X-Hero Idle Avengers Vs AFK Arena: Which One is Better?
X-Hero: Idle Avengers just released globally a few moments ago and, upon trying it out for the first time, we noticed many similarities to another game that has been around for quite a while, AFK Arena. Now, we’re not talking about the game mechanics which, in mobile games, often tend to be derivative, but also the visual design—the interface, specifically.
While both games are quite similar to each other, however, there are some differences under the hood that may set them apart, but that aren’t too apparent from the very beginning. In this sense, we’ve decided to create an article comparing both idle RPGs and explaining how they differ so that, hopefully, you can choose the one most suited to your preferences.
Regardless of your choice, remember that you can play your favorite mobile games on PC with BlueStacks and enjoy everything that they have to offer, on your big PC monitor, using your mouse and keyboard, and with access to a wide variety of tools to enhance your experience.
With that out of the way, let’s get started!
Graphics and Visuals
As we mentioned above, the UIs in both games are very similar, which means that X-Hero probably didn’t make much of an effort to innovate in this regard. However, its art style itself is quite unique, offering a comic book aesthetic that sets it apart from the visual design of AFK Arena.
The battles, in particular, are quite nice to behold. Despite the fights being completely automated, we never get tired of the fact that characters look more like panels in a comic book rather than sprites against a 2D background. AFK Arena’s character sprites, on the other hand, are a bit more simplistic. While they definitely get the job done, we definitely like the battle screen in X-Hero more. However, in every aspect other than the battle screen, AFK Arena dominates, which is probably why X-Hero tried to mimic it so much.
Bottom line, if you’re a fan of superhero aesthetics and visual style, then you’ll probably be drawn to X-Hero. However, AFK Arena is very stylized as well and you really won’t find anything like it anywhere else.
Story and Lore
We’re pretty sure not many of you pay attention to the story in mobile games, and we can’t blame you. Most of the narratives in these games are there to give a semblance of context to the character’s action, with very few developers actually putting an effort into creating compelling narratives. X-Hero, unfortunately, falls into this category as its story is quite generic and fails to capture us at all.
In this regard, however, AFK Arena has ample lore set in a story-rich world where multiple factions and characters constantly interact. And with every patch and major update, this story gets expanded even further with even more characters and interactions. This game is, without a doubt, one that you could play for the story, and not despite of it.
Gacha Appeal
Both AFK Arena and X-Hero are gacha games, which means that you’ll constantly be grinding and farming in order to unlock new characters and upgrade the ones that are already in your possession. This is pretty much standard for any gacha RPG and is nothing new to the industry. However, all gacha games differ under the hood in several different games, specifically in their summoning rates and the requirements for upgrading characters. In other words, it’s easier to progress in some games than in others.
As it turns out, aside from overall and visual design, this is where AFK Arena and X-Hero diverge the most as both games have different summoning rates, as well as different progression pacing.
First and foremost, summoning rates: As far as we can find, Lilith Games hasn’t explicitly revealed the exact summoning rates in AFK Arena, but unofficial research by the community has shown that they are around 52% for common; 44% for rare, and 4% for the elite. These numbers are a bit higher in X-Hero, with 55%/40%/5% summoning rates for characters in equivalent tiers.
While we’re sure that these numbers won’t amount to much difference in the long run, it’s slightly easier to get good characters in X-Hero than it is in AFK Arena. However, where both games truly diverge is in the fact that you can score diamonds by the boatload in the former, while it’s more time-consuming to do in the latter. In this sense, you’ll be able to perform much more summonings in X-Hero, which in turn will lead to more pulls in a shorter period.
Similarly, X-Hero seems to be designed with beginners in mind as its servers offer tons of different events that players can participate in to receive lots of boosters and rewards that can help them to perform even more summonings. In this sense, the first couple of weeks of a server’s lifetime are some of the busiest in terms of launch events and other missions that can grant extra rewards. If you’re just starting out in X-Hero, make sure to keep an eye out for new servers, as opposed to beginning on an older one.
Similarly, the process for upgrading cards in both games, while similar, have different numbers that determine the speed at which players can advance. In a nutshell, it takes more duplicates of the same character, and more characters in general, in order to rank up your heroes in AFK Arena. This upgrade requirement, coupled with the fact that you can perform much more summonings in X-Hero, means that you’ll be progressing at a much faster pace in this game, at least when it comes to unlocking and upgrading the best heroes.
Conclusion
Aside from the numerical differences of its underlying systems, both AFK Arena and X-Hero: Idle Avengers are similar titles in terms of gameplay, but differ considerably in their presentations. Those who appreciate a comic book aesthetic and superhero sci-fi settings will definitely gravitate towards X-Hero, while those who enjoy fantasy settings and lore-rich worlds and storylines will prefer AFK Arena. However, if you’re pressed for time and would like to progress fast without much effort, X-Hero is definitely your best bet.
What do you think of the new X-Hero? Do you think it’s better than AFK Arena, or the other way around? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below!
