I’m a simple man: if you mention toys-to-life in your press release, I sit up and take notice. New RPG Aerthlings from Modern Games is designed for mobile phones while supporting NFC collectible figures, but with a few distinct twists to the old formula.
First, the associated physical figures come in mystery boxes, called Figs. Mystery boxes may be a red flag to many players, though the younger generation certainly loves buying and opening their mystery/blind boxes.
With mystery boxes comes figure rarities. The inaugural set launches with 24 collectible figures, which includes 12 Common figures, 6 Rare figures, 4 Epics, and 2 Legendaries. And yes, the rarer figures, such as dinosaurs and dragons, look cooler than chickens and… whatever Glo-Bro is supposed to be.
The blocky, pixelated art design of the game and the Figs is clearly modeled after Minecraft — not a bad move for a younger audience.
Currently, Figs can only be purchased online in bundles of three, nine, and 18, but are coming soon to retailers. Figs sell for around $10 per pack.
By holding the keychain-size figure to the phone, the creature hatches inside the Aerthlings game. One neat aspect: the creature is procedurally generated with slightly different looks and stats, making duplicates a bit more palatable.
You can also purchase digital figures and skins by spending real money in the in-game shop. Starting a new game gets you a free digital Lennisaur, a Rare figure.
The mobile RPG (which isn’t actually shown much in the trailer) is free-to-play. Playing as their Figs, players restore the world of Aerth (okay, that’s clever) by battling monsters, completing challenges, terraforming the world, and crafting furniture and homes. By earning hearts, players unlock new areas of the world to explore, battle, and craft.
Aerthlings supports online cooperative multiplayer through friend codes. According to the official FAQ, the game is COPPA-compliant, with no in-game chat.
Figure trading is also a novel aspect of Aerthlings. Players can trade their physical figures without losing them in the game. In fact, when their characters appear in another game, their own figure levels up, incentivizing trading, and continues to grow stronger the more they’re traded.
But what if we like collecting and keeping our favorites?
To prevent theft or abuse, Figs are tied to their original owners until two players agree to exchange their Figs via the in-game trade menu.
Aerthlings soft-launched last year in Australia, and has now arrived in the US.
“Mystery boxes are all about the thrill of unboxing, hoping you find the thing you’ve been chasing, but then the experience is over. Toys-to-life games have this magic moment, where physical meets digital, and their worlds converge. We spent years asking why nobody had built something that did both — so we built it ourselves.” said Justin Kifer, CEO and co-founder, Modern Games. “The physical toy, the mobile game, the trading, the Lineages — we designed each piece to make the others better. We’ve been building toward this for over a decade, and we can’t wait to finally get Aerthlings into players’ hands in our home US market.”
Aerthlings also features a 10-episode animated series on YouTube, which dives into the lore of the game.
Aerthlings is free to download on iOS and Android mobile devices. It’s rated E for Everyone.
