At first everyone thought it was a game...
But aliens have arrived and they are turning people into fertilizer.
Brad and Sam are gamers and when they started playing the hot new game Apocalypse Online they had no idea that the game was a preview of reality! With the help of a benevolent alien AI and nanotechnology, our heroes will have a chance to survive the apocalypse. They just have to survive, level up and find other survivors.
Jake is no gamer. But when he finds out aliens have arrived, he'll do anything to protect his little sister Sam.
Will they be able to grow strong enough for the second wave or will they become alien plant food?
APOCALYPSE ONLINE is a litrpg/gamelit post-apocalypse fantasy series filled with action, adventure, aliens and snarky AIs.
My Opinion: 507 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is an ok RPG apocalypse story. It doesn’t do anything wrong but doesn’t bring anything really new to the table either. It’s very slice of life with the story following three separate main characters (MC) as they deal with the sudden invasion of aliens that mimic a recently popular hard mode MMO.
As far as the story goes, there’s not much plot.The characters just wander, fight a small variety of monsters and some oddly antagonistic anti-RPG pill people, and take some upgrades or level. For much of the story I kinda wondered where it was going or if the main characters would ever get some big quest that would give them direction to solve the apocalypse or fight back. Instead it was some minor side quests to find upgrade stations and save some survivors. It felt more like a tutorial than the main game.
On the game mechanic side of things, it's not bad. People that pop the pill they’re sent get an RPG interface and an A.I. that help them understand the system. These folks can take the aether from killing monsters or people and use it to level, get a class, get gene therapy for some bonuses, or use it as a kind of currency to make items at a 3D printer. Nothing really new except for the gene therapy. I was a little disappointed that the characters didn’t level more, only hitting level 1 for the most part, but I guess that’s part of them being on hard mode for the RPG apocalypse. The alternative to leveling in the story is cultivation, which was disappointing as it’s not developed as much as other cultivation stories I’ve read.
Overall, there’s nothing outstanding or negative about the story. I think a more focused plot would have brought together some of the elements of the story better and created some tension. But it’s an ok story.
Score: 7.2 out of 10
APOCALYPSE ONLINE: An Apocalyptic Litrpg Adventure