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PocketGamer.biz17 May 2016

FTUE: Olympus Rising

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Olympus Rising is a mobile build-and-battle title from German studio Flaregames, designed as a spiritual successor to their previous game, Royal Revolt 2.
02
The game’s long-term success depends on its ability to retain players in a highly saturated Western mobile market by balancing hero-centric action with resource management.
03
The game differentiates itself from its predecessor by shifting from a cartoonish aesthetic to a mature, photorealistic visual style based on ancient Greek mythology.
04
Core gameplay centers on direct hero-led combat where players control a single character to lead waves of support units against enemy fortifications and towers.
05
The base-building mechanics utilize a dual-currency system of gold and gems, featuring a dense, PC-inspired interface that reflects the developer's traditional design philosophy.
06
The initial user experience is structured around a guided tutorial that introduces players to the fundamental loop of combat and base construction.

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Transcript

hello and welcome to Pocket Gamer not busies youtube channel I'm John Jordan and this is our first time user experience playlist so we fired up olympus rising so olympus rising as you can see the bottom is a registered trademark of flair games that flare games is a german developer and its publisher and developer ashley so this is Olympus rising is a game that has been developed in-house and it also does some publishing those most recent games before this have been published games so published what's got polishing a zombie gunship the reinvention of zombie gunship and reinvention of fieldrunners they're coming up this year I think 2016 so it's kind of working with external publishers external developers for that

but it's use a game that's developed within Germany and you can see it's about Olympus we have the kind of a head head between these two different gods you better get a background story stuff a game in the build and battle Tyler to close on ROG this is gonna be I guess the Parliament still the most popular kind of them Sean right in the West free play mobile games thanks to cash your friends ok so just might be having we were here a character here yea big finger tapping call my Spearman come on Stephen come on

ok could turn up now yeah okay so okay so this right so this towers destroy destroy right here oh so interesting you okay so we've got a map in your bar or just because so this is very similar Oh brutal Cyclops slams Michelle and slamming smashing this is very similar to gain that play games made its name with which was well that was much much cutie maybe the robot which is kind of the first off you're

the first one and then work perfectly row of up to that particular they basically the fixing of its they got my role of an drove up to his very good game and it's done very well yes we can call it helping out kind of global due to play success but as being pretty successful I guess I could got the movie type and this is a consumer game playing sense of your hero character and then you can't get cool um masses of troops who will just kind of like minions and we get much can't control them really kind of follow you a little bit but they don't like cannon fodder when you have the kind of control of it of a single hero character whereas that gamers say was very cutely cartoony this one is obviously as much as you can be photorealistic for ancient Greek Greece's color appeals to the site of an audience I guess you call dangerous

words a more mid core audience we're now going to go to the building bit looks like so buildings walk ahead of me enter the building I can sense is like also had some spearmen now we are now going up anything arches mine that subsumes up with my character properly as it up waiting the love of spearmint 11th I was taking some time get it now spend some currency I'm going to currency that's interesting and normally they games would let you do that for free but they haven't and we'll just say very quickly get I'm looking at this Cepeda graphically it's

a little bit cut angular really it's not the best looking game really pick on PC looking nose an odd thing to say but it kind of yeah interesting and it kind of you you eyes again things our iPad but kind of quite small steel and it's kind of glue come clean in the design sense but it's quite a lot going on so I think it's on the right hand side we've got some but one builder and some soft currency they're not that Maya Tories and kind of and then on the that's kind of really like a software all starting on the left hand side we have the gems and their gold and these little mg system maybe or mass system over that green liquid and reputable so

starting to sell okay so is it getting the idea this is a grease a lost item type stuff as Hercules we can equip a unit more community as we better try our archers to attack you and go have your heart attack distance ok so now you've got archers and spear mentoring course and branches using up to my years our spirit only one I felt got power so basically destroyed in skates why so clear explain these towers let's go some spearmen know who she is and making papi tough thing

it's really interesting is not this is the important cessful ross and quite successful with no one's really kind of covered it so it's still kind of a it's a mixture of building a building battle and fence so this is not what many troops left oh goodness we go on some gold and I into

the enemy base I know what I have a little enemies sometimes is wishes turn out low blow up to the list the sponsors that pleases fe conquer the island across from sources so we've got to go through the tutorial here's nothing is very difficult it's all about doing well and just come down the basis of the game although this as a game that's kind of quite simple until the attacking person type staffers

so now then you're back into the resort style let's put my browser temple kind of funny cuz nuclear bridge is a brand rice pudding probably there's no rice pudding temple British yes I store my husband that's what that funny substance was this rice pudding green Wesley ok so I think I want to go into too much more detail here we kind of got an idea and help on it going through the first time user experiences going through the tutorial just getting very brief look so graphically you know so so not terrible looking but um as I say it feels a bit pc like to make them feel terribly mobile I mean the German developers tend to be a bit more pc focused historically

i don't know this is available for PC your browser as well but yeah and then how much is the bill is another interesting thing is using kind of the Greek mythology kind of games have tried to do this in the past and it well it's in the Western world we do you know is the underpinning of a lot of the kind of literature and historical literature and mythology and stuff like what know how globally well it appeals to real early in the West if it really resonates anymore so it will be interesting to see entering a what is also a pre-competitive and saturated market whether this theme of game kind of this find out our residents can I think there are so many games it doing this kind of building battle although it's a slightly different in terms of the way you attack not taking another base Perseids more corrupt our defense

type defense yeah whether it will just appeal in that way so I'm interesting nevertheless am I have to play some more and we find out yeah if there's any kind of interesting twists going on there however that thanks for watching so they forget to subscribe to our channel so we did a lot this analysis of free-to-play game to do this kind of a first time user experience playlist and also a bit more in-depth monetize the type stuff for games that we played it a bit more so if you subscribe you up miss a thing thanks for watching hope see

Summary

Olympus Rising, a mobile title developed and published by the German studio Flaregames, represents a strategic evolution of the build-and-battle genre. The game functions as a spiritual successor to the developer’s previous success, Royal Revolt 2, maintaining the core mechanics of hero-led combat and base management while shifting the aesthetic from a stylized, cartoonish look to a more mature, photorealistic interpretation of ancient Greek mythology. The primary objective of the game is to engage players in a competitive, saturated market by blending hero-centric action with tower defense and resource-based base building.

The gameplay experience centers on controlling a single hero character who leads waves of disposable units—such as spearmen and archers—against enemy fortifications. The mechanics emphasize direct hero control, where the player navigates the battlefield to destroy towers and conquer enemy bases, while the accompanying troops act as support. The base-building component requires players to manage multiple currencies, including gold and gems, to construct and upgrade facilities. The interface is designed with a clean, albeit dense, layout that mirrors traditional PC-style strategy games, reflecting the developer’s historical focus on PC-oriented design philosophies.

Despite the game’s functional design, its long-term viability remains subject to the challenges of the highly competitive Western mobile market. While Greek mythology serves as a familiar thematic foundation, the saturation of the build-and-battle genre necessitates that titles offer distinct mechanical twists to maintain player retention. The initial user experience is characterized by a guided tutorial that introduces players to the fundamental loop of combat and construction. Ultimately, the game serves as a test of whether a mid-core, PC-influenced strategy experience can successfully capture and sustain a mobile audience within a crowded landscape.