Let’s go! A new, ultramodern mobile game, and the release is just two days away. Be the best, save the planet! Who’s going to fight back the monster invasion if you don’t? Prerelease already available, no text alerts or payment required.
World of the Changed completely modified human consciousness. The incredible graphics that worked even on the simplest of phones. The intuitive interface that made the game accessible for absolutely anyone. The aggressive marketing campaign that put news about the game on every TV, every phone, every tablet. By the time the launch was a few days away, an entire army of fans was out there waiting for just one thing: Hour X. That was what the mysterious developers were calling the release time.
But did anyone have a clue what Hour X would unleash on them? Were they ready to pay the price the game demanded? Mark Derwin, a student, was just one of many to have no idea what kind of fate awaited him in the game. All he cared about was jumping into the prerelease as soon as it came out.
My Opinion: 321 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advance copy for review, I purchased a copy when it became available.
This an Russian translated apocalypse LitRPG story, written by the author of The Way of the Shaman series. Unlike that story, no one is trapped in a VR game, instead the RPG apocalypse comes to earth via some bad aliens. Humans have to learn the new rules to this game, kill mutated monsters, and level up or they will be killed themselves.
The story itself can get pretty dark and brutal with many characters getting killed off. It’s also a bit slice of life and you follow the main character (MC) as he learns all the new rules and does whatever it takes to survive and tries to find and help his sister. The threats come not just from the monsters though, people can be just as deadly, and there are other mysterious enemies to mankind. All of which the MC eventually uncovers and has to deal with. There are some interesting twists that keep things challenging for the MC. Just when you think he’s getting OP, bam, a new twist.
Game mechanic-wise, things are pretty detailed and there some new mechanics that differ from the author’s other series. Levels are gained not from killing but from completing system generated missions and finding caches or rare items. Coins are given for taking 1st picture of kills whether human or monster. Coins are used to buy weapons and power packs to run them, stat upgrades, skill upgrades, regeneration packs, and shields to protect from damage. Lots of good upgrades from items, stats, and tech keep the story from getting repetitive and makes the MC feel more and more powerful as the story goes on.
Overall this is a good entertaining LitRPG with a brutal main character that is willing to do whatever it takes to survive the RPG apocalypse.
Score: 7.6 out of 10