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HeroWarz

HeroWarz is an isometric action MMORPG with a wide selection of playable characters each with their own play style. Fight your way through endless hordes of mobs across a large number of maps.

Publisher: KOG Games
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Action RPG
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Shut Down ("Temporary"): March 26, 2017
Pros: +Huge selection of characters. +4v4 MOBA-stylized PvP. +Isometric camera. +Character switching.
Cons: -Small maps. -Grind gameplay. -Numerous loading screens.

Overview

HeroWarz Overview

HeroWarz is an isometric action RPG featuring a large library of characters to choose from. Travel between isolated worlds, questing and leveling with a narrative driven by stylistic comic book story panels. Acquire new skills as your grind through over 100 levels. If you're not happy with your character you can switch at any time, keeping the same username. Enter a map and decimate endless hordes of creatures, ultimately summoning the boss mob. Fight efficiently and improve your score to reap better rewards at the end of the map, and pick up charming score-improving item from enemies such as cartoon ham and ice cream cones. Fight cooperatively with your friends or take to the 4v4 PvP arena and become the strongest fighter.

HeroWarz Key Features:

  • Difficulty Levels - each area's difficlty can be ramped up to provide further challenges and better rewards.
  • Character Selection - choose between a large library of hero characters with distinct skillsets, and easily switch between them.
  • Charming Aesthetics - from stylistic comic book narrative sequences to flopping fish and ice cream item drop rewards.
  • Over 100 Levels - persist through the endless grind featuring over 100 levels, unlocking new skills along the way.
  • 4v4 PvP - compete in 4v4 MOBA-stylized PvP arenas where players have 5 skills and gain experience by killing enemies.

HeroWarz Screenshots

HeroWarz Featured Video

Full Review

HeroWarz Review

By, Sean Sullivan

HeroWarz is a character based ARPG where players tackle stage-based missions to liquidate waves of winsome enemies. Simple controls and flashy abilities combine in a game that’s focused on combat. I jumped from one mission to the next, plowing through mobs with little downtime. While it lacks depth, HeroWarz doesn’t pretend to be a deep game. It’s straightforward—it’s redeeming quality. HeroWarz is not perfect either, but it does accomplish what it sets out to do and is worth installing for any fan of the genre.

Daunting Beginnings

I’m going to highlight HeroWarz’s biggest fault in paragraph two: HeroWarz does not have an independent launcher. Why am I installing a plugin and launching through a website instead of a client? Installing a plugin in 2016 to play a fleshed out game is ludicrous, creating the impression that HeroWarz is a browser clone, though it doesn’t play like one. I don’t see an advantage, other than some developer reveling in player frustration, or perhaps laziness. Put the game on Steam instead of having an inane launcher.

Characters

Finally launching HeroWarz places you at the character selection screen, where dubstep serenades your hero choice; get the blood flowing. Each character in the lineup is shown off through drawn portraits: a distinct style that individuates personality, while a small text summary further expands character stories. It’s enough to flesh out otherwise mannequin models and shows a level of care unexpected. I picked the Dual Swordsman named B.

No matter what hero you choose you’ll be dishing out AOE damage. My character B uses two swords and spins with his blades to cut through as many enemies as possible. While my second character Hades uses a wrecking ball to slam group of mobs. Characters dish out DPS with radically different abilities, making it fun to start a new playthrough rather than a chore. So long as you like ripping through mobs you won’t complain.

Gameplay

Gameplay is hub-based. Players start in the main city and progress by accepting missions and traversing hallway maps popping with mobs. Most missions will have their own brand of belligerents: maybe one, two, or three enemy types. By purging the horde, players eventually summon a boss. Defeating the boss unlocks a reward, and the chance for additional goodies through card-based RNG, whereby players choose faceless cards for random rewards.

Players on the same mission are automatically grouped together so long as you check off “public channel” before entering the dungeon; up to four players can party together. Rather than being a hand-in-hand cooperative task gameplay together is more of a single player experience with other players tagging along like sidekicks. It’s not that different from a typical MMO experience, and I don’t mind silently working together to DPS bosses. Plus, bonus experience and tougher mobs still makes partying up preferable to solo bolo.

Combat

Combat is chaotic. Enemies spawn in packs of a dozen like they're in line for Noah’s Ark—animalistic creatures trying to get out before the deluge of attacks. At first it’s difficult to determine what exactly is happening as whirlwinds and oversized anchors eat up most of the screen. Eventually the eyes adjust. Satisfaction is guaranteed when you’re responsible for reducing twelve chomping alligators to spinning coins.

Not every combat situations is a push-over. Oftentimes I ate a big bowl of damage and was forced to drink a potion; players have infinite health potions that can be used every 30 seconds. Attention is required. So long as you’re not watching a movie on a second monitor there’s little reason to die. Although bosses also do have mechanics that have to judged. There are no red markers like in WildStar. Players have to determine what abilities to dodge by watching the boss’s animations. I witnessed a few careless player deaths during my playthroughs.

HeroWarz is combat focused and it knows it. HeroWarz ndoesn’t distract players with meaningless sidequests or overbearing dialogue. A condensed hubworld offers just enough room for players to congregate while placing all essentials near each other so that it’s easy to sell items or store them and quickly jump back into missions. There’s little downtime between the grind. It’s the formula refined.

Narrative

I was surprised to find myself moderately entertained by HeroWarz’s story. While not reinventing the Hero's Journey, developer A.storm has written coherence into a game based on jumping from one world to the next: a child’s dreams become reality, destroying the world, and revealing a multiverse. Now the descendent of the child dreamer is locked within a mirror, and unless rescued the universe will crumble again. HeroWarz’s novelty is worth praising when the genre is saturated with narrative spew. And the story continues through boisterous characters.

Character dialogue prefaces each mission, thankfully in the original Korean. Juxtaposed personalities bicker and villains rattle on about their villainry. While there’s more characters than the cast of Game of Thrones the story doesn’t become indulgent like Final Fantasy. It walks the line between absurd and acceptable. Thankfully too. What would otherwise be a shallow universe, loosely linked as an excuse for players, is a justified experience. Though after a few missions I did skip through the story to get right back to combat.

Aesthetic

Scrutinize HeroWarz under a magnifying glass and you’ll find blocky textures, simple character models, and compartmentalized environments. It’s easy to write off. But the aesthetic simplicity manages to be pleasing. There is enough mob variety to allay the feeling of repeating the same mission with mobs of a slightly cooler hue, and level environments change before becoming stagnant. Skills are flashy and distinct, appealing regardless of character. Keep in mind the camera angle belies some of HeroWarz’s rougher edges, which perhaps explains why it can only be altered from options.

The best part of HeroWarz’s aesthetic is its flamboyant artwork. Exaggerated character features make everyone look like they're dressed to go clubbing until dawn. They’re colorful and iconic, with personality seeping through their ridiculous jewelry and apparel. Characters make themselves known through the missions, and even without paying attention it’s easy to ascertain a sense of their characterization.

Controls

HeroWarz is packaged with two movement control schemes: traditional WASD or the Mouse. While I started with my fingers locked on the familiar four I eventually switched and found using the mouse sfar moother. You’ll still need two hands to play. Many abilities are locked to the keyboard regardless of the layout. I only made the switch when I learned that some of B’s skills did not proc properly unless using the Mouse, a switch that lead me to dish out a guaranteed 30% and up of the overall team damage in a party of four.

Keyboard bindings are unfortunately not customizable. It would have been neat to play solely with a mouse given enough buttons. Options, in general, are rather limited. There is very little wiggle room for the graphics and camera. I sorely wanted to freely zoom in and out with the camera, something I did constantly in Ragnarok Online.

Final Verdict - Good

HeroWarz cuts out all the fat and leaves you with the meat: constant combat in streamlined missions. There’s no slowing down for talent point allocation, meaningless side quests, or drawn out narrative. HeroWarz throws you into the midst of colorful enemies, where a hodgepodge of skills merge in addictive chaos to make your viscera excited for more. It’s biggest issue is its launcher; it will undoubtedly scare away players for no discernible reason. If you can stomach a browser plugin and are a fan of ARPGs it’s well worth checking out.

Screenshots

HeroWarz Screenshots

Videos

HeroWarz Videos

System Requirements

HeroWarz System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP SP3
CPU: Core i3-4150 or Athlon 64 X2 3 GHz
Video Card: GeForce 250 or Radeon 4850
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 12 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows 7 64 bit
CPU: Core i5 or AMD Liano 3850
Video Card: GeForce GTX 460 or Radeon 6850
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk Space: 12 GB

Music

HeroWarz Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon!

Additional Info

HeroWarz Additional Information

Developer: A.storm

Engine: Unreal Engine 3

Open Beta: June 28, 2016

Release Date: July 20, 2016

Development History / Background:

HeroWarz is developed by studio A.storm, founded by Yoon Jong Kim—former producer of Cyphers and Dungeon Fighter Online. The studio was only recently formed and HeroWarz is their premiere title. The South Korean closed beta began in June of 2013, and the Open Beta began on September 26, 2014. The North American release of the game is slated to release some time in Q1 2016. Publisher KOG Games is also known for Elsword Online and recently released AIMA (only available in South Korea). HeroWarz officially launched on July 20, 2016.