To be honest, as an old guy who has been playing mobile games since the Symbian era, it is quite emotional to watch mobile games develop from simple Snake and Tetris to all kinds of fancy types today. Recently, a friend recommended me to try "Happy Landlord". I didn't take it seriously at first, thinking it was just an old-fashioned poker game. But once I started playing it, I couldn't stop playing it. I couldn't brag about it. This game really gave me a new understanding of the evolution of current mobile games.
Let's talk about the game itself first. It is not just a traditional Landlord fight, but also incorporates new tricks such as cloning bombs and continuous explosions. The screen-full of bombs really decompresses the game. It looks like an action movie with special effects. At first glance, it is aimed at the "split time entertainment" needs of today's young people. Especially the "Billion King Explosion" gameplay, the numbers skyrocketed after one round. Although I knew it was a virtual bean, the feeling of pleasure was quite real. Another highlight is the casual mini-games such as fishing and idle cultivating. They have nothing to do with Landlords, but when put together they make people want to hang up. It is a bit like the trend of "content overlay" in the development of mobile games - it is not enough to retain people with the core gameplay alone. Some mini-fishing games must be added to allow players to come back when they have time to collect food and play another game.
From an industry perspective, this "casual + social + light RPG" model actually reflects the two mainstream directions of current mobile games: one is extreme fragmentation, and the other is diversified stitching. In the past, Landlords was just about playing cards, but now "Happy Landlords" includes manor development, treasure hunting, and BOSS battles. To be honest, it's a bit like combining the sense of development of "Animal Crossing" and the competitiveness of "Doudizhu", but the experience is not inconsistent, and it allows players with different tastes to find some fun. In particular, the design of "Happy Manor" about planting and stealing vegetables reminds me of Happy Farm on Saipan ten years ago. At that time, everyone set the alarm clock in the middle of the night to collect vegetables. Now this gameplay has returned to mobile games, but it has changed the skin, and it is still social-driven in nature.
In addition, the charging model of this game is 0 yuan for free, but in-app purchases such as coupons and skins are naturally indispensable. As an old player, I am actually quite sensitive to krypton gold, but the payment points of "Happy Landlords" are mainly non-essential items such as card table skins and treasure hunting acceleration. If you don't buy it, it will not affect the core experience. This is considered a relatively mature monetization idea for mobile games now - attract users for free, and then use non-numerical content such as skins and VIPs to stimulate consumption. Compared with the previous web game routines that forced krypton, it is indeed an improvement.
Finally, I would like to say something that may be a bit old-fashioned: Even though all the major games now cost dozens of Gs, the ones that can really be played and relaxed in a fragmented time are often lightweight games like "Happy Landlord". It doesn't require you to immerse yourself for several hours, but the design is exciting enough that you are willing to play two games while waiting for the bus and catching fish. From Symbian to Android, from feature phones to full-screen games, the form of games has changed, but the essence of "fun" has not changed. I don't want to brag about it, but I recommend all poker players to give this version a try, especially those who find traditional Landlord Landlord boring. Clone Blast Blast is really interesting. 😌