Long-Awaited ‘Illuvium’ Ethereum Games Launch on Epic Store

The developer of the Illuvium blockchain gaming franchise launched three interconnected sci-fi fantasy video games onto the Epic Video games Retailer on Thursday. After a collection of betas, Illuvium is branding this because the “official recreation launch,” following a play-to-airdrop marketing campaign.

Constructed on Ethereum scaling community Immutable X, the three titles—Illuvium: Overworld, Enviornment, and Zero—span distinctly completely different genres however feed into one another, and the developer encourages gamers to get immersed inside all three video games.

Illuvium: Overworld, for instance, is an open-world survival recreation the place gamers collect very important assets to restore a stranded ship. On this world, you’ll encounter Illuvials—legendary creatures native to the Illuvium universe that you may hunt and seize. We went-hands on with the Overworld beta final yr and got here away impressed by the visuals and scale of the world.

When you efficiently hunt and seize these Illuvials, you possibly can then carry them into Illuvium: Enviornment—the franchise’s second title. Enviornment is a strategic auto-battler, akin to Teamfight Ways, the place your Illuvials face off towards AI opponents or different on-line gamers.

The ultimate recreation is a city-builder known as Illuvium: Zero, which is on the market on cell in addition to PC and Mac. You’re tasked with growing the land, extracting priceless assets, and stimulating the economic system in an try to reconnect with the wrecked ship in Overworld. This recreation integrates into the broader Illuvium economic system established by the aforementioned titles.

Illuvium’s official launch comes following a play-to-airdrop marketing campaign in latest months, which incentivized crypto-inclined gamers to take a look at the beta checks. Gamers have been later in a position to earn airdrop factors by collaborating in a public beta take a look at, with some rewards being given out in June, however it seems that airdrops will proceed over the subsequent 5 months.

Illuvium has been on the horizon for years and first began elevating funds in This fall 2020, in accordance with its official roadmap. That’s when the group created an preliminary prototype and transitioned to the Unreal Engine platform inside the similar quarter. In 2021, its Ethereum token ILV was launched, quickly rising to an all-time excessive of $1,900.

Like many crypto tokens that launched within the frothy bull market of 2021, ILV took a dramatic fall from these heights, beginning 2023 at $39. However when the sport was listed on the Epic Video games Retailer forward of its third beta take a look at, ILV’s worth surged—and hit a 2024 peak of practically $150 again in March. On the time of writing, ILV is buying and selling at $67.

Edited by Andrew Hayward