In most cases, when it comes to mobile games, it’s really easy to tell immediately what the title’s genre will be after playing for a few minutes. On many occasions, there are certain patterns or tropes that developers implement, and which are exclusive to certain genres. For example, MMORPGs have the iconic control scheme with the character’s skills and attacks on the right, and the virtual joystick on the left. Meanwhile, survival games often feature crafting, exploring, and gathering materials across the world.

But what happens if you take the most notable aspect of both genres and combine them into one game? Dawn of Isles happens; that’s what!

As you may know, here at BlueStacks, we’re always on the prowl for the best and latest games available on the market. If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, then you’ve probably already read tons of exclusive reviews and articles laden with tips and tricks for the most popular games out there. Case in point, we’re going to talk today about Dawn of Isles, a new game by Netease, which launched just a few weeks ago, and that is revolutionizing the MMO and survival genres.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Is it an MMORPG or a Survival Game?

This is the question we asked ourselves just a few minutes into trying out Dawn of Isles. The game starts off as you’d expect from an MMORPG, with a class select screen in which you can choose from a number of starter classes. We’ll talk more about the classes in a bit, but all you need to know for now is that your decision here will greatly impact the way you experience the game.

Shortly after creating your character and entering the game, you’ll be surprised to know that the game doesn’t entirely resemble an MMORPG. While there are many elements of progression such as levels, skills, and other parameters that you can improve, there are also other features that distance the game from the more traditional titles in the genre. Specifically, the first missions will have you gathering materials and crafting stuff out of the said materials to get by. In fact, the very first part of the game revolves around reconstructing a quarry that was destroyed in a recent storm.

However, the game quickly takes a turn to more familiar territory as we’re asked to deal with some pesky crabs in the nearby beach. Combat feels more like a traditional action MMORPG, with your character unleashing a string of attacks by clicking on the attack button, and using skills by pressing the respective shortcut. And speaking of shortcuts, take a look at our BlueStacks usage guide for Dawn of Isles to learn the best ways to use our platform to enjoy this title.

A Respectable Number of Classes (Coupled With the Cutest Class Select Screen)

We normally don’t really care for the class select screen, considering that you only see it for a few minutes during your entire time in a game. However, this screen in Dawn of Isles is one of the most adorable and creative takes on picking a class in any video game that we’ve seen.

Instead of static characters sitting around, the character select screen in this game features the game’s 4 characters running from what appears to be a giant winged beast. If you click on the beast, you’ll get a funny message saying that you can’t pick that character. Also, if you’re a fan of Japanese mascots, then you’ll recognize the cute bear running in front of the characters as Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan.

Play Dawn of Isles on BlueStacks 4

As we mentioned above, there are 4 classes to choose from in this game: The robust Warrior, the agile Ranger, the nimble Dancer, and the powerful Warmage. However, these are not your typical gruff characters; they are island people who live in tropical regions and their outfits reflect this fact. Nevertheless, like in other games, your decision here will radically affect how you play this game as some classes are oriented towards physical combat, while others like to stand a distance and pelt enemies with arrows or spells.

All in all, we spent much more time here than we did creating entire characters in other games since we were mesmerized by the funny animations of the characters running from the monster.

Create Truly Unique Characters

And speaking of character creation, we’re always fans of games that offer many customization options to make our units stand out among the rest. In this regard, Dawn of Isles doesn’t disappoint.

While the classes are gender-locked, meaning that certain classes are always of certain genders, you can customize your character in many regards. In this sense, you can select many parts of their faces and sculpt them to your liking. Furthermore, you can pick from a variety of predefined features to mix and match and create a unique appearance. Among these features, we can find eyebrows, eyes, outfits, and others.

When it comes to creating awesome characters, Dawn of Isles gives us many reasons to rejoice!

Craft, Fight, and Create Devastating Elemental Combos

So far, we’ve mostly been talking about all the non-gameplay aspects of Dawn of Isles, which the game offers in droves. However, when it comes to actually playing, this title doesn’t disappoint at all.

The objective of this game, like in many other MMORPGs, is to constantly upgrade your character and carve your way through the main story quests. While we haven’t gotten very far in the story yet, we’ve enjoyed what we’ve seen up until now. The game will have you crafting many different tools to gather materials from nature such as pickaxes, axes, sickles, skinning shivs, and so on. Each tool is used for different purposes such as breaking rocks, chopping down trees, gathering fruit, and carving animal carcasses, respectively.

Like in other MMORPGs, you’ll spend most of your time here, when not crafting and building, fighting other hostile creatures. Sadly, the combat itself is pretty standard and nothing to write home about for the most part. However, one of its most innovative aspects here is the elemental combo system through which players can unleash and combine elemental attacks with other elements on the battlefield to create all sorts of results. In this sense, you can throw water on flames to create steam in an area, increasing the damage that the affected enemies receive, or ice with fire to thaw the enemies and get them wet, priming them for other combos.

This aspect of the combat in Dawn of Isles is what makes the game stand out among the rest. If you’re a fan of dynamic combat, enjoy spending time gathering and farming, and also love building and upgrading structures, then you’ll want to give this game a whirl.

Have you played Dawn of Isles already? Let us know what you think in the comments below. Otherwise, feel free to download it by clicking on the following link.

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