MMO strategy games aren’t a rarity. App stores are flooded with Clash of Clans copycats and conquest-style RTS games (Iron Throne, Stormfall, etc.). But Million Lords allows more room to breathe than any other game in its class, giving players a fresh look at a well-worn genre. Published to mobile platforms by Million Victories at the beginning of the year, Million Lords is easy to play and avoids the pay-to-win trap that too many like-minded games seem to fall into.

Your Throne Awaits

Million Lords is light in the story department, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Mobile games make a better living when they widen their reach to include casual players (who, as an entity, tend to favor perfunctory experiences over immersive ones). At the start of the game, you are given the keys to the throne by King Almaty. However, before you take over as warlord, you have to prove yourself in battle.

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This premise is thin, but the gameplay fills in the rest. Finding the balance between conquering as many cities as you can and allocating your resources in an appropriate manner is the bulk of the game. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and if you spread yourself too thin or don’t have enough gold to upgrade your weakest cities, you’ll end up losing more than you gain.

More Conquering, Less Waiting

What I like about this game is its complete repudiation of the mechanics that usually stop me from having a good time while playing PVP strategy games. There are no unnecessary wait times while you upgrade obscure buildings that you don’t even remember building in the first place. It doesn’t take forever to build your army. The game lets you play as fast as you want and as much as you want.

The downside is, you have to invest a lot of time in the game if you want to compete at higher levels. But, while most MMO strategy games exist in endless streams of annoying menus and arbitrary upgrades, Million Lords allows you to actually spend your time conquering cities and building your empire—which has always been the best part of any conquest game.

Pay To Win No More

The other aspect of the genre that Million Lords gets right is its handling of its pay structure. Of course, like any free-to-play mobile game, someone with deep pockets can buy as many chests as they want and destroy nearby opponents. Resources are obviously valuable, but Million Lords does a great job of not forcing P2W down your throat. It's easy to make it far without spending a dime.

Working your way through the game’s nuances isn’t all that challenging either. Weapons seem complex at first. Chests spawn a multitude of items, each with their own gambit of skills and statistics. In reality, weapon choice is relatively simple. Beneath all of the statistics, there are two categories which items fall under: defense or offense. Unsurprisingly, offensive items like swords and axes are used in attack-based gameplay, and shields are used when your cities are under attack.

The only fault in the game's current meta is the heavy penalty that you receive for attacking cities with lower XP than your own. The mechanic is a clearly a preventative measure put in place to protect beginners from bullish experts, but it basically gives weaker opponents free rein to take whatever territories they want without penalty. This isn't an issue with a clear workaround, but it does slow you down and makes it hard to progress once you get to higher levels.

Making Mobile MMO Strategy Work

While the game is still working out its kinks, it’s in a far better place than most fully “polished” games in the genre. It doesn’t try too hard, and no good mobile game ever does. Million Victories is self-aware enough to realize that an extremely complex MMO strategy game just doesn’t translate to mobile devices. Finding an appropriate balance between strategic gameplay and simple mechanics sounds easier than it is, but Million Lords hits the nail on the head, delivering gameplay that feels comfortably familiar, yet wholly original at the same time.

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Million Lords is available now for Android devices.

Million Lords

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