[In an effort to be 100% transparent, we know the developers outside of the game space. However, we thought it would be cool to give some coverage to a game that will likely be a surprise success.]
In a year when loot boxes have become not only common, but mandatory even in single player games, it’s a wonder they haven’t broken off to become their own experience. It’s about time the loot box had a solo act, and you can experience that now.
The latest title from Mutant Entertainment Studios takes the clicker genre and turns it into a loot box extravaganza in I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gambling. No need to click cookies or set up heroes for destroying hordes of enemies while amassing money and damage levels you couldn’t count to with the rest of your life ahead of you. No, here you’ll unbox loot. Loot you didn’t want, but keep clicking and you’ll get that prized piece soon enough.
If you’re unfamiliar with clicker games, they prey on those with an obsession for completion. Similar to loot boxes in general, there is an assortment of things to collect. You will do so by opening loot boxes as the game so kindly reminds you of your failure to reach 100%. Just one more box… Who knows what will be in it? Could be common, could be legendary. Destiny fans know all about that. The game gives you two options for each set of items – keep or sell. Selling the items gives you money to spend on more expensive loot boxes. If you keep them, you’ll gain the skins and hats associated with the items. If you have everything the items have to offer, the game will only give the option of selling. This avoids the player having to look through inventory to see whether to keep or sell.
Now, for those that have been living under a rock and never seen or read about loot boxes, they are basically blind boxes you pay real money for to get in game content. In most cases, this is content you can unlock by playing the game, but other times it’s exclusively behind a paywall. So why is it compared to gambling? Much like a lottery scratcher, there is a promise of potential returns, but it’s certainly possible (and more likely) it’s money you just threw away. We’ve moved on from the mobile arena of Candy Crush and have gone to the full priced home console titles – no plane is free of the micro transaction. Outside of opening loot boxes and the minigames, you won’t be doing much else, so this will certainly be a niche type of game.
We reached out to the developer to ask a few questions which you can see below:
What are your thoughts on this becoming the company’s runaway success?
Mutant Entertainment Studios was always going to take over the world, this success just accelerated our plans. The gaming community has been very vocal recently about these practices in the industry and we took it upon ourselves to provide them with a way to not gamble in a more direct way. That kind of innovation isn’t something just anyone can do, you know? It takes something truly special and we’re proud to be on the front-lines of this historic movement.
Do you have any plans for DLC? If so, what can we look forward to?
We have internal plans for future content and updates, most of which is locked away in a vault that will only be re-opened if we sell half a million copies of the game. The possibilities are really endless; things like more boxes locked behind actual pay-walls, new ways to not play the game, gold throttling, a “Sell All” button, an expansive MMO-RPG with a story-driven campaign, and hardcore PvP; simple things really.
Will a pay-to-win strategy be implemented?
We are listening to player feedback and the reaction is clear: we did not include enough options for players to spend more of their parents’ hard earned money. Even with our minimal game, people just do not want to play games anymore and we did not take advantage of our players enough. We would like to formally apologize for that shortcoming. The goal was to create a game that simulated pride and accomplishment, but after looking at the responses, we will be looking into a way for players to spend more money for a chance to spend more in-game money.
Does this sound like something that would be up your alley? Of course it does, it’s 2017 – loot box ahoy! I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gambling is currently 1% off bringing it to a measly $.98. Go ahead, give into the corporations. Buy a box and see what you get. Think of how many you can open compared to their normal cost in Overwatch.
7 out of 10
Pros
- Loot Boxes
- Snake
- Collectibles
Cons
- If You’re Not a Completionist…
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gambling was developed and published by Mutant Entertainment Studios. It was released on PC December 11th, 2017 for $.99. The game was provided to us for review on PC. For more on I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gambling, visit the developer’s official site.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.
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