About the game
Archeland can be classified as a Strategy RPG or, going a bit deeper, Tactical RPG. Before the battle starts, you deploy your characters on a grid-like battlefield and your goal is to navigate it, kill all enemies and avoid getting killed yourself. Still, 'kill or be killed' isn't the only mission type you will encounter in the game as there's quite a lot of them, for example: assassination missions, VIP protection missions, escape missions. To make things more interesting, various obstacles are placed on the map, and you have to be more tactical (hence the name of the genre) to use them to your advantage.
The characters also have different classes (there are six available on release: Tank, Warrior, Mage, Priest, Assassin and Ranger) and elements (also six: Fire, Water, Lightning, Darkness, Light and Nothingness), so before even starting the battle, you have to carefully decide what characters you want to use.
Here are a few examples of other Tactical RPGs:
- Fire Emblem series
- Banner Saga series
- Valkyrie Chronicles
- Tactics Ogre
- Final Fantasy Tactics
Still, Archeland takes the Tactical RPG genre to another level by introducing new mechanics, like the Escort system. The system allows characters to automatically react to what's happening on the battlefield, especially during enemies turn. For example, some Tanks have the ability to jump in front of their allies that are under attack and take the damage instead of them. The Escort system puts a bigger focus on keeping your characters in formations around the tanks, so enemy Rangers or Mages are forced to deal with them first, before attacking the squishier characters on your team.
But what makes Archeland stand out from all the other Tactical RPG is that is has beautiful graphics and shows the combat in 3D:
Here is a sample game play that better shows the combat and the style of the game:
Kalpa of the Universe
Archeland has a lot of similarities with Kalpa of the Universe, a Tactical RPG that was released in China last year. And it isn't a coincidence or plagiarism, because both games were made by the same developer, BlackJack Studio, a subsidiary of Zlong Game.
Kalpa of the Universe was never released outside China, but that's probably because the graphic style, characters, and story are deeply rooted in the Chinese mythology, so the chance of the game being successful in other regions was pretty low.
So instead of taking a gamble on Kalpa, Zlong Game decided to change the graphic style and the story to be more fantasy-like. Still, the combat system and most importantly, character kits are often directly copied from Kalpa of the Universe, which means it will be easier to find the hidden gems by looking at the 'meta' in Kalpa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Archeland a main or side type of game?
Definitely main. While there are a lot of quality of life systems already in place in the game, like sweeping (in some modes like dungeons) for stages you already cleared or auto-repeat system (in other modes where you farm stuff), the game at its core is a Tactical RPG which means that you will have to think a lot during battles.
How long does it take to finish the dailies?
It takes around 20-25 minutes to finish the dailies and also get rid of the stamina that gathered over night.
What are the rates and pity?
There are two types of banners in Archeland.
First is the classic character banner and there the rate to pull the highest rarity (SSR) is 2%. Also, while the pity is set at only 90 pulls, on a rate-up banner you still can get a random SSR instead of the rate-up one (similar how Tower of Fantasy does it). Still, when you reach the pity for the 2nd time, you will 100% get the rate-up character. Also, similar to Counter Side, if you for example did 80 pulls on a banner before it ended, you will start with 80 'pity count' on the new banner that replaced it.
Then there's also the equipment banner which has 3% rates for SSR, but no pity at all. Still, SSR equipment is farmable in game, so the banner is targeted towards whales who want to get an early advantage.
How important are dupes?
Not that important. If you pull an SSR character, it starts at Rank 3 and to increase the rank, you have to use shards of the same character - while you can get them by pulling again (as a dupe will be broke down into shards), you can also farm SSR shards in game. It's a direct copy of the Langrisser system.
The max Rank is currently set at 9 and increasing it makes the unique passive of the character stronger on top of giving a small boost to stats.
Is the game P2W?
The prices are actually really reasonable - Battle Pass is 9$ and gives a lot of materials/item dupes/pulls. We will create a guide for spenders soon!
Do you need to reroll?
Rerolling in Archeland is a bit hard as it takes around 20-25 minutes to do one run - since this is a Tactical RPG, the tutorials are pretty extensive and you can't skip them.
Also, once you finish the tutorial, you will be given a chance to pull on a newbie banner that guarantees you one of 3 SSR - Sieghard, Nola, Lisa - and all of them are pretty decent. So even if you hate rerolling, you will have a good start.
Still for those that love being optimal we prepared a reroll guide:
Is there PVP?
Yes and it's pretty fun! You can play mind games with your opponent who you battle in real time. Still, when the game will launch, only automatic PVP will be available and RTA will be released a few months later.
What other modes are there?
You have the classic campaign, obviously, but on top of that are events that come with their own story and maps to challenge, dungeons, boss battles, guild, guild wars and already mentioned PVP.
Is there a PC client?
Yes! An official PC client is available and you can even apply a patch that translates the game into English. Check more details here:
