The first “closed beta test” for Ragnarok: Monster World—a mobile game based on the popular Ragnarok Online role-playing franchise—isn’t very closed after all. But it is pretty fun.

Built with optional NFT assets on Ethereum gaming network Ronin, Ragnarok: Monster World delivers a simple, streamlined strategy experience for iOS and Android that’s more than a little bit reminiscent of Supercell’s mobile smash, Clash Royale.

Getting into the weeklong beta test doesn’t require ownership of NFTs, nor any kind of approval from the developer to get started. There is an extra hoop or two to jump through compared to fully released games listed on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, but it’s no sweat at all. I was up and running on my iPhone within a few minutes.

If you’ve played Clash Royale before, then you’ll feel right at home in Ragnarok: Monster World. It’s a pretty unabashed clone, making only modest tweaks to the familiar formula. In both games, you’ll build a deck of eight cards representing various fantastic creatures and warriors, then enter battle in an attempt to destroy an online foe’s castle before they crush your own.

The battles are often taut, yet thankfully compact real-time skirmishes that only last for a few minutes, as you balance your offensive and defensive needs while trying to overcome attacks. It’s easy to pick up and play too, as you’ll simply drag unit cards into the battle as your resource meter grows—and then watch as they hack, slash, and smash.

While Ragnarok isn’t difficult to understand on a basic level, Monster World is pretty tough in this initial beta state. Exactly why remains somewhat unclear—more on that shortly—but as someone who was once pretty capable at Clash Royale, I was surprised to consistently lose a lot of battles. My colleague found it similarly tough; we traded virtual war stories.

I didn’t get discouraged, though. Instead, I started playing around with different deck combos, plus Ragnarok’s developers are giving out loads of bonus chests and in-game currencies to beta players to help them acquire and upgrade cards.

Instead of diving back into the grind, I took my time to upgrade every card I could and assemble new teams. Around the same time, the developers revealed a matchmaking update, suggesting that better-matched battles might be waiting for me.

So I jumped back in, geared up and ready to rule—and crushed my foe in that next match. Of course, I lost the next match in a lopsided defeat, but I’ve managed to grab some more wins in the meantime as I play around with squad lineups and better learn the units.

With any game featuring collectible NFTs—or really, any free-to-play game that lets you spend real money to unlock more powerful units or other perks—there’s always some fear that the game will tip towards being “pay-to-win.” That typically can ruin any competitive game, or at least cut out the larger part of the audience that’s unlikely to spend big for benefits.

But while Ragnarok: Monster World is still in a beta state and will likely see further balancing and competitive tweaks, I haven’t resigned myself to blaming the current state of the game or the potential influence of NFTs. Even if derivative, this Ragnarok spin on Clash Royale is off to a great start, and I’m eager to see how it develops further as the public release nears.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa

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