Metaverse games are an excellent way to enjoy Web3. These games can be played on your own, with friends or strangers online. However, because the Metaverse is growing rapidly, it can be difficult to know which metaverse games are the best to play. We put together a list of the top metaverse games available in 2022 and tested them out.
How to Earn While Playing Metaverse Games?
While in the past gamers usually played video games on their own PCs, consoles, or amusement arcades where they had to pay for the pleasure, these days in the era of play-to-earn games on blockchain-based platforms, metaverse games have given gamers the chance to earn off of their skills. While many of them have the reality of regular income — some can even earn six figures or more.
Making money in metaverse games can be achieved by buying, selling, trading, creating, or finding virtual items. Avatars, too — digital versions of people — are a big part of the Metaverse gaming ecosystem, with many startups entering the market whose laser focus is on building services for the creation of avatars solely for metaverse games.
Read also: 25 Ways to Make Money in Metaverse Games
20 Top Metaverse Games List
Now let’s move on to the best metaverse games you need to play in 2022. Don’t want to read? Well, you are in luck; check out our video instead, rounding up the top metaverse games.
1. VulcanVerse
First on the metaverse games list is VulcanVerse, an open-world massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with lore written by fighting fantasy authors. Inside VulcanVerse, players can truly own assets in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
In VulcanVerse, players can create their own quests and adventures, forage for NFTs, and battle against other Vulcanites. The native token for VulcanVerse, $PYR, is used as a settlement, staking and gaming token.
Pros: Users can create Dapps easily and cheaply; PYR tokens can be staked.
Cons: Token has high volatility, like all cryptocurrencies.
2. Chain of Alliance
Up next is Chain of Alliance, an on-chain role-playing and strategy game in a fantasy/science fiction setting with NFTs. In this Metaverse game, players can join a party of adventurers and combat other players’ parties or AI-controlled monsters, as well as loot and gain XP to enhance and develop their individual heroes.
Pros: Options to play with NFT heroes, or with freely available starter pack characters.
Cons: N/A
3. Somnium Space
More of a platform than a Metaverse game of such, Somnium Space is an open-source metaverse platform that officially launched in 2017 and became available to the wider public a year later. A self-contained VR world with its own economy and currency, it has a marketplace, metaverse games, social experiences, and virtual land ownership, too.
Pros: Is regularly updated; cross-platform versatility provides out-of-the-box support for VR headsets; users can take ownership of the land
Cons: N/A
4. Krystopia
Krystopia is a 3D Metaverse game that takes place in four stages or “chapters”, which players can play one after the other or as a stand-alone game. A player’s progress is tracked by numbering the items that they collect, which increases their completion percentage.
To finish the game successfully, players have to solve and complete all of the puzzles within the game.
Pros: Immersive gameplay; well-thought-out and highly rewarding puzzles to complete
Cons: Puzzles can also be too difficult at times
5. The Sandbox
Like Somnium Space, more of a platform or self-contained Metaverse world, those who haven’t heard of The Sandbox have definitely had their heads in the proverbial sand. Best known for its two smash mobile hits The Sandbox (2011) and The Sandbox Evolution (2016), which combined generated forty million downloads across iOS and Android, in 2018, developer/publisher Pixowl decided to bring this successful User Generated Content gaming IP and a large community of creators from mobile to the blockchain ecosystem — it is here that players can build, own and monetize their gaming experiences in the Ethereum blockchain.
Pros: Too many to name here
Cons: N/A
6. Farmers World
Not an agricultural magazine but the first metaverse game to function on the NFTs platform, Farmers World has one of the largest communities of players with over 150,000 globally. Players pick for themselves suitable tools, exploit various resources, buy land to build enormous farms, and enjoy the fascinating experiences of a farmer working in Farmersworld’s Ecosystem
Pros: Reward system
Cons: You need patience, as your characters need to replenish energy, tools have cool-down times, animals and crops etc need time to grow
7. Decentraland
Another of the more high-profile gaming platforms on the Metaverse games market, Decentraland is a 3D virtual world browser-based platform and the first fully decentralized world. Decentraland is controlled via the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), which owns the most important smart contracts and assets of Decentraland. Via the DAO, users decide and vote on how the world works.
One of the great features of Decentraland is that users may buy virtual plots of land on the platform as NFTs via the MANA cryptocurrency, which — like The Sandbox — uses the Ethereum blockchain.
Pros: Great graphics; the game is not just focused on the financial aspect, but aligns with the entertainment factor, too, which does not rely on monetary gain
Cons: Currently lacks native applications for mobile devices
8. SinVerse
Into the Hitman or Sin City franchise of games? If yes, then SinVerse — a Metaverse multi-player game built on Blockchain Technology — is just for you.
The background of the game is based on the most controversial Cities of the world, where digital real estate is available to be purchased. Users can buy this land to develop and build their empires. The aim of the game is to become the ultimate Kingpin. This will be a highly social orientated platform, where players can build clubs for their friends to hang out, venues for online events or even compete in underworld activities to win in-game rewards.
Pros: Amazing graphics with a great storyline
Cons: N/A
9. Bloktopia
Built by Unity Engine, leveraging the world’s most advanced real-time 3D Creation Engine, Bloktopia is a VR metaverse game with a first-class user experience and mindboggling graphics still in its developmental stages.
A Skyscraper made up of 21 levels to pay recognition to 21 million Bitcoin, Bloktopia Token holders will be known as Bloktopians. Plans are that Bloktopians will be able to earn revenue through real estate ownership, advertising revenue, play metaverse games, build networks, and much more.
Pros: A large community of players plus many other great features
Cons: N/A
10. Illuvium
Illuvium is an open-world exploration, NFT creature collector and autobattler game built on the Ethereum Blockchain. Play to earn in a graphically-rich sci-fi adventure and conquer the wilderness to help players’ crash-landed crew flourish.
Featuring seven impressive alien landscapes where players can uncover the cataclysmic events that shattered Illuvium, Illuvium’s first Land Sale — which ran from June 2nd to June 6th of this year — sold over 20,000 NFTs representing virtual plots of land in the Illuvium homeworld, and is a clear indicator of the potential of the platform.
Pros: Superb graphics; great plot
Cons: Still in beta stage of development
11. Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity needs no introduction on this Metaverse Games List. A non-fungible token-based online video game developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis — known for its in-game economy which uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies — in it, players collect and mint NFTs which represent axolotl-inspired digital pets known as Axies, which the game is full of. Players aim to battle, breed, collect, raise, and build kingdoms for their Axies. The game has an in-game economy where players can buy, sell, and trade resources they earn in the game.
First released in 2018, Axie Infinity is built on the Ronin Network, an Ethereum-linked sidechain developed by Sky Mavis.
Pros: Daily challenges are exciting and non-stop play that get players a continual stream of token rewards; Axies tokens have high liquidity, which means they are adopted by centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges
Cons: Token price volatility
12. My Neighbour Alice
Another of the more high-profile metaverse games, My Neighbor Alice is a multiplayer builder game where players build and create their own virtual lands, interact with neighbours, perform exciting daily activities, and earn rewards.
Inspired by successful games such as Animal Crossing, the game combines the best of the two worlds — a fun narrative for regular players who want to enjoy the gameplay experience as well as an ecosystem for players who want to collect and trade NFTs, even if they have no idea what an NFT is.
It was developed and published by Antler Interactive and was launched on Steam in early 2021.
Pros: ALICE token has widespread market adoption; land sale opportunities; large user base
Cons: N/A
13. Bit Hotel
Bit Hotel is a social-first play-to-earn NFT Gaming Metaverse, in which users can compete to earn Bit Hotel tokens and acquire native NFTs. These NFTs have in-game usability and consist of characters, hotel rooms, furniture and other artifacts that have their own perks. One of the key aspects of the game that draws users is being able to chat, meet and compete with other Hotel Guests.
Bit Hotel had its first Founder Sale in October 2021.
Pros: Rooms and common rooms can be used as chat rooms for players to chat, hang out or trade with other players; colourful, old-school 8-bit design and graphics for players who like that kind of thing
Cons: N/A
14. Axes Metaverse
Axes Metaverse is a blockchain-based (Binance Smart Chain) meta-universe created by Azur Games, one of the world’s leading mobile game publishers. The goal of the developers is to provide players with a unique gaming experience through empowering player ownership by implementing blockchain technologies.
The object of the game is you play as an NFT character, fighting to stay alive in an arena that gets smaller and smaller over time. As you play, characters can be used across various game modes, upgraded or traded on the marketplace.
Pros: Different ways to make money from varying game modes
Cons: It’s in its presale phase, so can be risky
15. AlterVerse
AlterVerse is a first-person shooter-style game released by AlterVerse Inc. still in development. Including quests, mining and crafting as gaming features, from Sky City — the central hub of the AlterVerse — players will be able to go to one of many OutPost servers. OutPost is set aboard giant Space Stations.
Other unique features of the AlterVerse universe will be the ability for players to own and customize their own Crew Room, fly the powerful XR75 fighter ships, socialize and compete in a variety of contests. OutPost is replacing the older game Disruption.
Pros: Built-in voice chat, instant messaging; creators can use the AlterVerse toolkits to create worlds and other metaverse games, as well as simply great gameplay
Cons: N/A
16. PolkaCity
PolkaCity is an online virtual world which falls into multiple genres like simulation, social, role-playing, and asset management. Registered users socialize with other players, place their purchased assets in the city and show off their items to other players in the game.
The Metaverse game is going to be a virtual world where the PolkaCity citizens will be able to drive their cars in the city and use their restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and other NFTs.
Pros: Expanding the available assets, including land and infrastructure
Cons: N/A
17. Netvrk
Netvrk is a multichain metaverse built on Unreal Engine, with powerful creation tools and infrastructure where users can create their own worlds, cities and items in multiple universes. They can also hold ownership, conduct trading, earn rewards, and use various payment methods.
Pros: Powerful creation tools
Cons: N/A
18. Alien Worlds
Launched in 2021, Alien Worlds is an NFT Metaverse where you can play with unique NFTs called Trilium. Players stake Trilium to planets to vote in the upcoming Planetary elections, as well as to increase the Planet’s reward pool. Other features include players being able to participate in weekly elections for council candidates, submit proposals on how to distribute the planetary treasury or run for planetary council themselves. Players may select NFT game cards for their strategy on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and WAX, to be used for mining, fighting and missions.
Pros: Good play-to-earn potential
Cons: Very little information for new players on how to play the game
19. Voxels
Voxels is a virtual world on the blockchain. It is an independent, user-owned, privacy-respecting world that provides a place to connect, enjoy and interact. Web-based, free to play and deeply enmeshed in the NFT ecosystem where the currency is Voxies — cute, lovable and collectible 3d voxel buddies that live and play on the Ethereum blockchain — there are only 10,000 Voxies in existence and no two Voxies are identical.
Pros: VR compatibility; allows users to attend a concert with other players; ease of use and playability
Cons: N/A
20. MOBLAND
In a similar vein to SinVerse, MOBLAND is the first-ever Mafia-themed Metaverse games where players can fight, loot, build and lead. Here you join a syndicate and run businesses, tax your underlings and pay tribute to your bosses through blockchain-backed resources.
Pros: Superb graphics and playability
Cons: N/A
Other Honorable Mentions
Things to Consider When Picking the Best Metaverse Game for You
There are many things to consider while creating a metaverse games wishlist. Firstly, you need to know what genre suits you like any game. Many of these Metaverse games are far more immersive than their traditional counterparts, so you need to know what game genre is your preferred style of choice. Likewise, when picking your personal metaverse game list, you need to know the extent of blockchain integration.
Cryptocurrency and NFTs are risky investments, so if you want to stay away from games like these with a high level of risk, then you should consider less friendly blockchain alternatives. Furthermore, you also need to choose whether you want to play a metaverse game using virtual reality or your classic PC; the choice of hardware is another factor you must consider.
When choosing the right Metaverse game for you, you need to consider many different factors:
1. Gameplay Genre
Gameplay is important when choosing the right Metaverse games. Do you like Minecraft-style games? The Sandbox might be the game for you. Zoo Tycoon-style games? Axle Infinity is your pick.
2. Blockchain Integration
You either love or hate the blockchain. When picking the right Metaverse game for you, you need to know which camp you fall under. If you like blockchain integration, games like The Sandbox are ideal. If you despise them, it’s best to stick with Horizon World and Somnium Space.
3. Immersion is key for metaverse games
We all like various degrees of immersion. For many, playing games on a PC is enough, but for others, full virtual immersion is best. As a result, when picking the right metaverse game, you need to know to pick the right immersive experience that suits your gameplay style. Virtual reality Metaverses like Horizon Worlds or Somnium space are best for more immersive experiences.
Key Benefits of Metaverse Games Over Traditional Video Games
Player Ownership
In Metaverse video games a player can now effectively own their in-game digital assets through digital currency and NFTs, which represent in-game items. Likewise, due to the power of the blockchain, players can effectively decide the direction of many games through DAO.
Player ownership enables players to reap the rewards of gameplay. In mainstream gaming, dodgy microtransaction schemes like loot boxes have often burnt players. Now, due to blockchain technology, players are taking back control of their games. Players can now earn by playing and can own their in-game assets.
Interoperability
Interoperability is another element that makes metaverse games so popular. Interoperability is the idea of interoperable assets across game worlds, meaning you can use the same NFT and assets across multiple platforms, thanks to the Blockchain.
Other examples include avatars, where players can identify more with their in-game characters, and the utilization of AR/VR, which makes these game worlds more lifelike to play. Thus, there are several reasons why metaverse games are popular.
Seamless Gameplay
Unlike traditional games where loading screens often stunt gameplay, game overs etc., Metaverse games and their virtual worlds remove these barriers to gameplay.
Conclusion
I hope this list has given you some idea of what Metaverse games are out there, and what we can expect to see as the ecosystem grows. Metaverse games are here to stay — and as more appear, the Digital Twin Insider will keep you informed of all new developments in metaverse games, both good and bad, within that vertical of the Metaverse ecosystem.
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