A Review of the Most Popular Pokémon-Like Virtual Pet Play-to-Earn Games

Axie Infinity became one of the fastest-growing NFT games this year. Following the NFT boom, crypto gaming grew up tremendously this year, and this game became one of the main flagmen.

Interestingly enough, virtual pet games were at the center of the NFT collectibles trend. Even the first Pokémon game was promoted with the slogan, “Catch Them All.” People’s passion for collecting is a well-known thing already. On the other hand, just regular NFT collecting lacks the possibility for interaction with your items. Of course, you can use your items as an avatar somewhere, but physical collecting still involves more interaction.

That’s where the blockchain gaming industry wins. Crypto games provide you with a decent level of engagement with your items, even within a game’s ecosystem. Virtual pet games, which the Pokémon-like games are, provide both collecting and interacting mechanics.

However, Axie Infinity is not the only virtual pet game in the industry. Moreover, Axie Infinity is even far away from the original Pokémon games in terms of mechanics and visuals. In this article, we’ll review the most prominent virtual pet projects in the blockchain gaming industry.

Aurory

Aurory is very close to Pokémon games in terms of visuals and gameplay. While Axie Infinity is focused more on battles, collecting, and breeding, Aurory provides the adventure mode, which is more relatable to JRPG. Moreover, visually, the game is close to the Pokémon series; even creatures’ cards look similar but realized in 3D. However, Aurory emphasizes different shades of the violet color. It definitely stands out in the stack of other blockchain projects.

From a technical point of view, Aurory is based on Solana blockchain, which means lower transaction fees and computing time compared to ERC-20 token-based games. The developers already conducted an IDO of $AURY and introduced staking. However, the real gameplay is yet to be seen. The project looks and sounds promising. Also, it already was backed up by Animoca Brands and Solana itself.

Aavegotchi

Aavegotchi is more than a regular virtual pet game. The developers are aiming to create the biggest multiverse on the Aave protocol. So far, they are succeeding. “Pets” are represented here as pixelated ghosts with skins and wearables, which is an allusion to the protocol’s mascot.

The NFTs are switchable between 2D and 3D, which allows for the possibility to use them in both types of mini-games. In general, it’s an entire adventure game within the metaverse that is currently being developed.

Read the full review of the game here:

Aavegotchi Review: Tamagotchi but with Ghosts [Halloween Special]

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Grasshopper Farm

This is a surrealistic one. As you noticed, the most interesting projects try to stand out because the market is overflooded with pet collectibles. Yes, Grasshopper Farm looks a bit clunky and quirky. My younger brother would definitely use the word “cringey” to describe the game. However, this is the exact vibe that makes it unique. The visuals of the game can be described as a combination of real grasshoppers and made-for-human wearables.

The second peculiar feature of the game is that it runs in Telegram. This means you don’t need an extra-productive computer or smartphone. This is an uncommon feature, but it makes your playing experience much easier and faster. Also, it works quite well with the visuals.

The main game mechanics are collecting, completing quests, and battling opponents.

Furthermore, the game is powered by Enjin, thus it’s part of its ecosystem. This means you can use Enjin’s “The Multiverse” universal package of NFTs, which are usually suitable for most of the games within the ecosystem.

Find out more about Enjin ecosystem perks here:

Minecraft with Crypto and Blockchain: The Perks of Playing Enjincraft

My Defi Pet

This game is pretty similar to Axie Infinity. It’s built on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The main aims are growing pets and harvesting crops for feeding them. The battle mechanics will be added soon, according to developers. So far, the two ways of earning in the game are completing quests and selling your pets. The game is available on both computers and smartphones.

Binamon

As the name suggests, this game runs on the Binance Smart Chain. However, this is not just one game but an entire ecosystem of games. The main one is, of course, a virtual pet RPG, like Pokémon or Axie Infinity, where you can collect, train, and place your monsters in the battle arena. On the other hand, Binamon Runner is already available. The MOBA part of the ecosystem is still in development.

Ethermon

So far, Ethermon provides similar functionality to what we can get in Axie Infinity or most virtual pet games. However, the interesting feature of Ethermon is the possibility to use your monsters in Decentraland. These NFTs are swappable between 2D and 3D. So far, you can interact a little bit with your pets in the MANA multiverse. However, the developers are preparing the entire MMPORG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in Decentraland.

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