Illuvium is one of the first blockchain RPG games with decent 3D graphics, comparable to high-budget projects. The infrastructure of Illuvium is built on L2 blockchain Immutable X, which was created to scale Ethereum.
The game revolves around exploring alien lands, battling other players on the PVP arena, and upgrading your team. Don't expect an interesting plot or dialogue. However, like many other blockchain games, Illuvium features the Play-to-Earn format.
Users receive rewards in ILV tokens for their achievements. Plus, all objects and items in the game are represented as non-fungible tokens, which can be sold on marketplaces. The game also offers earning opportunities through staking and yield farming.
The project has its own decentralized exchange, IlluviDEX, where users can buy and sell ILV and in-game NFTs. It charges a 5% commission on sales, which goes to the staking pool.
Illuvium has been in development since 2020. The project's founders are the Warwick brothers: entrepreneur and BTC pioneer Kieran and game designer Aaron.
Trailer Introduction. Source — Illuvium’s YouTube channel
The adventure begins: how is the world of Illuvium designed?
After her spaceship crashes, the main heroine finds herself on a mysterious planet filled with Illuvials – local fantastic creatures. To survive in this world, she needs to create her own team by capturing and taming monsters, defeating them in battle.
Illustration of one of the Illuvials. Source — illuvium.io
She is assisted by a robot drone that captures Illuvials, stores weapons and equipment, and scans the area for hidden dangers.
Additional game elements include weapons, armor, accessories, and other in-game items that players can create themselves using minerals and plants found on the planet or purchase on the IlluviDEX gaming market.
The planet Illuvium consists of seven regions with diverse natural landscapes:
- Taiga Boreal: glacier mountains and perpetual permafrost.
- Abyssal Basin: lakes and swamps with giant mushrooms growing in them. The region's atmosphere is constantly humid, giving it a blue hue.
- Brightland Steppes: meadows with waterfalls on giant floating rocks.
- Crimson Waste: a toxic desert with crimson dunes, where it's always unbearably hot and water is scarce.
- Shardbluff Labyrinth: gray mist and islets of tall stone peaks.
- Halcyon Sea: a giant coral reef with a sea of transparent water inside.
- Crystal Shores: a space covered in huge waves of purple crystals.
The illustration depicts the regions of the planet Illuvium. Source — illuvium.io
Illuvials are divided into five elements – water, earth, fire, air, and nature – and seven classes – Guardian, Fighter, Empath, Rogue, Psion, and Affinity.
These beings from compatible classes can team up, making the group more resilient in battle. Experience also enhances their durability: the more they fight, the more unbreakable they become. If a user tames three Illuvials of the same kind, they can transform them into a single monster with more powerful properties.
To earn in the game, players must arm themselves with rare and powerful Illuvials, as well as NFT-land for customizing creatures, auxiliary items, and resource mining.
Three game modes: Overworld, Arena, and Zero
Overworld. In exploration mode, players can tame Illuvials, mine valuable minerals, gather exotic plants to upgrade weapons and character traits, and unlock the planet's secrets. However, only a selected few users have access to the function of traveling between regions at this stage of development.
Screenshot of the game in Overworld mode, source — illuvium.io
Arena. This mode allows players to form a team of Illuvials and engage in online battles with other players for rewards. This feature is currently unavailable, but registration for the private beta version is ongoing on the game's website.
Screenshot of the game in Arena mode, source — illuvium.io
Zero. It features an industrial farm for extracting fuel and space schemes, which are necessary for moving between the planet's lands. It also serves as a workshop for upgrading characters and creating necessary game items that improve the team's abilities in battle. This mode is available in the alpha version for NFT landowners on their personal computers and mobile devices. During the game's initial launch, 19,969 NFT land plots were sold for $72 million.
Screenshot of the game in Zero mode, source — illuvium.io
ILV Token
Active users who win battles in the PvP arena will be rewarded with the ILV token. Holding ILV also makes you a member of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that governs the Illuvium project.
Additionally, token holders can stake their ILV tokens. When a user locks their ILV on the platform for interest, they receive profits in sILV (a deposit asset backed by the original token). Players can choose to receive staking rewards in ILV, but they'll need to wait a year to withdraw them.
The initial token offering was held in 2021, with an initial price of $47 and a peak price of $1800. During the listing, the founders sold 20% of the maximum ILV supply of 10 million tokens.
The remaining token distribution is as follows:
- 15% for developers
- 15% for the project treasury
- 10% for investors
- 40% for rewards and yield farming
The asset's market capitalization is currently $155 million, with 2.6 million ILV tokens in circulation.
