If you’re like me, you’re constantly scouring the web to find a new game to play.
While the apps and games in our phone and PC install lists look on in horror, we’re finding shiny new video games to delve into.
I don’t really do reviews but this game definitely deserves more attention than it gets.
Sure, it’s one of the top-grossing gachas in the world, but it should be right at the top!
What is Epic Seven?
Epic Seven is a gacha game set in a fantasy world. You collect and unlock heroes of various elements.
Equip these heroes with equipment, use runes to upgrade them and then take on some of the plentiful PvE content or try your luck in PvP Arena.
What is a gacha game?
Known as “toy vending machine” games, gacha games leverage a unique loot box system that unlocks characters.
This is in stark contrast to other games that push players towards cosmetic unlocks. Most gacha games are completely free but have a strong pay-to-win business model.
Now that you know the gist of things, onto the review!
Graphics: 5/5
Epic Seven is as close to a real 2D anime game as you’ll ever see.
Every character, map and event is perfectly drawn to match the anime genre of art styles.
All 4-star or higher heroes have unique special effects with their abilities.
Some of them are crazy good, such as Straze casually ripping a few planets in half.
Most mobile games sacrifice graphics and aesthetics for gameplay but Epic Seven has found that perfect balance.
Early game quests feel like a perfect introduction as you see the bright green world of Orbis before you progress into the darker sides of the storyline.
Definitely one of the strongest points, the sheer level of detail behind each new character and episode is incredible.
Epic Seven anime when???
Story: 3/5
Starting off with a bit of exposition, followed by an introduction into a fairly peaceful world.
Players follow the tale of Ras Elclare, the main protagonist who meets countless heroes on his journeys through the various episodes.
I’m not going to lie, I started skipping the storyline during the final missions of Episode 3.
Up to that point, the story was surprisingly wholesome with some gripping surprises along the way.
That being said, I can tell a lot of effort goes into the worldbuilding and lore behind the base Epic Seven story lines.
I think it’ll be a lot more enticing when more storylines come out in other media, such as books or even a TV show.
Gameplay: 4/5
Every hero has an element and a class.
Classes determine what kind of artifacts you can equip. Here is a quick rundown of each class:
- Knight: Tanking damage as a front-liner, providing support and utility for allies.
- Soul Weaver: Provide shields, heals, buffs and debuff dispells for allies. Can be built for tankiness or speed.
- Thief: High damage & speed with a lot of evading.
- Warrior: Balance of full offensive builds or bruisers, warriors enjoy lifesteal sets.
- Ranger: Tons of speed and offensive power, tend to need high quality builds to succeed.
Elements are based on a rock-paper-scissors gameplay style with Earth, Ice and Fire all being strong or weak against one another.
Light and Dark elements are also featured, with them gaining damage bonuses against each other.
Battles
Turn-based fighting is the style of Epic Seven with the speed stat determining the turn order.
The game features plenty of different variables to shake things up, like counter-attacks and a myriad of buffs/debuffs to apply to heroes.
For the most part, gameplay is pretty enjoyable, although you’ll likely leave it running on auto-pilot for most of your game time.
Once you hit episode 3, PvE content becomes frustrating as even the weakest mobs have massive HP pools. Maybe the decision was made to prevent players from using the same 4 heroes to power through hundreds of quests.
Episodes 1, 1.1 and 2 were really fun and I recommend following the story as you go along 🙂
PvP: 2/5
Epic Seven’s PvP system is split into three parts:
- Arena – Face pre-determined defence teams, draft your team to counter them. Set your own defence team.
- World Arena – Tackle opposing players in real-time. React to hero picks from your opponent and ban the heroes you don’t want to face.
- Guild Wars – Three heroes per team. Attack enemy teams to earn havoc points. The guild with the most havoc points wins at the end of the war.
Here are the ranks for Arens:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Master
- Challenger
- Champion
- Legend
In terms of PvP gameplay, some battles can be a lot of fun.
I’m currently Challenger rank and I love building up new heroes to compete in PvP battles.
That being said, a lot of PvP matches come down to either gear or RNG.
If your opponent has better gear than you, by luck or their wallet, you’ve already lost before the battle loads.
A degree of game knowledge is required for you to draft the right heroes to counter your opponent but even then, if some 15% RNG rolls don’t go your way, it can still result in a loss.
Epic Seven’s PvP system is more “account vs account” than “player vs player”.
Rewards gained for finishing at higher ranks are pretty nice so there’s always an incentive to climb, even if it’s a bit tedious.
Monetisation: 5/5
Epic Seven’s shop section is full of in-game purchases for players to take advantage of.
As of December 2021, it’ll cost over $5000 to buy everything in the shop.
At first sight, that’s pretty disgusting but when you consider how much free stuff the devs give away, it’s completely justified.
Whales are needed to keep these games free after all.
In the 8 months I’ve been playing, I’ve spent around $80. I’ve also played around 400 hours of game time, well worth the money!
These packs are so ridiculously overpriced that they only cater to those who have too much money, providing little in the way of actual pay2win elements.
Players only need a handful of geared heroes to be successful in both PvE and PvP. All of which you can get for free by just playing the game!
Epic Seven’s community hasn’t been outraged with the monetisation for a long, long time.
Put simply, this is the most free-to-play friendly gacha game you’ll ever find!
Heroes: 5/5
Heroes in Epic Seven are provided between 3 and 5 stars, with the level of stars determining how strong their base stats are.
Over 200 unique heroes exist in Epic Seven, with over a dozen of 3-star heroes having access to the speciality change system to boost their stats and abilities.
The current Moonlight system also turns 5-star heroes into another powerful variant of themselves. Such as Angelica & Angel of Light Angelica.
Such a varied roster provides enough heroes to cater to every type of player.
Everything from cunning warriors to waifus, there’s plenty of heroes for you to get your hands on.
You can also acquire NPC monsters to add to your roster, although they come as 2-stars and aren’t very powerful.
Equipment: 2/5
All these great game elements being offered for free has to come at a price and unfortunately, it’s equipment.
As mentioned previously, over 200 heroes exist in this game.
On average, you’ll probably get 1-2 new heroes a week you would like to build and use occasionally but it’s simply not possible.
High-end gameplay content makes good gear sets absolutely mandatory.
Using the free gear you obtain, you can definitely climb to Master in Arena, as well as complete up to Episode 2 of the story. To get further, you’ll need some good equipment.
The best way to get equipment is by farming Hunts, which require dedicated teams.
To build these teams? farm lower level hunts, which also require teams.
It’s a tedious slog that is quite essential to Epic Seven’s longevity.
My current roster contains about 15 heroes I’d love to build up, just to try out in Arena.
But unfortunately, I’m still stuck trying to get 2 rings with some half-decent stats to finish off the 2 main heroes I’m trying to build.
I know SmileGate gives us a lot of free stuff but a decent set once a month would be amazing!
Events: 4/5
It’s all too common for a development company to release a game and then drip feed content.
Epic Seven has events constantly and I mean that literally. There’s always an event on, always new heroes to recruit or free resources being given out.
Some of the events can be frustrating with Hell modes being difficult for some players to clear. Or the RNG selection puzzles that never give you the piece you need.
The fact I can log in every day and aim for something new is a breath of fresh air and keeps me coming back week after week!
Events usually have a story behind them too, they’re not random quests thrown together with your typical rewards.
Conclusion
Overall, Epic Seven is an incredible gacha mobile game you can play completely for free.
Constant updates from the developers featuring tons of new content is a high point.
However, if you dislike having dozens of heroes you’ll rarely, if ever, actually use in combat, this game won’t be for you.
| Reviewer | Rating |
|---|---|
| My Rating | 4 / 5 |
| Google Play | 4.5 / 5 |
| Apple Store | 4.6 / 5 |
| MMOs.com | 2.84 / 5 |
As for the question…is Epic Seven worth playing?
The answer is; YES!
Responses (5 )