Introduction
Basic information
- Developer Name: Lilith Games
- Full Name: AFK Journey
- Release Date: July 10, 2023
- Released on: Android, iOS
- Cross Play: No
Initial thoughts
Having played AFK Arena and enjoyed its mix of idle gameplay and strategic team-building, I was curious to see how AFK Journey, another game from Lilith Games, would hold up. I hoped the remake would bring fresh elements while maintaining the simplicity that made AFK Arena successful, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite meet my expectations.
Story and setting
Plot overview
The story in AFK Journey is standard for a mobile RPG, focusing on a group of heroes fighting to save their world from an ancient evil. While serviceable, the plot feels predictable and lacks depth. The characters and their motivations don’t stand out, making it hard to feel invested in their journey.
World building and immersion
The world in AFK Journey is visually appealing but lacks immersion. The environments are pretty, but they don’t feel lived in or dynamic. There’s no sense of exploration or adventure, and the world often feels static.
Character development
Character development is minimal. While each hero has unique abilities, their personalities are paper-thin. The game doesn’t invest much in building emotional connections with the characters, so they remain one-dimensional throughout the story.
Emotional impact
The emotional impact of the game is almost nonexistent. The stakes never feel high, and there are no standout moments that evoke any real feeling. It’s more about progressing through levels and the current story than experiencing a meaningful narrative.
Rating for story and setting
I have visited multiple aspects of the story and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with an 5
While it is fun to go through the motions of this mobile game, the story could have been better.
Gameplay and mechanics
Core gameplay mechanics
The core gameplay is similar to AFK Arena, featuring idle mechanics where your team fights automatically, and you collect rewards over time. While this works well in a casual setting, it becomes repetitive quickly. There’s little to do beyond upgrading your team and watching battles play out, which can get dull after a while.
Difficulty and balance
The difficulty spikes occasionally, forcing you to grind for resources, but most of the time, the game is fairly easy. This imbalance can make the game feel tedious, especially when progression grinds to a halt unless you spend money or log in repeatedly.
Pacing of the game
The pacing is slow, especially since you rely on idle mechanics to gather resources. The main story moves forward at a crawl, with long waits between meaningful progression unless you invest heavily in microtransactions.
Innovation and uniqueness
There’s little innovation in AFK Journey. It follows the same formula as AFK Arena but in a semi-open world setting. The few new mechanics feel as if they were just needed to identify this as a new game.
Controls and user interface
The controls are simple and work well for a mobile game, but the user interface can feel cluttered. There are too many menus and layers, making it difficult to navigate efficiently.
Microtransactions
Like AFK Arena, AFK Journey relies heavily on microtransactions to speed up progression. While you can play without spending money, the game heavily incentivizes purchases to avoid long waits and tedious grinding.
Rating
After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 6.5
I think the gameplay falls in the mediocre section for the gameplay section.
Graphics and art style
Quality of graphics and art direction
The graphics are one of the few highlights of the game. The art style is polished, with detailed character models and environments. However, the visuals alone aren’t enough to make up for the lackluster gameplay.
Technical performances
The game performs smoothly, with no noticeable lag or crashes during my playthrough. However, the visuals occasionally felt overwhelming on a small mobile screen, especially during battles where too much was happening at once.
Environment and design uniqueness
The environments, while visually appealing, are not very unique. Most areas feel like generic fantasy settings, with little to differentiate one region from another.
Rating
It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 7.0
Sound and music
Music score and how it contributed to the game
The soundtrack is decent but forgettable. The music does its job of setting the tone for each battle, but none of the tracks stand out as particularly memorable.
Sound effects quality
The sound effects are adequate but feel a bit generic. Attacks, spells, and character abilities sound like standard mobile RPG fare, without much effort to make them distinct.
Voice Acting
There’s little voice acting in the game, and what’s there feels minimal. While this isn’t a huge issue for a mobile RPG, it does detract from the overall experience, especially since more immersive storytelling could have benefited from solid voice work.
Rating
After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 6
Not the best music in a mobile game.
Replayability
Game Length and content volume
The game is designed to be played over a long period, with the idle mechanics encouraging daily logins to collect rewards and progress. However, the slow pacing makes it feel drawn out rather than engaging.
Extra Content
There’s not much in the way of extra content. Once you’ve completed the main story, you can grind for resources and tackle PvP, but there’s little else to keep you coming back.
Replay value
The replay value is low. Once you’ve experienced the core gameplay loop, there’s little incentive to replay the game or try out different strategies.
Rating
After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of AFK Journey with a 7.
If you are looking for some fun with a cat-game, then this is the one you are looking for!
Suggestions and comparisons
Suggestions and feedback
- The game could benefit from more engaging mechanics beyond idle combat. Adding more depth to character development or exploration would make the game more enjoyable.
- Reduce the reliance on microtransactions. The pacing feels too slow for free-to-play players, which can be frustrating.
- Improve the storytelling to give players more reason to invest emotionally in the characters and world.
Comparisons
Compared to AFK Arena, AFK Journey feels like a step backward. While the graphics are improved, the gameplay lacks the engaging systems that kept players hooked in AFK Arena. The heavy reliance on microtransactions and the repetitive nature of the gameplay make it hard to recommend over its predecessor.
Personal experiences and anecdotes
Completing the main story was fun enough, but after that, the game felt like it was dragging. The grind to unlock more content became tedious, and without any significant innovation, it quickly lost its appeal.
Rating
Taking in all the personal experiences with this game I give it a personal rating of 5,5
AFK Journey could have been better.
Last words
Pros
- Polished graphics with detailed character models
- Simple, easy-to-understand mechanics
- A decent soundtrack that fits the game’s tone
- Fun to play casually if you enjoy idle games
Cons
- Repetitive gameplay that gets dull quickly
- Heavy reliance on microtransactions for faster progression (Can be played F2P, I did)
- Lack of meaningful character development
- Cluttered user interface that’s hard to navigate
While AFK Journey looks great and offers some fun, casual moments, it ultimately fails to stand out. The lack of innovation, combined with repetitive gameplay and a heavy focus on microtransactions, makes it hard to recommend over other idle RPGs. It’s a decent game for short bursts of play.
Final Rating
6.5
Please let me know what you think of AFK Journey in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
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Had my eye on this game for a little while lately. Was looking for a nice chill casual game. Thanks for the review.
Glad you liked the review!
i agree with Repetitive gameplay issue.
Indeed, repetitive.
love this game, perfect for mobile
It is indeed a decent mobile game.
awesome review sven, i agree on most of the points, but these mobile games usually just aren’t my thing, they suck you in with addictive mechanics and just end up wasting a bunch of your time.
Sometimes they waste your time.
Agree with this. Mobile games are usually designed as “time killers”, especially since our phones are portable so you can plug in and play anywhere and at any time, but their stories, limited controls and repetitive game play usually end up like you said, a waste of time. Add to that the dreaded micro transactions, and you’re in for wasting your money as well. 🙁
Not bad for a mobile rpg ngl. I might give it a try, thanks sven!
Let me know if you like it!
Looks like a time killer for a short time
Took me some time to beat the main story!
The aesthetics looks fine in this game, but playing games AFK is just not my cup of tea, I rather play with real stocks as a waiting game rather than play afk games as a waiting game lol.
I can understand that!
I think it’s a good review with honest opinions. 🐑
Thank you!
Yeah, that kinda sounds like the reason why I stopped playing these kinds of mobile games… :/
Thanks for the informative review!
I am glad you liked the review!
Looks like the standard Mobile experience these days… I do play the occasional mobile game, but only if I have to wait for something, I’m not invensting real time into them anymore. It is quite sad to see, since there were quite a few good games out there a few years ago…
Good mobile games are rare!
6.5 for gameplay (and overall) is too high to my taste when there are microtransactions…
But well, this kind of mobile isn’t for me entirely anyway. Nice review though!
I’ve heard of this game recently, and while I do like the art style… The gameplay, just nope.
At least the microtransactions are not needed.
Looks not bad, but not my goto game.
One thought I have. Computing power inceases everywhere, but games getting more and more clickery and idle 😀
People no longer have time to game, so idle it is.
With the name AFK Journey, I would have expected a way cheaper game but it looks quite polished to be honest.
It was way more polished than I expected!
Thank you for the review!
You are welcome!
Nice art style and good review
Thank you!
I have played this game before, but I am not a fan of repetitive gameplay, so after a couple of days I dropped it. But yeah, as a lot of people say, the game is visually looking good.
Great review. Tells me why I don’t really play mobile games too much repetitiveness in them. But I guess that is the price of convenience.
Thank you for this test. The game doesn’t look too bad.
I like this review! This soundtrack can help to relax after hard day.
That’s too bad the gameplay and story is lackluster, cause the characters and collectibles look really cool and full of potential! With this artstyle there could be some really cool environments made to explore too! Microtransaction pushing is also a no for me…
Very simple and ordinary mobile game, I think nothing interesting really :] But people play them, otherwise no one would make them 😉 Grinding or paying for progress and also in a such simple game, well doesn’t make sense for me 😉