Review Fix chats with Paul Evrard, Primal Legends Producer, Kobojo, who discusses the nifty PvP combat game that adds a ton of levels and deck building to create a deep and immersive fighting/puzzle experience.
About the Game:
Blending classic Match-3 mechanics, deck building and turn-based strategy combat elements, Primal Legends has players battle their way across 150 levels and 8 game modes; discover more than 50 heroes; and fight online opponents through real-time PvP combat.
Review Fix: What was the inspiration behind Primal Legends?
Paul Evrard: The inspiration behind Primal Legends came from a vision to create a fun and innovative multiplayer PvP game on mobile — bringing occasional Match-3 and TCG/RPG players together. With Primal Legends, we set out to bring the best of our culture and experience — taking lessons from both our successful track record and the action RPG game Mutants Genetics Gladiators. That experience led us to go for a simple and fun to play, yet deeply strategic game — with a high skill-cap. Adding deck building, hero synergies and board alteration mechanics closed the deal!
In terms of references, Might & Magic Clash of Heroes would be the main one: a tactical game with Match-3 elements. Still, this game is not really a perfect fit for the dynamic free-to-play mobile community. Hearthstone was also very inspirational for us (deck-building and card-collecting mechanics).  Lastly, Best Fiends gave us a lot of ideas on how to combine addictive Match-3 gameplay with interesting characters and RPG elements.
Review Fix:Â What has development been like?
Evrard: It’s been a blast and a great challenge. Specifically, we’ve been hard at work delivering the best real-time synchronized PvP experience possible on mobile — something we technically didn’t do on any of our previous games. We have a team of 20 people constantly balancing the game using in-game data and community feedback. They’re fully committed to creating a true evolution of popular mobile game types — bringing PvP with deep strategic layers to a Match-3 foundation.
Review Fix:Â Who did the artwork and how does it play a role in the game?
Evrard: All art is done in-house at Kobojo by our art team leads Alexandre Le Saux, and Aurélie Warszawski. Kobojo has always been at the cutting edge of hand-drawn 2D art — and we’re very proud of our creative department’s talent.
The main challenge for our artists was to create a rich lore, with strong and recognizable characters — each with a unique personality often tied with the animal species represented. Characters evolve visually as they break through level thresholds — growing with players as they progress through Quests and PvP. We also made sure players can fully experience each map in Primal Legend’s universe.
Review Fix: What games do you think Primal Legends borrows from?
Evrard: It has been said that Primal Legends is what you would get if Hearthstone and Candy Crush had a baby, which is actually quite on point. We aim to get the best of both game types: Match-3 swap mechanics for two players — each controlling a distinct board, battling in synchronized PvP against each other in real time, managing decks to compete with a synergized team of heroes.
Review Fix:Â With all the puzzle and strategy games on mobile devices, what makes this one special?
Evrard: What makes Primal Legends special is the “board against board†synchronized PvP gameplay. None of the Match-3 / RPG games out there offer two distinct boards — and PvP on other games is also not synchronized. We think synchronized real-time PvP is the most fun aspect of Primal Legends, and our playtest results confirmed that. Furthermore, dropping a Hero’s body on the Match-3 board to alter possible matches makes Primal Legends truly unique — with results in hero placement becoming a key feature. On other games, heroes have abilities they can use that do not physically impact the board.
Review Fix: Who will enjoy Primal Legends the most?
Evrard: Anyone can have a great time with Primal Legends because it’s super easy to pick up and play. The questing challenges — along with collecting and leveling up heroes — will probably appeal to beginners and newcomers. We expect that more competitive, hardcore players will become invested in deck-building — finding synergies between heroes, and developing strategies to outplay the competition. During playtesting, we’ve observed that players of all ages were having fun — regardless of whether they were eSports enthusiasts or more casual players.
Review Fix:Â Bottom line, why should people try it?
Evrard: Gamers should try Primal Legends because it’s a unique and innovative mobile game — easy to learn and enjoy but with deep strategic and tactical layers. Collect, level-up and assemble the strongest team of heroes — while exploring the wonderful universe of Theria.
Review Fix:Â What’s next for you guys?
Evrard: Production on a free-to-play game almost never ends. Our first goal is to polish and enhance every component to deliver the best experience possible to mobile players — fine-tuning and balancing Primal Legends thanks to great feedback we get from our beta testers. In the long run, we have a lot of ideas for developing the game and its community further — and adding new features and content for both PvE and PvP segments. The adventure has just begun.
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