The fact that this game even exists deserves an award all on its own, but that it also somehow lives up to the lofty expectations of fans of the original Hero Emblems is the truly impressive part. That’s right, nearly 6 years after originally being announced, Hero Emblems II has finally arrived. The original is considered by many, myself included, to be the best mobile-original match-3 RPG ever released, but a lot has happened since that first game launched way back in 2015. Does a game like Hero Emblems II still have a place in the world of mobile gaming in 2022?
Uh, yeah it does. Duh. I mean we’re here aren’t we? What I always loved about the original Hero Emblems was that it felt like an RPG first and a matching game second. What I mean by that was that, yes, the luck of the board layout played a part in your success, and looking for big matches was important. But beyond that you really needed to utilize all the other things at your disposal like special items, special abilities, new emblems, and the like. It wasn’t the kind of game where you could just grind levels and become overpowered enough to win the next battle, you had to actually strategize.
Well Hero Emblems II is like that too, but to a much higher degree. There is more equipment, more special abilities, more weapons, more magic spells… just more of everything. You’re also managing character health and defense individually rather than managing your party as just one entity like the first game, and this adds all sorts of wrinkles to how the Hero Emblems formula plays out. It’s just much more satisfying in this sequel to spend time kitting out your party members or learning new techniques as it feels more meaningful than it did in the original game.
Also, while I shouldn’t be surprised by this when you think about it, I was surprised at just how much Hero Emblems II feels like the first game. It has the same sort of UI, the same sort of game flow, and the same sort of story progression and humor. It’s exactly what you would expect a sequel to be: More and better. There are some areas for improvement, mostly regarding the game’s English translation and some areas of the UI and some game systems that could be made a little more clear. But if you were a fan of the first Hero Emblems, you will no doubt love this sequel. And if you missed out on the original then this is the one you will want to dive in with, since story-wise the game’s don’t seem connected at all.
I can’t put into words how happy I am that a sequel to one of my all-time favorite games has finally released after so many years of waiting and wondering if it would ever see the light of day. One thing is for sure and that’s that Hero Emblems II will live alongside its predecessor on my iPhone until the end of time.
Bought it for iOS by pre-order (and I hardly ever buy games before they come out, no matter the platform) but hope they release for the Switch as well one day. Alas, iOS premium gaming just is a hard sell these days.
People prefer (essentially much more expensive and less fun) free2play crap like Pokemon GO, Candy Crush, Magic The Gathering, etcetc. If it hadn‘t come to that:
1. TA‘s forum threads would be as big as in the old days (the first HE already had ober a dozen pages within the first two days, now has 66). The even better HE2 just barely managed it to the third page after two days.
2. There wouldn‘t be anything like Apple Arcade
3. None of the big games from the olden days like Plants vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, Asphalt etcetc would have switched to their terrible f2p models
4. New big titles like Diablo, Fire Emblems, EA Sports titles etcetcetc wouldn’t have released under terribly greedy free2play models (there are so many more titles but I‘m in the minority by don‘t playing any free2play stuff … You guys know the many titles I‘m talking about anyway).
5. From the youth to everybody‘s grandma nobody shells out for quality game on mobile anymore. That‘s why it‘s littered only with so called free2play stuff, which is basically nearly always pay2win, pay2play, pay2enjoy4awhile and so on … Alas aready 10 years ago there were too many people whining that the price of a starbucks coffee was TOOOOOO much for a quality hours long game … Anither reason, mobile gaming is in the mess it‘s in today.
Anyway to come to my point, in today‘s mobile landscape it doesn‘t matter how well made, great, quality-laden a mobile game is. If it‘s pay upfront only the tiniest of minorities buys it … With nearly no exceptions.
Guess if they‘d release for the Switch as well, there‘d be a chance for HE3 as well. But with the sales figures drom iOS alone I fear, there‘s no chance Heatpot even receives its delivery costs back … Even though the game is nearly perfect and you don‘t need about 100k (hi Diablo Immortal) to max out a single character.
It‘s so sad it has come to this … But alas, mobile gaming isn‘t the only area where the world has gone completely bonkers within the last 5, 10, 15 years :(
Sadly I agree on all your points, I “splurged” on this game and even preordered as well and it’s an excellent game and sequel. Honestly I blame it on options there’s too many. Take cable we dropped it years ago and initially we saved a ton, now every channel and branches of channels made it so if you want there shows and movies you need to subscribe…now it’s basically like paying for cable all over again.
Games it’s the same between pc, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and all the streaming services where does on go?
For most it comes down to price but for me it’s more about convenience and achievements.
Anyways great sequel worth skipping the Starbucks for a day lol.