Some games are a little more articulate in their inspiration than others, but it’s hard to recall a title as articulate as Dawnlands, Seasun Games’ latest fantasy adventure.
Just out of the somewhat rocky open beta, this cross-platform game is now available for everyone to play on iOS. There, you can try for yourself what seems to be the winning combination of Genshin Impact’s UI and mechanics, and Breath. Featuring The Wild’s art style and survival gameplay.
For a mobile game, it’s set in a surprisingly large, Zelda-like open world where players must gather resources, build shelters, and craft Minecraft-style weapons and tools to survive. The game also features a 4-player multiplayer mode where players can team up to build and explore together.
The cell-style graphics are impressive, the gameplay is challenging, the crafting system is deep and surprisingly challenging, and there is a wide variety of biomes to explore, each with their own challenges and resources.
Bugs and lags, but lots of fun
Nonetheless, the learning curve can be steep, which combined with its rough gameplay can put off more casual players.
But perhaps even more troubling is the fact that Seasun has a number of bugs left to be worked out, with crashes and lags occurring regularly during its beta phase. On top of that, with most game modes now unlocked, the threat of game-ruining “gotchas” microtransactions and optional subscriptions looms large.
These reservations aside, Dawnlands has solid survival and crafting game elements that will surely appeal to fans of the genre.
Importantly for some gamers, outside of the murky world of emulation, Dawnlands is the closest gamer comes to playing Breath of the Wild on an Apple device.