Rise of Kingdoms, with an anime skin? | First Impressions - Grand Cross: Age of Titans
Grand Cross: Age of Titans introduces an intriguing twist to the isekai formula by blending it with city-building MMORTS gameplay. The game starts off feeling like a RPG gacha game, with all the isekai, anime, and waifu elements you’d normally see in a RPG game, but in actuality it is a city-builder strategy game extremely similar to Rise of Kingdoms, with the option to venture out in the MMORTS-esque overworld map, explore, mine resources, attack monsters, and team-up or clash against other cities.
The city-building aspect of Grand Cross: Age of Titans is the main component of the gameplay. Buildings must be constructed and upgraded, and the waiting is in real-time. Structures will feature branching prerequisites with one another, ultimately leading to the Main Castle level which serves as the central component of the city-building mechanics.
Players are given plenty of resources and boosts to jumpstart and skip many waiting times of upgrades, although the tutorial is still a bit longwinded and can span hours of gameplay from the initial constructing of basic buildings, the introduction of hero collecting gacha and troop recruitment mechanics, as well as the eventual overworld exploration and guild-esque alliances.
Overall, the anime art-style is pleasing to the eyes, the story is actually refreshing but can be a bit overdone, and the game fully supports voice-overs in three languages: English, Japanese, and Korean. The streamlined mechanics and simplified resource management contribute to accessibility without sacrificing strategic depth, and the transition between battles, world exploration, and city building is seamless and enriches the overall experience. However, the potential impact on players who choose different paths—free-to-play versus boosting through in-app purchases—is worth considering.
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