Game Nerd himself included) are now doing sponsorships for this game. Judging from how Plarium Games simply provides the same rigid script that provides little to no personalization, it gets very repetitive very quickly and makes it quite clear that these YouTubers have never really played the game. It ended up becoming a meme because of this.
 * 8) ** According to Upper Echelon Gamers, despite the fact that he rejected the sponsorship and even dissed the game himself, Plarium Games still approached him with the offer again and again like a broken record, due to YouTube's content policy that forces YouTubers and advertisers to promote their content just to stay relevant.
 * 9) ** Additionally, they also deny that their sponsorship pitches are scripted.
 * 10) *Like most mobile games, this game got its fame from massive false advertising and YouTube sponsorships.
 * 11) The game also suffers from technical issues and has a rather high tendency to crash.
 * 12) Like many other pay-to-win games on mobile, it has been suspected that Plarium Games are using bots to either suppress bad reviews or post fake five-star reviews. Some Reddit users have also pointed out that the reason why there are not many negative reviews in the first place is that gamers only review-bomb games they care about and invested time and effort in.
 * 13) Even worse is the fact that Plarium loves to nerf certain characters just to give paying players an advantage. One of the patches has them nerf the character Executioner, who is rather popular amongst free-to-play players, for the sole reason that Executioner is "too competitive". Players who've spent a lot of time farming for Executioner got no compensation and those who attempted to refund or chargeback got banned from the game entirely.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The graphics are relatively decent for a mobile game at least, but it was kinda made to look inferior because Plarium claims that the graphics for this game are comparable to "console and PC games". The PC version of the game has HD-quality textures that are downloaded in-game, with frequent updates.
 * 2) The animations are fluid and well done.
 * 3) The "live-action" commercials made for the game are surprisingly very well-made and often downright hilarious, with the models of the champions being extremely good with a lot of attention to detail, and the effects and editing look decent as well. Some fans have even half-jokingly suggested Plarium looking into movie contracts.

Trivia

 * 1) The game's developer, Plarium Games, is currently owned by Aristocrat Leisure Limited, an Australian casino slot machine manufacturer whose CEO just so happens to also be the current head of the American Gaming Association.

Videos
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