To be honest, I have been playing since the Saipan era, and now the mobile game market has really changed a lot. In the past, we could squat on the bus stop and play Tetris all afternoon, but now all kinds of fancy card draws and open worlds have made people a little tired. Today in the original novel section, I saw someone recommending a game called "Eliminate Love". The name sounds quite childish, but after I clicked on it and played it for half an hour, I realized that this game is somewhat interesting.
Not to brag, this game is essentially an elimination game, similar to the previous "Happy Xiaoxiaole" games, but the developer Shenyang Pengdong Cultural Creative Co., Ltd. has given it a leveling system for cultivating immortals. Every time you pass a level, your cultivation level will increase and new characters will be unlocked. Although this design is not too amazing, it is better than nature. Nowadays, many mobile games are eager to shove the "growth line" in your face, as well as equipment and skill trees, so that you can play a stand-alone elimination game like a liver. However, this game uses the packaging of cultivating immortals, which combines the traditional elimination "chain combo" with the "level breakthrough" feeling quite comfortably. The two off-site props are not designed to force you to spend money. Free players can also get them through time accumulation. This is really conscientious in a mobile game in 2025.
The operating platform is only 5.0, which is probably optimized for old Android phones. The screen adopts the style of Xiuxian ink, which is quite healing. The charging model is 0 yuan, and it is free to download without in-app purchases. These days, purely free mobile games are rarer than Panda. Being able to stick to this pattern shows that the developer may really want to retain people first by relying on word of mouth.
Speaking of the development trend of mobile games, I am actually a little emotional. In the past few years, everyone has been chasing "movie-level picture quality" and "console-level experience". What's the result? Players' mobile phones are hot and consume fast power. The operation team is working hard every day, and in the end, they are left with a bunch of works with "high image quality and low gameplay". On the contrary, this kind of elimination game, which is small in size, light on social interaction, and heavy on fun, has been quietly occupying the download list. After all, most people play games just to relax and don't want to spend their spare time watching plots, completing tasks, and forming teams for team battles. A design like "Click on it to play, turn it off and forget about it" is more in line with today's fast-paced life.
It's not that large-scale productions are bad, but I think the industry should realize that the “mobile” attribute of mobile games is its true destiny. How can you have the opportunity to open an open world for an hour and a half while you are on the subway, waiting in line, or drinking coffee? Combining the elimination game with the collection and cultivation elements of cultivating immortals is equivalent to injecting a sense of "growth" into the casual gameplay without overpowering people. This balance may be a direction worthy of reference for many small teams in the future.
In short, if you are like me and are tired of playing so-called masterpieces that always have "limited time activities" and "social tasks", you can try this "Love Elimination". It won't give you a shocking experience, but when you lie on the sofa, click on it, watch the ink painting style unfold slowly, slide your fingers gently to eliminate blocks, and listen to the crisp sound effects. That feeling of relaxation may be the reason why we first fell in love with games when we played Snake on Nokia. 😌