It's Teamfight Tactics and Clash Royale combined, but it's really disappointing and boring

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Mojo Melee is a simple and easy-to-understand deck-building, auto chess game that manages to introduce a few unique elements to the genre, but it fails to deliver anything worthwhile or amusing.

Mojo Melee isn’t a complete clone of Teamfight Tactics or Auto Chess, but it does feel like a distant relative. It takes a few core elements from Teamfight Tactics like purchasing units to upgrade tiers, eight-player matches, and grid-based battles. But it also introduces other mechanics like spells, tournament-style progression, and collectible cards that sets it apart from other titles.

Card collecting in Mojo Melee is pretty similar to Clash Royale's card looting system but much more tedious. I could open chests to acquire champion units and spells and get these chests from the battle pass, leveling rewards, or in-game shop using real money or in-game currency. After acquiring these cards, I could use them in my deck to bring to battles. Although I liked that I could customize my deck, I hated that I needed to grind matches for decent cards. I think this mechanic is really tedious because it meant that I needed to play for hours to earn unique units and spells. It was also really unfair that I had to go against players with better cards, which ultimately meant that I’d always lose in the long run.

Playing in matches wasn't always the most enjoyable either. Mojo Melee had two game modes: a one-versus-one mode and an eight-player mode. Although I enjoyed playing the eight-player mode much more than the other one, I didn't find it a lot of fun. The eight-player mode was a little too quick and boring. I wish Mojo Melee’s eight-player mode was much more streamlined. I don’t like that I’m forced into a best-of-three elimination format where I have to fight one person at a time to get from the qualifiers all the way to the grand finals. This format meant that matches ended much more quickly and I usually couldn’t face off against half of the lobby I was in. I mean, what's the point of having eight players fight to the death if I can't beat every single one, right?

In terms of gameplay, Mojo Melee wasn't that different from other auto chess titles like Teamfight Tactics outside of the whole card-collecting and deck-building mechanic. Matches still consisted of the same things: acquiring and upgrading units, rearranging them on the battlefield, and slowly ramping up gold—which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this part of Mojo Melee, because I did. I liked that the gameplay was simple and comprehensive, with the only significant difference being the automated spells that I could place to cast in the battle phase.

That said, everything else outside of the core gameplay didn't hit the mark. The entire deck-building, card-grinding mechanic makes the game feel slow and punishing. Spells are a great addition, but it’s not enough to make the game enjoyable. A lot of everything feels restricted and repetitive. In saying so, Mojo Melee is in open beta, so there’s hope that maybe it’ll fix some of these issues or improve different aspects of the game. But at this point, there’s A LOT of work that needs to be done to make this game worth considering and generally fun. I'd recommend coming back later once it releases to give it a try.