The WhatsNext verdict
For Players who enjoy collecting anime warship characters and tuning fleets for a shoot-em-up battle loop on mobile: Its battles run on fleet composition and equipment, and its ship roster gives every build a face you want to keep building around. Tradeoff: Strong progression pressure and limited-time events can turn collecting and upgrading into a schedule.
What it does best
shooter
role-playing (rpg)
simulator
strategy
The setup
What you are walking into
Azur Lane is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by Chinese developers Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi, released in 2017 for the iOS and Android operating systems. Set in an alternate timeline of World War II, players engage in side-scrolling shooter gameplay, using female moe anthropomorphic characters based on warships from the war's major participants. Other gameplay elements, like customizing a home and marrying in-game characters, are also present. First launched in China in May and in Japan in September 2017, Azur Lane has become very popular, especially in Japan where the player count reached five million within four months after its release. Players have voted the game among the top five on Google Play's Best Game of 2017 list for the region. Critics have attributed the game's popularity to its original and well-designed gameplay system.
Where it lives
Genre
Vibe
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