A new self-described “AAA” blockchain game will try to appeal to gamers in the form of The Harvest. The new hero shooter will feature player-owned assets, and as well as future play-and-earn mechanics.
Game Overview
The Harvest is a hero-shooter title with core mechanics similar to games like Overwatch and Paladins. The new free to play PC game incorporates blockchain technology through NFT assets in the form of Hero Cards, Skins and Battle Tags. The game is purely PVP with team-based battles of up to 4 teams, each with 4 players. Each character has a unique set of abilities and set of loadouts and gameplay takes place in a massive map set in an alien landscape.
Mechanics
As a hero shooter, The Harvest’s core gameplay mechanics employs usual rules from FPS titles. During each match session, players can choose from a roster of heroes (currently 4) each with their own unique abilities and team roles including:
- Alith, the Truthslayer – Uses dual shotgun as the main weapon, abilities include Dash and Quantum Blade
- Duke, the Blitzer – Wields the rocket launcher, has abilities like Jetpack for mobility and Power Dive
- Kira, the Guardian – Uses a sub-machinegun, abilities are Luminic Projection and Chromatic Barrier, a support skill
- Sahad, the Hunter – The sniper user, abilities are Hook and Tactical Retreat
All matches take place on a symmetrical map with bases for each team and lasts for 10 minutes. The goal is to have the most points or “Essence” by the end of the game timer Essence is acquired through:
- Cature of strategic points called “Essence Extractors”
- Invasion of the enemy base
- Killing the map boss
- Killing enemy heroes.
Each strategic point is guarded by AI enemies that need to be taken out before capturing the said point. Captured points can also be taken over by other teams.
Aside from the abilities, each hero can also use Hero Cards. These cards add an additional layer of gameplay mechanic by providing various bonuses to heroes and can be equipped before queuing in matches. Each hero can have a deck of up to 10 cards that they can select before each match. At the start of the game, players will be drawing a card from the deck that they can activate and use in game. Cards provide both active and passive bonuses and can also be leveled up using Essence.
As a competitive game, The Harvest will also look to expand to esports with tournaments such as The Harvest Thursdays co-hosted by United Gamers DAO.
NFTs
NFTs in The Harvest include Player Cards, Battle Tags and Hero Skins. These cards come in different rarities –
- Common
- Uncommon
- Rare
- Epic
- Legendary
- Ultimate
- Secret
Common cards are available for free to all players, whereas cards from the Uncommon to the Secret tier will be NFTs. Acquiring cards are done in different ways:
- Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary cards will be available via lootboxes
- Ultimate cards are available through in-game and community rewards and also by unlocking in-game achievements
- Secret cards are only available by unlocking in-game achievements.
Cards can also be leveled up using Essence and the game’s blockchain token. Together with cards, hero skins will also be available as NFTs as well as battle tags. Battle tags will be shown on player profiles and will have elements such as:
- User Icon
- Logo
- Emotes
- Badges
- Backgrounds
- Banners
Tokenomics
The Harvest uses the HAR token and another in-game currency called EOL. HAR serves as the governance token but also includes in-game utility such as:
- Marketplace Transaction fees
- Purchase of card loot boxes and purchase of single cards
- Acquiring heroes, skins, emotes, icons and capsules.
- Leveling up of NFT cards
- Conversion of Common cards into NFTs.
- Play and Earn rewards
As for EOL, it’s use in-game includes purchase of booster card decks and single common cards and leveling up of NFT cards.
For The Harvest’s play-and-earn aspect, players can earn $HAR as rewards through the Ranked League. When participating in the Ranked League players can earn rewards in the form of Orbs each containing a random reward including:
- More HAR tokens
- Card Boxes
- Secret Cards
- Boosters or Common Cards
- EOL
The Team and Partners
The Harvest’s development team members describe themselves as gaming industry veterans, some having more than a decade of experience in the gaming industry. Jordi Guerrero, the Tech Director was a former Ubisoft team member, Studio Manager Ferran Punti was once part of the Konami Esports Project and Producer Ivan Magrans was involved in games like Priston Tale and Ys Online.
As for partners, the projects backers include:
- Amber
- Spartan
- Falco
- Geek Cartel
- Sanctor Capital
- Lingfeng Capital
- Binance Smart Chain
- Solana
- Fractal
Roadmap
The Harvest is now available to download and play for free for the PC via Steam. The game currently has 4 available heroes and Common cards for use. Next target on the roadmap is the launch of Web3 elements (NFTs, Tokens) coming this Quarter 4 2022, followed by the in-game store, token rewards and additional content updates. A full game release is planned for early 2023