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Introduction

Basic information

  • Developer Name: Lilith Games
  • Full Name: AFK Journey
  • Release Date: July 10, 2023
  • Released on: Android, iOS
  • Cross Play: No

Initial thoughts

Having played AFK Arena and enjoyed its mix of idle gameplay and strategic team-building, I was curious to see how AFK Journey, another game from Lilith Games, would hold up. I hoped the remake would bring fresh elements while maintaining the simplicity that made AFK Arena successful, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Story and setting

Plot overview

The story in AFK Journey is standard for a mobile RPG, focusing on a group of heroes fighting to save their world from an ancient evil. While serviceable, the plot feels predictable and lacks depth. The characters and their motivations don’t stand out, making it hard to feel invested in their journey.

World building and immersion

The world in AFK Journey is visually appealing but lacks immersion. The environments are pretty, but they don’t feel lived in or dynamic. There’s no sense of exploration or adventure, and the world often feels static.

Character development

Character development is minimal. While each hero has unique abilities, their personalities are paper-thin. The game doesn’t invest much in building emotional connections with the characters, so they remain one-dimensional throughout the story.

Emotional impact

The emotional impact of the game is almost nonexistent. The stakes never feel high, and there are no standout moments that evoke any real feeling. It’s more about progressing through levels and the current story than experiencing a meaningful narrative.

Rating for story and setting

I have visited multiple aspects of the story and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with an 5
While it is fun to go through the motions of this mobile game, the story could have been better.

Gameplay and mechanics

Core gameplay mechanics

The core gameplay is similar to AFK Arena, featuring idle mechanics where your team fights automatically, and you collect rewards over time. While this works well in a casual setting, it becomes repetitive quickly. There’s little to do beyond upgrading your team and watching battles play out, which can get dull after a while.

Difficulty and balance

The difficulty spikes occasionally, forcing you to grind for resources, but most of the time, the game is fairly easy. This imbalance can make the game feel tedious, especially when progression grinds to a halt unless you spend money or log in repeatedly.

Pacing of the game

The pacing is slow, especially since you rely on idle mechanics to gather resources. The main story moves forward at a crawl, with long waits between meaningful progression unless you invest heavily in microtransactions.

Innovation and uniqueness

There’s little innovation in AFK Journey. It follows the same formula as AFK Arena but in a semi-open world setting. The few new mechanics feel as if they were just needed to identify this as a new game.

Controls and user interface

The controls are simple and work well for a mobile game, but the user interface can feel cluttered. There are too many menus and layers, making it difficult to navigate efficiently.

Microtransactions

Like AFK Arena, AFK Journey relies heavily on microtransactions to speed up progression. While you can play without spending money, the game heavily incentivizes purchases to avoid long waits and tedious grinding.

Rating

After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 6.5
I think the gameplay falls in the mediocre section for the gameplay section.

Graphics and art style

Quality of graphics and art direction

The graphics are one of the few highlights of the game. The art style is polished, with detailed character models and environments. However, the visuals alone aren’t enough to make up for the lackluster gameplay.

Technical performances

The game performs smoothly, with no noticeable lag or crashes during my playthrough. However, the visuals occasionally felt overwhelming on a small mobile screen, especially during battles where too much was happening at once.

Environment and design uniqueness

The environments, while visually appealing, are not very unique. Most areas feel like generic fantasy settings, with little to differentiate one region from another.

Rating

It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 7.0

Sound and music

Music score and how it contributed to the game

The soundtrack is decent but forgettable. The music does its job of setting the tone for each battle, but none of the tracks stand out as particularly memorable.

Sound effects quality

The sound effects are adequate but feel a bit generic. Attacks, spells, and character abilities sound like standard mobile RPG fare, without much effort to make them distinct.

Voice Acting

There’s little voice acting in the game, and what’s there feels minimal. While this isn’t a huge issue for a mobile RPG, it does detract from the overall experience, especially since more immersive storytelling could have benefited from solid voice work.

Rating

After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 6
Not the best music in a mobile game.

Replayability

Game Length and content volume

The game is designed to be played over a long period, with the idle mechanics encouraging daily logins to collect rewards and progress. However, the slow pacing makes it feel drawn out rather than engaging.

Extra Content

There’s not much in the way of extra content. Once you’ve completed the main story, you can grind for resources and tackle PvP, but there’s little else to keep you coming back.

Replay value

The replay value is low. Once you’ve experienced the core gameplay loop, there’s little incentive to replay the game or try out different strategies.

Rating

After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of AFK Journey with a 7.
If you are looking for some fun with a cat-game, then this is the one you are looking for!

Suggestions and comparisons

Suggestions and feedback

  • The game could benefit from more engaging mechanics beyond idle combat. Adding more depth to character development or exploration would make the game more enjoyable.
  • Reduce the reliance on microtransactions. The pacing feels too slow for free-to-play players, which can be frustrating.
  • Improve the storytelling to give players more reason to invest emotionally in the characters and world.

Comparisons

Compared to AFK Arena, AFK Journey feels like a step backward. While the graphics are improved, the gameplay lacks the engaging systems that kept players hooked in AFK Arena. The heavy reliance on microtransactions and the repetitive nature of the gameplay make it hard to recommend over its predecessor.

Personal experiences and anecdotes

Completing the main story was fun enough, but after that, the game felt like it was dragging. The grind to unlock more content became tedious, and without any significant innovation, it quickly lost its appeal.

Rating

Taking in all the personal experiences with this game I give it a personal rating of 5,5
AFK Journey could have been better.

Last words

Pros

Cons

While AFK Journey looks great and offers some fun, casual moments, it ultimately fails to stand out. The lack of innovation, combined with repetitive gameplay and a heavy focus on microtransactions, makes it hard to recommend over other idle RPGs. It’s a decent game for short bursts of play.

Final Rating

6.5/10

6.5

Please let me know what you think of AFK Journey in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends.

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30 thoughts on “AFK Journey review”

  1. Avatar

    awesome review sven, i agree on most of the points, but these mobile games usually just aren’t my thing, they suck you in with addictive mechanics and just end up wasting a bunch of your time.

  2. Avatar

    The aesthetics looks fine in this game, but playing games AFK is just not my cup of tea, I rather play with real stocks as a waiting game rather than play afk games as a waiting game lol.

  3. Ilan Vertone

    Yeah, that kinda sounds like the reason why I stopped playing these kinds of mobile games… :/

    Thanks for the informative review!

  4. Avatar

    Looks like the standard Mobile experience these days… I do play the occasional mobile game, but only if I have to wait for something, I’m not invensting real time into them anymore. It is quite sad to see, since there were quite a few good games out there a few years ago…

  5. FranckCastle

    6.5 for gameplay (and overall) is too high to my taste when there are microtransactions…
    But well, this kind of mobile isn’t for me entirely anyway. Nice review though!
    I’ve heard of this game recently, and while I do like the art style… The gameplay, just nope.

  6. Twigas_Hobbes

    Looks not bad, but not my goto game.
    One thought I have. Computing power inceases everywhere, but games getting more and more clickery and idle 😀

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