To be honest, when I saw the updated content of "The Other Shore" in the 2026 S1 season of "Heroes of Dawn", I, an old guy who has been playing mobile games for more than ten years, was quite emotional. I'm not going to brag about it, but coming all the way from the Saipan era, I can clearly feel that today's mobile games are completely different from the past.
Let's talk about the game itself first. This time Huangquan was reworked, the modeling and skills were fully upgraded, and the master level 9 unlocking qualification was given for free. This was something that would have been unimaginable ten years ago. Do you remember playing mobile games like "Order and Chaos" back then? If you want to change roles, you have to spend money or vomit blood. Now the developer, Competitive World, is following the "burden reduction + welfare" route. The astrolabe system has been restructured and development has been optimized. Ranking as a red diamond will directly lead to the legendary skin - Princess Iron Fan·Hundred Birds Holding Autumn. The name of this skin sounds sincere to me, it's Chinese style elements + hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix, tsk tsk. The legendary skin [Liu Bei·Kang Jinlong] can be obtained by being active, which means you can have fun even if you are a prostitute for free.
In fact, the general trend of the mobile game industry can be seen from these changes. First, the competition is too fierce, and the MOBA market is basically monopolized by the kings. If latecomers want to survive, they must either make a fuss about differentiation like Sugon - such as more refined national style modeling and a lighter development rhythm; or they can make crazy profits in terms of welfare. Shuguang's wave is obviously a two-pronged game: the remake of Underworld has attracted old players to return, the free skins of Liu Bei and Princess Iron Fan have stabilized new players, and the limited-time discount of Alice Fangri Rabbit has stimulated consumption. This combination of punches is quite accurate.
Second, today's mobile games are becoming more and more “service-oriented games”. To be honest, when we played mobile games ten years ago, we were satisfied with buying a gem for six yuan, but that's no longer possible now. Players' requirements for quality and operational activities are ridiculously high. Shuguang's theme for this season is “The Other Side of the World”, with constellation scrolls and legendary skins. The visual focus is on light, shadow and special effects. After all, the performance of mobile phones has improved, and so has the aesthetics of players. How could the pixelated style of "Angry Birds" on Symbian still hold up now?
Third, reducing the burden on the system is the general trend. You see, Shuguang has directly reconstructed the astrolabe system, optimizing the development experience and allowing players to "pack light". People nowadays are very busy every day and don't have much time for daily life. In the past, the intensity of "don't even think about playing until early in the morning if you don't care" is now enough to persuade me to quit. Suguang has lowered the threshold so that more casual players can have fun playing, which is a smart move.
Of course, as an old player, I still miss the days when I used to play "Soul Knight" online on Nokia using 2G network... But I have to admit that times have changed, and games are also evolving. This season update of Heroes of Dawn at least shows me that the developers are listening to the players' voices seriously, rather than following the trend to make money. I plan to go up and experience it after the update tomorrow to see if Huang Quan's new skills are smooth or not. I'm not bragging, but if we can maintain this intensity of updates and welfare levels, Sugon can still compete for a few more years. 😊