A quick introduction into the long-awaited turn-based cyberpunk RPG
First announced back in 2018, edgy sci-fi squad-based RPG Neon District is now live and ready to play in its alpha version. One of the reasons for the long wait is technical; although Neon District used the Ethereum blockchain to secure its NFTs such as characters and gear, high gas fees makes it impossible as a platform for actually playing games on. For that reason, Neon District is now using Matic Network, a layer 2 solution, which is compatible with Ethereum but which offers minimal gas fees and enables faster gameplay.
Neon District uses custodial wallets, and therefore players new to the blockchain space don’t have arrange a wallet on their own. That’s also the reason why the number of active user wallets is currently low, because these only get measured when users export their items to another wallet. However, off-chain data – like for example the in-game leaderboards – show that Neon District has attracted more than one thousand players since its launch last week.
Matic and the custodial wallet also makes it simple to sign up and play Neon District. You don’t need to do anything complex. Just create an account with a username, email and password, and verify your email address. Once logged in, you’ll receive a free character as well as 500 Neon tokens, which are the non-crypto in-game currency for Neon District.
Time to battle
Neon District is a squad-based RPG, and you need four characters for a complete squad. Luckily, buying new characters costs 100 Neon each so you can complete your first squad and start playing. All the characters and gear you buy with Neon are NFTs secured on the Matic blockchain, and which – in time – you’ll be able to trade with other players.
Turn-based PVP battles form the core gameplay element in Neon District. In these battles each character takes turns using their special skills, shown as action cards, to take down the opposition. Ultimately reducing their health points to zero. There are six character classes including familiar types such as tanks, healer, support, attacker etc.
Equipping your characters with gear and levelling up gear and characters is the main loop. Obviously the quickest way to do this is to buy more Neon using crypto (credit credit payments to follow). However, neatly you can also earn Neon by playing the game’s idle mode: Neon Pizza.
In Neon Pizza you send your squad out to deliver pizza, automatically earning small amounts of Neon in the process. This is where the play-to-earn mechanic comes into play. Players use this Neon to buy character upgrades or weapon crates, adding further value to their account.
Levelling up your characters also unlocks more lucrative – and more dangerous – missions, which provide the opportunity to ambush and steal Neon from rival teams. There’s plenty more to come from Neon District, which takes place in a cyberpunk world populated with crazy characters and engaging storylines.
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