Illuvium (ILV) is a multiplayer 3D NFT battle game. Illuvium is the first AAA game on Ethereum (ETH), which has been in development since 2020 and is scheduled for release in 2022. The Illuvium token “ILV” is currently trading at $600 with a market capitalization of $400 million and 650,000 tokens in circulation. The maximum supply is 10 million tokens.
What is Illuvium?
Illuvium is a PC/Mac board game set on a ruined planet inhabited by mythical monsters called Illuvians. Illuvium’s graphics are similar to a commercial-grade video game, but it implements DeFi blockchain elements such as NFTs, yield farming, and asset swapping.
The main Illuvial character is surrounded by Illuvial monsters.
Battles take place around a combat arena, and each Illuvial’s task is to fight other Illuviaals to the death. When they are not fighting, the player explores the Illuvial game landscape to participate in daily quests.
The player’s perspective is that of a survivor aboard a spaceship belonging to a futuristic intergalactic fleet. The story begins when the player is in space and discovers a destroyed planet with extreme weather and burning oceans. After landing on the planet, they discover the Illuvium that live there and begin to collect them.
Illuvium Gameplay
The story of Illuvium takes place in a fantasy world where users tame and own “Illuvians” — game monsters that can be purchased as NFTs. Illuvians can battle each other, mutate, and acquire unique abilities. There are over 100 Illuviums in the game. Some Illuviums are harder to find than others and are considered rarer. Ultimately, the monsters battle in the “Battle Arena,” and the winners receive crypto rewards.
In the gaming industry, AAA games are high-budget games with large development teams. Illuvium is the first game in history on the Metaverse blockchain to receive an AAA rating. Over 200 experienced game designers and developers are working on the game.
Illuvial offers commercial-grade 3D graphics that surpass popular blockchain games such as Axie Infinity (AXIE) and Sandbox (SAND), which are considered 2D games. A beta version of the game is available for testing, with a full release expected in 2022.
How to play the beta version of Illuvium?
Illuvium has not been released yet, but users can access the beta version. Illuvium’s release date was scheduled for the first quarter of 2022 but was later pushed back to later in 2022. Currently, a limited number of players can play the beta version.
If a player wants to access the game, they must fill out a registration form for closed beta testing:
The private beta version of Illuvium requires registration and approval.
Private beta registration requires information such as your Discord username, computer specifications, graphics card, and email address. This allows the Illuvium team to process beta testers with PC configurations that can support the game.
What is Illuvium NFT?
Illuviums are game monsters that players use to battle in the arena for crypto rewards. Each Illuvium is a unique Illuvium NFT that can be sold on NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. Some Illuviums are very difficult to obtain, and this will likely be reflected in the price of the NFT. Since Illuvium runs on a Level 2 NFT marketplace called IlluviDEX, users will be able to trade them without gas fees.
In Illuvium’s gameplay, the player takes on the perspective of a hunter who collects these monsters on a ruined planet. The player must tame and subdue the Illuvians in order to capture them.
The Illuvians in the game are scattered across the landscape of the destroyed planet. There is radiation on the planet that affects them in different ways. Illuvians can have an affinity for fire, water, earth, and air.
There are also five classes of Illuviars:
- Empath
- Fighter
- Guardian
- Rogue
- Psion
In addition to classes, each Illuvial’s skills vary depending on metrics such as attack damage, speed, and ferocity. An Illuvial’s initial rating will not be the same if it wins the game, but it will receive an improved rating. One way to win the game is to create a team of Illuvials based on their similarities or classes. This can increase their strength and attack effectiveness.
What is Illuvium built on?
Illuvium’s cryptocurrency features are built on the Ethereum network, but it uses a layer 2 scaling solution called Immutable X. The main Ethereum network is used for games such as Axie Infinity, but gas fees can cost hundreds of dollars to mint NFTs or purchase them. The average fee for transferring an NFT on the main Ethereum network is now $20, making it unsuitable for the mainstream user base.
Immutable X processes over 9,000 transactions per second and uses ZK Rollup scaling technology. This means that all transactions are processed off-chain, but they are still recorded on the Ethereum mainnet and can be read in block explorers. Users can trade in-game assets and sell Illuvium land without any fees and receive instant settlements.
ZK Rollups are secure and are used to bypass congestion on the main Ethereum network. This allows users to conduct transactions off the main network in large batches, with transaction fees amounting to fractions of a dollar. The Illuvium team likely made this choice in order to build a Layer 2 network for its expected large user base without leaving Ethereum entirely.
