In short: Mobile gaming giant Netmarble on Wednesday launched Phantomgate: The Last Valkyrie, a new role-playing game for Android and iOS devices that’s inspired by Norse mythology and available for download free of charge. Turn-based combat, PvP multiplayer, and an in-depth leveling system are all part of the package, as is a rich and picturesque 2.5D world. The game’s protagonist is young Valkyrie named Astrid who’s trying to save her mother from Odin, with a creature system akin to that found in Persona games being a crucial part of the experience seeing how Phantomgate has over 300 Phantoms to tame and add to your party.
Background: As is the case with the vast majority of Netmarble’s games, Phantomgate is a free-to-play title with optional in-app purchases and a limited amount of advertising. The game spans half a dozen distinct Midgard regions, with environment diversity being another staple of games from Netmarble’s workshop. The game has been optimized for tablets and offers limited augmented reality components, a first for the South Korean studio. Phantomgate is also yet another example of Netmarbles games-as-a-service model, with the company promising long-term support for the newly released mobile RPG The first time-limited in-game event revolves around finding Easter eggs and will run until October 17. Phantomgate is the 15th game Netmarble released via the Google Play Store.
Impact: With fall coming near, new RPGs and other (largely) single-player games are about to become more prevalent across all gaming platforms, and Netmarble’s latest release is bound to make the selection that much richer on the Android side of things. It remains to be seen how aggressively will the company choose to monetize Phantomgate, especially given how the vanilla version of the game seems to be surprisingly accessible regardless of whether you’re looking to spend any money on in-app purchases.