Top 10 Blockchain Games for Players in 2021

Blockchain games widen up the horizon both for the gaming industry and the application of blockchain technology. In these games, players can truly own their items as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), play to earn, and have much more involvement in the governance of the game itself.

With these exclusive characteristics, many eyes are already glued on blockchain games to see how far they can go. If you’re new to the party, this list will include the most reputable and exciting NFT games in the blockchain game niche.

A blockchain game (also known as a ‘crypto game’) is one that incorporates blockchain technology into all or parts of itself. This usually means letting players sell or trade in-game items/assets for real money, a feature nowhere to be found on normal video games.

Also, many blockchain games are in open-source codes and let people participate in their governance. This prevents corruption from the inside and makes the games safer.

This new phenomenon leads to the play-to-earn concept (P2E), where people can earn good money in crypto from playing the best blockchain games.

Crusaders Dynasty stands out from the rest for being both a blockchain and battle royale game. Further diverging from the mainstream futuristic BR scene like Fortnite and Apex, this game embodies the medieval theme.

As all battle royale games go, your mission is to be the last survivor in the game while everybody’s trying to kill each other. You have all the sweet characteristics of a BR game here, plus the addition of PVE elements so you can fight animals, demons, and bosses as well. The blockchain aspect comes in the form of the Phantasma Blockchain, which enables the purchases of game items as NFTs.

Axie Infinity is the new Pokemon for blockchain enthusiasts. In the game, players can breed new Axies and bring them out to battles. You will need to purchase 3 Axies to start the game with each one costing around 0.04 ETH at the lowest. This starting budget is quite high for some people but luckily, there are many ways you can make money in the game.

First, winning battles grant players something called Small Love Potions (SLPs), which can be traded for money or used to breed new Axies. These lovely creatures, in turn, can be sold on the marketplace. A rare Axie can cost a fortune and a half - in fact, the most expensive one was sold for 300 ETH (around $780,000).

Besides, Axie Infinity boasts its own governance token: Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), which can be traded on Uniswap and Binance as well as used to buy in-game NFTs. The profit just from playing the game is actually enough to make a living for many people, especially those in developing countries. For example, in the Philippines, NFT Gaming is actually bringing in more money than the average wage, with top players earning hundreds of dollars per day.

 

Do you like Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone? Or maybe you’re looking for a crypto collectible card game? Splinterlands is the blockchain version of that, so build up your own collection and battle it out with others. 

Players can trade and sell their virtual cards just like physical ones in Magic the Gathering or Yugi Oh. Not only are all trades recorded publicly, but every single thing in Splinterlands also is a transaction on the blockchain so you can be at peace knowing the matches are provably fair.

Crypto Kitties, another blockchain game, infamously froze Etherum through means of blockchain congestion due to traffic overload. In contrast, Splinterlands ditched the Ethereum blockchain for a Delegated Proof of Stake system which can handle much more transactions plus zero fees.

Virtual real estate is a hot keyword in the blockchain community because of games like Decentraland. The metaverse game is basically a vast virtual world containing about 90,000 plots of land, each one having 100 square meters free for the owner to customize however they want.

In Decentraland, differently from the usual open-world experience, it’s not the developers but the users that have a say in the rules of this virtual world. MANA, the game’s native cryptocurrency, also gives the holders voting power in the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to collectively decide on how the game will improve.

You can purchase land, sell or lease it, create houses, trees, and animals on it - basically whatever a real-life piece of land can hold. Some people are building museums and casinos right inside the virtual world. The most expensive land parcel in Decentraland was sold for an incredible 345 ETH.

Neon District is a role-playing Ethereum-based game embracing the cyberpunk, hyper-futuristic aesthetics where players battle with enemies to collect characters and items. In-game items, of course, can be traded in the game’s marketplace or sites like Rarible, Open Sea...

Neon District is a creation of Blockade Games, it has a global team working meticulously behind every setting, weapon, mechanic, and storyline. The company also has a long-running reputation for fusing blockchain technology with interactive entertainment. In season 2, Neon District is expected to incorporate a multiplayer feature.

Much like Decentraland, The Sandbox is also an open-world game except its aesthetics draw much inspiration from the video-game classic Minecraft. The Sandbox is all about widening the horizon of creativity - if you’ve ever played Minecraft, you would know how massive and insane the creations in there can be.

The games ecosystem uses NFT to give ownership of the created items to the creators, which they can, in turn, sell on The Sandbox’s online marketplace. SAND is the main in-game currency, empowering all the transactions and interactions in this digital world. Players can buy LAND, develop it in their own style and sell it later for profits.

What’s more, you can go around socializing with other players in their own LAND, or build mini-games to play. Effectively, The Sandbox contains games within games.

The Six Dragons was the world’s first blockchain open-world RPG game. In this fantastical world of 256 km2, players can explore endless adventures, collect materials, craft items and get into epic fights… 

All the items in The Six Dragons are powered by the Enjin platform, which powers more than 2 billion NFTs. Multiple other blockchain games also use the Enjin coin, including Dissolution, 9lives Arena, Containment Corps. Enjin is a reputable platform that is entrusted by many game developers to build their virtual economies.

Sometimes, a blockchain game is not much of a game but just a cash-grab or a gimmick to invest in, but you can guarantee 22 Racing Series is anything but. The game’s slogan proudly claims to have “Esport DNA at its core”. It’s quite true: take one look at the graphics and you can see it’s above all a package of high-adrenaline excitement.

The game features the world’s first realistic physics simulation and it revolves around real-time racing strategies. This means the racing track will change continuously, prompting players to adapt their vehicle on the run. In addition, Team Battle adds a cooperative layer to the gameplay.

22 Racing Series is said to soon be released on Steam Early Access. Blockchain integration is there for better collaboration between developers and players. Plus, you actually own your in-game assets since they are NFTs, built on the Phantasma blockchain.

Most popular blockchain games try to create a virtual world that resembles the real one, but few are as daring as Infinite Fleet. The game’s premise is to “explore a vast procedurally generated galaxy in which the narrative is directed entirely by you, the players.” This is a Massive Multiplayer Online game (MMO) that features epic-looking spaceships and planets.

Players will take the role of the commanders of the United Sol Federation, protecting territories from aliens and exploring the infinite layers of space. The currency of Infinite Fleet, INF, can be earned by doing missions or trading with other players. 

Quarantine sees a lot of people itching for some social interaction, so why not join a giant virtual block party? Blankos Block Party is an open-world, multiplayer game with unique graphics and a focus on custom art and design, building, and exploration.

This game gears more towards pay-to-own rather than pay-to-earn, and is currently in Open Beta. Users can curate their own parties in Blankos, ranging from shooting, racing to “collection game styles”. The good news for most people is that no coding knowledge is needed to create one.