6 Best Metaverse Games You Should Play in 2022
Updated: 2 days ago
The weather outside is still gray, and spring is yet to appear in all of its beauty – which means we’re still spending a lot more time inside than outside. Perhaps staring at the same few games on your computer screen got boring and you wish for something new. If that is the case – have you considered metaverse games?
The first game of this kind – Second Life – was a total hit. However, since it did not manage to catch up to the technologies of today, it lost its popularity as a metaverse game. Second Life was destroyed by further developments, especially the rise of cryptocurrencies, NFT gaming industry, and play-to-earn game mechanics.
Buzzwords such as crypto, NFT, blockchain and so on makes you think of complicated graphs, sitting all night in front of the blue light of your computer, hundreds of apps and overall confusion. This becomes not scary at all when metaverse games are considered – you simply play to earn, and everyone knows how to play games!
Metaverse gaming, virtual worlds, and sandbox games are all the rage nowadays, and with an abundance of them, these are the best metaverse games to play in 2022.
Horizon Worlds
Horizon Worlds is a free virtual reality metaverse game and a true star of metaverse gaming. Without a doubt, it has brought the term “metaverse” back from darkness and became associated with the word itself. Developed by Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook), it is, quite literally, a world full of opportunities to unleash your creativity and imagination in almost any way that you wish.
The whole digital environment of this metaverse game is composed of user-generated content: everyone is free to create what they wish, and others are free to enjoy it. Horizon Worlds has an integrated game creation system, which allows users to make visually amazing creations and develop interactive content – for example, as it says on the tin, a variety of different games.
If being creative and building is not your cup of tea, Horizon Worlds can be used as a meeting hub for you and your friends, just to chat, have virtual parties, dance competitions and whatnot – the whole metaverse ecosystem is open for you. Become who you want to be and do what you want to do in your own world!
With over 300,000 monthly active users, Horizon Worlds is, without a doubt, one of the best metaverse games to play out there. Though there could be some doubts on whether it could be called a game at all – it is, after all, a truly virtual world that is experienced via virtual reality machine – Oculus Quest (a VR technology developed by “Meta Platforms” as well).
Decentraland
Decentraland is one of the most popular metaverse games and the first blockchain game on this list (spoiler alert: not the last one, though – more games to come!). Just like with Horizon Worlds, this browser-based software/game is a metaverse game in the most direct sense. What's great is since Decentraland is a browser-based game, all it pretty much requires is just reliable internet connection.
Initially released in 2020, the whole game world is divided into 90,601 land parcels, which can be purchased by anyone using the cryptocurrency used in Decentraland – MANA coin (psst: Honeygain earnings could help you get those lands pretty much for free!). The players are allowed to build anything on their land in this metaverse game, which again enables the creative juices to flow freely all around the massive in-game digital world.
Besides land purchases, players can also use MANA to purchase names, clothing items, structures, and other in-game items that players provide in the buzzing metaverse market of Decentraland. The cosmetic and land purchases are, in a sense, NFTs – non-fungible tokens – a part of the blockchain that backs the ownership of these items. There is no need to go in-depth here, the whole process of turning your items into NFTs is done for you, thus, no prior crypto knowledge is required.
One of the unique aspects of Decentraland is the whole philosophy. Decentraland is not being run like a business: it is a self-governing body, where the community itself owns everything that can be found within its blockchain space. This means that if you have at least some MANA purchased, you can get involved in decision-making in regards to the Decentraland’s development and updates via smart contracts. Users vote on in-game changes to be introduced to the Decentraland with each update, and the decisions are secured by blockchain technology.
The pricing of this particular coin is self-regulated by what is going under the hood. For you, it means that the prices can only go up!
The similarities are obvious between Decentraland and Horizon Worlds, however, the community aspect and the exploding popularity of this particular game (with virtual fashion shows and concerts by real-life bands being held there!), as well as blockchain bits and pieces make Decentraland unique in its own right. Without a doubt, Decentraland is one of the most exciting metaverse games that you should try out!
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a popular metaverse game similar to the previously mentioned two. The mechanics of this game are similar to Decentraland in the sense that it is one of those blockchain games, however, The Sandbox also contains features of play-to-earn games.
In The Sandbox, players purchase virtual lands in the digital world where they can make their creations, create and play games, and list their creations in the game’s marketplace, where they can be purchased by other players and placed in their own purchased lands.
The creations that are made in this free to play game are comprised of small cubes, creating a style similar to Minecraft. Whatever people are creating are being sold as NFTs. Also, as in the case with Decentraland, it isn’t difficult to get knowledge required here to buy or sell your creations.
The Sandbox also contains a Sandbox game maker, where players (without previous programming knowledge or experience) can create epic games in their world for others to enjoy. The catch here is that while the game creation experience is free, for it to be accessible to others, you have to own in-game land where your game would be “hosted”.
The cryptocurrency/native token used in The Sandbox is topically named – SAND. It is possible to stake this currency in-game, thus introducing the play to earn mechanics while eliminating the need for hours and hours of reading about the cryptocurrency world.
With this feature in mind, you can be creative and make a hefty sum of cash, which proves that The Sandbox is genuinely one of the best metaverse games to play.
Illuvium
Three words – Pokémon meets crypto. Illuvium is an open-world RPG game set in a huge sci-fi virtual world full of Illuvials – godly and strange creatures that the player needs to battle and capture. The goal is to collect the most powerful Illuvials, combine them, and have the strongest team in the digital world of Illuvium. As you can already tell, this game is a lot different from the other ones on our metaverse games list.
This metaverse game contains a mixture of different mechanics. Besides the play-to-earn feature, it also contains elements of autobattler-type games, as well as NFTs. The creatures that the player meets are, in a sense, NFTs (which were drawn by world-famous artists, as the game developers explain).
Just like with other RPG games, players (and their captured Illuvials) gain experience points via battling, thus making them stronger, but the unique aspect is the so-called ‘merging’. If the player has three Illuvials of the same kind, they can combine them to create a more powerful Illuvial. Besides the Illuvials themselves, the developers promise a vast land to explore, with many different regions with their unique features and treasures to find. Those regions are filled with resources that add benefits to the captured Illuvials, thus, once again, making the collection stronger.
Illuvium is currently in early stages of development and is open for beta version registrations. Initially, the players would be able to explore the virtual world and capture Illuvials. Battle arenas with PVP mechanics will be introduced later, improving the overall gaming experience.
The ambitions for this metaverse game are huge, hopefully, the developers will fulfill their promises, and we will not have another No Man’s Sky-level fail. Try it out, register for the beta, start playing, and watch the game grow – it should, with enough input, become one of the most unique metaverse games that there is.
Sorare
If you are a soccer fan, do we have a game for you! Sorare is a fantasy soccer blockchain game based on NFT card trading. You create your fantasy teams of five players (represented by NFT cards) and attempt to be the best soccer manager that there is.
What differs here from other metaverse games listed is that this game does not have a made-up world. It’s not a sandbox game similar to the ones above. Instead, it has a virtual soccer universe based on real-life teams and real-life players. The licensing and player likeness, and more clubs joining every week, as well as an investment by Antoine Griezmann, shows the legitimacy of this metaverse game.
Player purchases can be made in three ways:
via direct NFT purchases of the cards that the physical world players represent
via purchases from the Sorare marketplace, where the game developers themselves mint new player NFT cards for you to buy at an auction
by trading/buying the cards from other players of the game.
Sorare is likely the first (but, hopefully, not the last) of the metaverse games based on sports. With enough victories and dedication, you can not only become the best manager around but also make some money on the side either by trading or via rewards granted to the community.
If sports is your thing and you have played a bit of FIFA Ultimate Team, Sorare would be an excellent fit for you and one of the most unique online metaverse games that you should play in 2022.
DeFi Kingdoms
DeFi Kingdoms is a digital world game drawn in beautiful pixel art style. This game aims to turn the ideas of cryptocurrency staking and earning from crypto into easy to understand gaming experience.
The game falls into the blockchain games category once again since the whole economy of DeFi Kingdoms is fueled by play-to-earn game principles, and the in-game cryptocurrency called JEWEL. The game world is spread through different virtual spaces that offer you the opportunity to gain back on your JEWEL investments. For example, there is a garden where you can plant the seeds and collect the yield of JEWEL. The bigger the investment –the bigger the returns. No deeper knowledge required!
Besides the staking aspect of the game, you can also purchase heroes who are represented as NFTs in the Tavern. You make your heroes do different tasks, such as fishing, in order for them to gain experience points and for you to gain rewards. Just as with other RPG games, each hero has different strengths, and training them is essential to earn rewards. That being said, you do not need to be too active in this game. It can be considered an idle/passive game in its own right since most of the work is done by NPCs, and the heroes do their thing when they are given different tasks.
DeFi Kingdoms is a great way to start for those of us who are interested in metaverse games, crypto, and staking but find the whole idea of it too complex or even scary. It is much easier to understand it all when it has shiny and beautiful graphics rather than strange graphs!
With this in mind, DeFi Kingdoms is a must-try option for those who want to become crypto lovers and overall one of the best metaverse games you should play.
The games on our list are mostly play-to-earn ones, and certain investments are needed to make yourself more powerful in these top metaverse games. Luckily, Honeygain is a great way to complement your entrance to the metaverse games world!
Just by keeping your devices running while connected to the internet would give you earnings, which you could invest in these virtual worlds to buy some land or other nifty stuff – all of this without any effort whatsoever. Play metaverse games and earn with Honeygain!
