Thetan Arena

Thetan Arena is a satisfying brawler that will please fans of Brawl Stars. It offers a classic-style gameplay experience that can be enjoyed in free time. The game's diverse character selection and the urge to secure better characters through tournaments add to the overall enjoyment. The background music and different character styles enhance the experience, and the addition of new maps keeps the gameplay exciting.

Gameplay

The game's user interface allows for easy sign-in through various methods, making it convenient for players to start playing with their own accounts. The UI follows a standard mobile game format, with social options and heroes on the left and features like custom lobbies and leaderboards on the right. Thetan Arena offers a rotation of game modes and maps, including Battle Royale and classic modes like Deathmatch (The team with the most kills within a time period wins), Superstar, and Tower(Destroy the enemy base). This rotation allows players to experience the full range of gameplay options. Additionally, the game allows mobile users to customize the position of their joystick and ability buttons in practice mode, adapting to their preferred holding style.

While the UI is similar to other mobile games, Thetan Arena stands out with its unique character designs. The game features various character classes, including Tanks, Assassins, and Marksmen, allowing players to explore different playstyles. Your Chosen Hero usually has one unique ultimate ability, and then you mix and match available  "abilities" to your hero. These abilities are similar to League of Legends summoner spells, but all skills are not available at the same time, as available skills rotate for a given period of time. This encourages new builds and discourages/limits spamming of OP builds. Playing with teammates enables the utilization of class synergies or dominating with a specific class. Starting with characters like Raidon, Veinka, and Bigpapa, players can experiment and discover their preferred abilities. The marketplace offers additional exciting characters such as Chef Octopus, Rei, Benjamin, and Breaker.

Character designs are visually appealing, as are the diverse maps in the game. Each map provides a unique atmosphere, with features like destructible barrels and areas for hiding. The bright and vibrant visuals maintain consistency across all maps, ensuring an engaging gameplay experience.

Back on the main screen, Thetan Arena allows players to create custom games, encouraging friendly matches. While good communication is crucial in most main modes that require teamwork, solo players can enjoy Battle Royale modes without the need for teammates. In Battle Royale, players must survive among enemies and collect upgrades or avoid bombs. It provides a quick and addictive gameplay experience. While waiting for matchmaking, players can engage in a fun mini-game that helps improve their abilities. The main modes of Tower, Superstar, and Deathmatch offer unique experiences. These modes cater to different playstyles, with Superstar mode being particularly entertaining to watch. Each mode brings its own fun aspect to the game and adds variety.

Review

Thetan Arena’s graphics are well-executed, making it a strong contender in the casual MOBA genre and comparable to its Web2 counterparts. As a Web3 adaptation of the popular Web2 game Heroes Strike, it delivers smooth movement and well-animated abilities, fitting for its fast-paced gameplay. The overall visuals, hero skins, and map designs are well-crafted, though some visual indicators can be misleading—especially for ranged abilities—but nothing game-breaking. The sound design and effects complement each ability well, though some character voice lines can feel repetitive.

The game’s controls are intuitive and simple, similar to those found in popular mobile MOBAs. While the concept isn’t entirely new, Thetan Arena stands out with creative and enjoyable game modes like Superstar and Duo Battle Royale. The entertainment value is above average, offering quick five-minute matches that keep the action engaging. The variety of heroes and skill combinations also add to the game’s fun factor. However, as players rank up, the competition becomes tougher, often favoring those with premium heroes and maxed-out builds, which gives them an advantage over casual players.

That said, Thetan Arena has a few shortcomings. The game’s reliance on premium characters makes free-to-play options feel repetitive, and balancing between paid and free characters remains a challenge. Free character users often find themselves at a disadvantage against premium character owners. Additionally, auto-attacks occasionally fail to adapt to multiple nearby targets, which can be frustrating. Despite these issues, the game’s fluid movement, engaging gameplay, and well-designed atmosphere make it an enjoyable experience, especially on mobile devices.

On the bright side, the Thetan ecosystem continues to evolve with Thetan World, introducing new features and improvements. The game also consistently delivers quality-of-life updates, seasonal content, and new heroes, helping to keep the experience fresh.