To be honest, when I saw the name of this game, I was stunned for a moment, thinking it was a copycat. But click in and play, oh, it's interesting. As an old guy who has played all the way from the Saipan era, the name Swallowing Heaven and Earth means youth to me. At that time, I hid under the covers and used Nokia to play FC emulator. I devoured the Japanese version of Devouring World 2 and guessed it several times even though I was blindfolded. Now this mobile game version can be regarded as putting that feeling on display.
Without bragging, let's talk about the advantages first.
First of all, it completely restores the core gameplay of Swallowing the World, with exploratory large maps, random enemies, turn-based formations, and the classic "strategy" system. The picture is much more detailed than before, and part of the pixel style is retained, so it doesn't look out of place. Moreover, it is stand-alone + free, without any mandatory in-app purchases, which is a breath of fresh air in the current mobile game circle. Think about it, any card game now costs 648, and forces you to go online every day to do daily tasks, but this game can be played slowly, take two steps when you have nothing to do, attack monsters when you encounter them, save and exit when you are tired, it is very pure.
The formation system is also done very carefully, and it is not a mindless accumulation of combat power. Each general has his own position, and with different formations, fighting really requires using your brain. It's not the kind of routine that can be crushed by krypton gold, which I am quite satisfied with.
However, there are also shortcomings.
How should I put it, after all, it is a mobile game transplant, so the operation is a bit awkward. Touching the screen to click on the map is not as accurate as pressing buttons. Sometimes I want to move to avoid monsters, but I click the wrong one and hit them directly. Also, the amount of plot text is relatively small. Compared with the Chinese version on FC, a lot of details have been deleted, which may not be satisfying for those who are sentimental. In addition, the pace of the game is quite slow to be honest. If you are used to the various "one-click sweep" and "auto-battle" fast food mobile games nowadays, you may find it a bit sluggish.
Compare similar products horizontally.
Compared with the hard-core strategy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14", it is lighter and suitable for fragmented time. Compared with SLG like "The Coast of the Earth", it does not have the social pressure of being online, and one can have fun playing alone. Compared with those reskinned Three Kingdoms cards on the market, it at least retains the sense of exploration and development system of an orthodox RPG, rather than simply drawing cards and accumulating values. Of course, if you insist on comparing it with the original FC Devouring World, there must be a gap - after all, in the era of the Famicom, one game could cover everything, and the mobile version was limited by capacity and development costs, and could only do so.
Finally, let's talk about some industry gossip.
The developer, Hangzhou Xiantao Technology, has made several niche stand-alone machines before and has a good reputation. The rating of this game on TapTap is stable at around 8.5. There are no major players buying it, and it relies entirely on word of mouth from old players. To be honest, there are fewer and fewer manufacturers willing to make pure stand-alone mobile games. The only thing that can survive is the support of us "old die-hards". If you have also played Devouring World, you might as well give it a try, just as a ticket to your youth. If you haven't played it before, you can just treat it as a slow-paced RPG. Anyway, it's free, so it's not a loss.
Okay, that's all. I'm going to continue playing. I heard that there is a hidden plot behind it. I'll report back after I finish the game. 😎