The Web3 gaming space is in a golden era for investment right now, with CoinGecko sharing that 29 of the world’s 40 biggest game studios are investing in blockchain games. Game7’s “State of Web3 Gaming” report also revealed that total investment into Web3 games since 2018 has exceeded $15bn.
With all of that funding and development, we finally have brilliant, exciting, explorative, innovative, and revolutionary games in Web3, most of which are leveraging the immense power and possibilities of NFTs. We want to see immersive, exciting, and engaging titles that respect the Web3 ideal of self-ownership through NFTs that create value and utility.
In this article, we’ll explore our top 5 NFT games for 2024, sharing a selection of titles that stand out as market leaders, innovators, and limit-pushers.
Shrapnel
It’s 2038 and a huge exosolar asteroid has collided with the moon, after which Saturn-like rings form, pelting the Earth with lunar meteorites. A no-go zone 500km wide is declared on Earth, where these meteorites can be found. Once it is discovered that the lunar meteorites contain precious resources, of course, mercenary harvesting teams start to head into the “Sacrifice Zone”.
The lore is fantastic, it’s a great sci-fi concept, and some of the writing and narrative are top-class. They’re matched by fantastic visual design, which does the story justice, and is why Shrapnel has won “Best Graphics” and “Most Anticipated Game” two years in a row at the Gam3 Awards. Notably, Shrapnel’s CGI Game Trailer won a “Gold Telly for Animation for Cinematic Trailer” at the 2023 Telly Awards, as well as “Best Trailer” at the Gam3rs Choice Awards.
We’re here, however, to discuss NFT games, and that’s another area where Shrapnel excels. With an active marketplace, loads of user-generated content, and interoperability with other games (thanks to strategic partnerships), Shrapnel’s NFTs create so much value and possibility. Users can make and mint their own NFTs and trade them on the marketplace, but that’s not all. There’s a marketing and promotion mechanic in play where users can stake $SHRAP (the game’s native token) to increase the discoverability of an item on the marketplace, in exchange for a cut when it sells. Many of the initial NFTs are based around the five main “Operators”, with each NFT containing a comic book telling their origin stories.
Cloudborn
For players who love free-roaming expansive worlds, Cloudborn is a delight. For players who love turn-based battles and the strategic thinking that goes into them, Cloudborn creates so much suspense. For players who love unique experiences, forming alliances (or rivalries), and environments that you can influence, Cloudborn is perfect. In this GenAI-infused evolving title from Antler Interactive (the studio behind My Neighbor Alice), both your environment and your NPC hero partner will change based on your interactions. The fabric of the Cloudborn universe will be marked by your actions, and your actions alone, making for ultimate replayability; you could play Cloudborn a thousand times and no two experiences would be the same.
Powered by Inworld’s market-leading gaming AI, the ability to converse with your NPC partner with real human speech (microphone required) is truly innovative. The truth is, however, that your conversations and interactions with your AI-NPC hero go deeper than that. Your hero will develop a personality, and that personality becomes part of who they are, so when you decide to trade them as NFTs, the new owner will receive a hero affected by you.
Imagine you’re aggressive towards your hero and they become timid or fearful - those personality traits will stick with them until someone else rebuilds their trust and confidence. Interactions simulate real life, making for a personal, personable, and relatable gaming experience unlike each other. Have you ever heard of Dynamic AI NFTs with this level of detail and personalization? We’re not sure there’s another collection on this level.
Cloudborn is the newest to have its name hit the market, only being announced in Q1 2024. The game is built by the team at Antler Interactive - the visionaries behind My Neighbor Alice. As a team with a deep gaming pedigree, having had tenures at Starbreeze Entertainment, Warner Media and many more, Antler Interactive are bridging battle-tested gaming experience with emerging tech. We will be very surprised if it doesn’t get nominated for or win any NFT, AI, or Adventure gaming categories in 2024.
Star Atlas
If you’re not familiar with Star Atlas, you can probably guess from the name that this is a space-based game. What you might not guess is that it’s stuffed full of exciting strategic endeavors, territorial conquests, free-roaming exploration, political domination, and more. It also won Best Graphics Game 2022 at the GAM3 Awards.
Built on Solana in 2021, Star Atlas’ gameplay and ecosystem revolves around NFTs, which are traded within its active Atlas marketplace, built on Serum DEX. Gamers can either collect or create NFTs of in-game assets, such as weapons, ships, land, or mining equipment, and then choose to trade or sell them. Another facet of Star Atlas is the ability to build entire cities or found DAOs to govern specific regions. NFT bounties are another feature, but you’ll want to learn about these for yourself by playing the game.
Make note that if your NFT asset is destroyed in the game, it gets burned and its value is wiped. Fortunately, the developers release impressive NFT items to the marketplace in what they call Galactic Asset Offerings (GAOs). They’re usually limited release and unique, but while new items appeal to some players, it’s the vintage NFTs from the game’s early GAOs that get the most attention on the marketplace.
MetalCore
This NFT-based, mech combat game offers an open-world experience with faction-based territorial battles on a resource-rich alien planet. Visually, it takes some of the best ideas of Halo, and then just completely accelerates them for a wild and exciting ride.
The NFT side of MetalCore is very well thought out. There are vehicles, machines, craft gear, pilots, mechs, lands, and more that you can win, develop, use, trade, and sell. All of these items will play their role in your quest for planetary domination, but how you collect and apply them is down to your strategy.
The Genesis NFT collection (launched on OpenSea) included 10,000 unique infantry for the open-world environment, built by veteran game developers and Hugo Award-winning artists. Varying rarities, traits, and utilities are available. Buying these early infantry NFTs invited some of the game’s first wave of players into exclusive Discord channels and forums, as well as granting them access to NFT airdrops and giveaways.
Rumors of major partnerships and interoperability alliances signal a huge year for MetalCore.
Pixelmon
This Minecraft mod is fast becoming one of the biggest NFT games ever, with over 1 million active players already. It essentially turns Minecraft into a Pokémon world, where you can capture, train, and battle creatures. If you like Minecraft and you like Pokémon… you’re probably already playing Pixelmon. If you’re not playing it yet, and you’re a Pokémon nostalgic who longs for the old games from your childhood, Pixelmon may fill that void.
If this game sounds familiar, it’s probably because of the huge controversy it went through when the original artwork and graphics were released. Investors were furious, memes were made and reached legendary status, and the developers had to apologize and re-do all of the visuals. It’s a good thing they did because the second version of Pixelmon blew people out of the water. Pixelmon is NFT fun for all ages, bringing a younger, Minecraft-loving audience into Web3.
Concluding Thoughts
NFT games are getting more investment, more players, more mainstream media attention, and without a doubt, more respect. Gamers want games with utility-based NFTs that can genuinely engage and keep them. The race is on for a market-leading NFT title, as yet it’s hard to say which game is the world’s best. That means it’s anyone’s chance for the taking.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article and is for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.
