Another Raid: Shadow Legends wannabe that fails to deliver

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SHOULD I PLAY ORDER & CHAOS: GUARDIANS?

Skip it, unless you really adore auto-battler games and are desperate for a new one. Order & Chaos: Guardians looks good enough and this test version is very generous, but everything in this game has been done before by a dozen other auto-battler gacha games. It doesn’t have the depth or strategy to keep me engaged nor anything else unique to set it apart from the competition. Order & Chaos: Guardians is just another lousy attempt at an auto-battler that’s not worth getting excited over.

TIME PLAYED

I played Order & Chaos: Guardians for four hours. I reached chapter four in the story mode after completing more than three dozen missions, including the prologue and tutorial. I’ve reached account level 24 and pushed five of my strongest characters past level 40. I’ve also acquired thirty-one playable characters out of the forty-seven currently available.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT ORDER & CHAOS: GUARDIANS?

• The designs and visuals. Order & Chaos: Guardians is filled with a bunch of dazzling and mystical characters, dressed up in colorful gems and shiny armor. From the environments across each battle to the menu interface and even the animation seen in different ultimate abilities, everything in this game looks incredible. If I were going to recommend playing this game for any reason, it would be for its visual quality and style.

• Generous gacha, at least for now. I never encountered a progression wall in my time with Order & Chaos: Guardians, and I was fortunate enough to receive a lot of strong characters early on that helped me get through different story missions. I managed to gacha roll one hundred times and acquire nine five-star characters which was pretty nice. Although I can’t confidently speak about the game’s later stages, I can say that the beginning steps were pretty breezy and generous—though it’s also very possible that the free gacha rolls were boosted considerably for this test. We’ll see if it stays that way when the full version launches.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN ORDER & CHAOS: GUARDIANS?

• Disappointing gameplay. The best auto-battler games provide a more laid-back approach to strategy gameplay. These games are never very complicated, but sometimes it’s nice getting to relax while playing semi-challenging battles. Order & Chaos: Guardians can’t even be called semi-challenging, though; it’s way too easy.

My entire playthrough was a breeze, and I rarely put any effort into thinking about tactics. The only strategy I ever needed was pumping more levels into my characters. I have yet to encounter a moment of actual difficulty in this title, and that’s just not enough to keep me interested.

• It might become a greedy gacha game. I didn’t run into any troubling microtransactions or progression walls, but remember that this is only a test. It’s totally possible that the full version could flip a switch and turn it into a much grindier, much more frustrating game. There’s a shop full of optional microtransactions, a gacha system, and resource meters that replenish over time. We won’t know for sure how bad it is until the full version arrives, but players should be aware of the possibility, because if there’s one thing these auto-battler, gacha games are known for, it’s their greed.

PLATFORM TESTED

Android via Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G phone.