🎮 Which Playable Performs Best? Why There's No Single Answer (Playable Trends June 2026)

player man. But
fishnome fishome. Yes. But this is quite old, man. It's But it's
But this is not for fish.
No, really.
This is fish io something. Let me let me check when I will finish the game.
That's what you're talking about. Like this is this is fish like five years ago.
Well, I know. But
Oh my god.
But the playable is not for for that game. That's that's why I'm telling you. It's 4 a.m. and we're rolling the dice. Mate [music] drops knowledge made of golden eyes. Felix with ads making those coins rise. Jack up designs worlds chasing the sky. We're the two and a half gamers the midnight [music] crew talking UA advers and game design too. Mat feeling shak bringing the insight. [music] We're rocking those vibes till the early daylight. But hey master eyes on the prize. Tracking data through the cyerspace skies. Felix stacks colors [music] like a wizard in disguise. Jack crafting realms to the high. Two and a half gamers talking smack. [music] Slow hockey sick. Got your back. Ads are beautiful. They light the way. Click it fast. Don't [music] delay. Uh-huh.

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We manage every day.
Nice. Hello everybody. Welcome to Two and a Half Gamers. This is the best episode ever because we are talking about playable trends and we have playables. Every one of us and each of us brought three to five playables. Well, I brought three guys brought five playables and we're going to talk about it talk about them discuss what make them good, bad or why we picked those. But before we start, my name is Matthew and
I'm Robin Cer.
Nice. And we are your hosts for today. This was
Okay.
This was perfect.

This was perfect. Nice. Okay. So, do we start? I mean, who wants to start? Let's Yeah.
Since it's a regular thing now.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
In a row that I will take the first.
Okay. Perfect.
So, yes. as we as we do every month. This one this month we are a little bit late because of you know holidays and summers and everything but we managed to yeah we managed to write down the article which will eventually go to MA's newsletter. Most of the stuff that we have inside of the article is basically covering those playables that I will be sharing. Three of those five that I have prepared.
Some of them I was one of them actually I was already kind of I don't know what's what's the right word for it.
Today morning a meowoku episode went out and one of the play was with my meow because I was like
nice.
I I was not sure if it's good or bad. One of those is actually mine. But long story short, the trends as usual like checking only new stuff mostly in uploading Google and all of the bigger networks checking what's new what's took

our eyes doesn't have to be like this was the best or you know the the core thing happening but something that catch our attention something that was promising or that we liked or disliked and most of the stuff that I was I will be talking about is mostly how to utilize tutorials in your playable. So that's that's the mail docu basically example how to do right playable that onboards you to the to the game itself and then also some some showing of how to do small things inside of regular playable that you already know that can catch the users's attention user as as as dumb as I am. So small things that that usually works on me and and of course things like that your playable doesn't have to be your core gameplay and so on and so on. So those
I have that I have that as well.
Maybe we have the same. Let's see. So I I did try to get playables that aren't the ones from flicks which is like gather this gather this resource upgrade this gather the next research upgrade this. So I did try to get something which is a little bit outside the scope

of what everyone is doing today but we'll see. We'll see in a little bit.
Yeah.
So
I I don't think you you will ever
Yeah. What?
Sorry. Just how are we going to start? That's you go. Yeah. You go now. You You took the lead already. So you you are
took the lead. So we going to start with
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well. Thank you very much for sponsoring this episode. And my original pitch for this game was that Little Birds told me that we have a Sudoku fan here because Mate I think he mentioned it on one of the Sudoku fan but also Sudoku and puzzle games in general. So guys are making fun of me that I'm the the grandma audience.
Yeah, which I am. But this works and this is exactly the kind of tutorial because for those that actually played Miodoku game, this is, correct me if I'm wrong, one of the first level or entry levels inside of the game. So there is oh there's there's some time time I guess but this is exactly what what I like about this kind of games because there is one or two clear instructions what I have to do and then all of a sudden you basically understand the whole concept and when I installed the game for the first time it was immediately that I was that I was good to go. One funny thing happened to me with this game that is not related to let's say playable is

that I wanted to install it but I was playing a different game. So obviously I was pushing towards the like to um to go towards the game play but but what happened was that I I only remember that it was like a katsudok or something like that. When I when I was googling app store I found like dak sudoku and all of different let's call it ripoffs. I don't I'm not sure which one was first.
We discussed it on the on the on the episode or something. Yes.
So, no teasing. Listen to that episode, please. But
but yeah, that what happened to me and I like this. The only thing that I was expecting and what didn't happen was that when I saw this, I know this is muted currently for the listeners, but when I saw this, I was expecting the drum noise from Instagram and like [laughter] you know which one the song and it was not there and it was the only thing that I was missing in this in this in the
very subjective.
Yeah.
How was this one made? Is this So this is an AI playable, right? Can we all

No, this is not an AI. No, it's not AI. It is literally literally like first look well onboarding of of
Mardoku.
Yeah. Okay. I don't know. The cat just seemed AI to me, but maybe that's just their
It could be like that image could be or the the cat could be generated by AI, but like the whole playable I don't think it's AI.
Can you refresh it under it?
Yeah.
So we can see it again.
I think one of the things which is done here like super nice. I know like a lot of puzzle companies, they struggle with making playables because you know what what is the other thing where you do like the pick by color the nanog I think it's called and one of the challenges with the playables is that no one knows what's going on right like if you know what a nanog is you know how to play it you probably already have the app and if you don't know how to play it you're like what the hell am I looking at right what what what am I supposed to do so a lot of puzzle companies actually struggle with building playables that are short due lucy that are complex as puzzles should be but at the same time

simple to understand. So I think this is a really good show of how you can have like a more complex puzzle game but still make it in a fun and and simple like snackable way.
Yeah, I'm already I'm already playing the game itself. I'm not sure on which level I am already but quite far I would say. And it's not still you don't have the like repeated feeling. It's a very short game play. You play it for a couple of seconds. to play one or two levels, you know, toilet stuff and then just, you know, continue whatever you were doing. So,
with your life.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, it's very it's very nice. I mean, even even the ads, they are only after each level, I guess. So, it's it's quite it's quite nice.
Depends. Depends.
Depends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so this one was mine. The the the highlight of these were basically two things, as I said, like the the onboarding feeling from the from the playable itself towards the game. So this is exactly almost one to one to what you will see basically in the first seconds of the of the real game. Not just logic wise but also visually and everything. So I guess

they even made this answering your question Robin I guess they did this in that exact whatever tool they were using for game development that they did this playable in. And the second one of course was the end cards and everything that you know the feeling of success the cat and everything like the
the but it's in the in the game as well like after
in the game as well like exactly like everything team and everything was was on par with with the expectations. So this was this was really nice at least for me.
What are you supposed to do? Can can you just walk me through the game itself? Because I've been looking at this. I
This is the game.
Okay. So only one cat per color. Okay. So you have pink there. So there's one cat there
and this is you know you know mine. Okay. Okay.
You know, mind sweeper. It's pretty much mind sweeper. It's the same thing, but
Okay, I see how it works now. Okay. And then you can fill the brown. Yeah. Okay.
It's mind sweeper. Yeah.
Yeah. And then you Okay, that's pretty cool.
Basically, when you have advanced levels, you have to think like, okay, so there's definitely blue here because there has to be one kid in blue. So, there cannot be anything here in green.

So, this column is already like, you know, and you go one by one and
eventually you get you get everything right. All right. I am a very dedicated LinkedIn player on the LinkedIn games.
And this is Queens. This is Queens in LinkedIn.
Yeah, this is exactly a game like that. Also, by the way, for for all those LinkedIn gamers, it's insane because
at least for me in my time zone, 9:00 a.m. is when they open up and when you go like 9:15, there's already like five players that actually, you know, submitted their high score. It's like insane. People are waiting until 9:00 a.m. so they can play the LinkedIn games. You cannot play a LinkedIn game uh during 8 to 4 p.m. Otherwise, you will be playing at your job, right? So, people have to play it in the morning or in the afternoon. Otherwise, their bosses will see on LinkedIn that oh,
honestly, I haven't played a LinkedIn game to this date. None. None of it.
Don't do it.
But you you are receiving some notifications from time to time, right?
It's it's really it's addicting in some

way, right? Like, but it's also like you get this they do this also in some like games like Forza, right? where you have like you you you complete races and then you can see your friends like what their score is and you're like I want to beat them. And it's the same with the LinkedIn games. I have some I have some LinkedIn rivals. I'm not sure if they know too but every day I'm trying to beat them.
No,
I might have rivals but I've never seen or never played against them. So that's it.
All right. So we now switching to someone else or I'm going one by one. You can you can do one more.
I can do one more. So which one will I pick? I will pick the the simplest one.
No, go go go complex.
I mean the playable itself is complex. Don't get me wrong.
Okay.
So
I saw Yeah, I saw this one. Yes.
But this is the this is the only one thing that I was basically because the concept is you know there's nothing new. Okay. The visuals and everything is right. That's what that's why I was mentioning

again my monkey brain. Like sometimes I got really caught by very simple things. I will get to that very shortly. And that's this this button.
Like the thing that the character actually jumped on the button. That was the thing that was like that was the selling part to me. Like oh this is finally different. I need to actually jump on a button and do something. And
all Forex games have this button now in their Bibles. All of them.
You know you know as at least you can see that I'm I'm not playing that much Forex games. Yeah.
No. But I mean not not saying play like Forex games but Forex games playables like they all have this button and they copy the that button to like all of the different games. Tile survive has it.
I think also White out survival as well.
Do we do we have any history like who was the first in this case?
No idea honestly
but definitely not the XP hero.
No
no no. I think most of their playables when I was checking XP hero were kind of new this month. I mean, not all of them

obviously, but a lot of new playables, but just different versions of this mechanic basically.
I think in the world of ads, that's always the question. Who was first? We'll never be able to answer that.
And does it matter even?
I don't think so. I don't think so.
But doesn't matter. I would just I would just credit them here, you know, whoever.
Yeah. Oh, this is good because if you think about it, this is pretty much Forex playable with their game and also the first few seconds where you actually need to fight those kind of enemies. That's the their game play and then then you go Yeah. This so this is pretty much like okay fine this is this is the game and then when you ex expand the whole camp there's already 4x playable.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think all of their playables started with this like even they had like white out surv white white out survival and all the stuff every single one of them started with that core gameplay with that being attacked. And
what's also good here is that this is

what you could classify as a nonauthentic playable or nonauthentic gameplay, right? Because in the real game you don't have like so many items so quickly and so and all the upgrades. But it is true to the nature of the gameplay mechanic. So this is a very good example. If you say like, hey, we want to stay true to the game, but we we're thinking about doing non-authentic, you can do something like this, which is just exaggerating the gameplay or exaggerating the emotions of the game by just, you know, making it more juicy. And yeah, like this one. Nice. I'm I'm still kind of I have haven't made my mind about if this would be better than actual game play. But I guess that's not actually the question. I'm just now kind of playing the the devil's advocate. Like if we go for the

game play that was in the first few seconds, would it be better than this one? in better in terms of the KPIs, but again like the sweet spot I guess is the the key
seen many because this one has been around for a long time now which is idle miner tycoon
and and they have that right they have ones where it takes very long like in the real game to build the next shaft to do the upgrades but they also have ones which are more like this where everything is like X5 and there's more more people more happening at once and I think there is something to say for both because also they they are running both of them from from what I know. So
cool. Next play wall.
Yeah.
Okay. Let me do the last one. We will finish at three at least and then we'll see.
We'll do three three and then see.
I will do this one that I actually there are two that I like. Never mind. I will keep it with this one because that's that's mentioned in our lock and that's this one.
It's play man. But

fishnome.
Fishndom. Yes. But this is quite old man. It's but it's But this is not for fish.
No, really.
This is fish io something. Let me let me check when I will finish the game.
That's what you're talking about. Like this is this is fish like five years ago.
Well, I know. But
Oh my god.
But the playable is not for for that game. That's that's how I'm telling you actually.
So that's the catch. Okay.
That's the check. That's the That's the check and catch. Yeah. I actually like that this is the exact example like the the playable is yeah already known ex exactly for something different.
It's different but it's different.
This this wasn't in the Yeah. Okay.
The game itself is not it's not basically this one. It's fish eater.io is the game and of course the game play is is not anything like this. is the I think it's even a 3D game where you are literally like a small fish and eating towards you know bigger bigger fishes and everything and it was

great like I mean playing this playable was
fish eater.io IO. Oh my god.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
But so this is basically
Jesus Christ. 2 million downloads in the last 30 days. Okay.
But then this is basically a different game just using a playable ad from another.
Exactly.
Right.
Exactly. Well, again, you know, I think we talked about it last time used or getting inspired. Like where's the where's the line written? Right. Like was it because I can't remember all of these old old fish ads. like is it one to one with those or was there was it different
like the the beginning is pretty much the same. I can I can try to find it.
Well, I think that's the thing, right? There is nothing written about it.
Yeah,
I am very curious how this relates to like retention and robots of the displayable, right? Like
probably it's working otherwise we wouldn't be looking at it today.
Yeah, exactly.
That's pretty interesting. Yeah,

that is very interesting. Now I can even see. Wow. Okay. So
again for the for those worrying about being authentic, you can even have ads of different games.
But you know there is there's no logo. You just know from the visual style that this is probably fish dome but it's not right. That's there there is no logo. No reference.
Look look look.
So let me share my screen.
That's basically that was my first play. So I'm out of my sharing time.
Okay. I mean it's fine.
Yeah. I'm just kidding. It's okay.
Also, that first that first screen that you see in that playable is one of dump's like ab
image.
See,
so the hook is the hook is the same. Yeah. Okay.
Wait a minute. The hook is the same.
Playable is the same.
The hook is the same. Look, it's exactly the same.
I think I my fishes were a little bit different, but
more or less the same. Yeah.
Yeah. the the Nemo is this is a little bit closer

and those fishes are a little bit different and I I think it's it's shorter. It's not like Yeah. And and here we are we are done here.
So So that's that's the difference. But like at the beginning was exactly the same man this is great and see first scene 2023 last scene last year in June. So this was something that they've been running for three years or two sorry two years
and I found this one as a new creative and this basically last
No, of course. Yeah. If I go here I see I see this game pretty much. So whatever this is
there's an emo, right?
This is just what this is just happening when the world is run by algorithms. Yeah, pretty much. And this is more like ad revenue mainly I would say cuz here

yes like 80k per day. O okay see 2 million downloads net revenue nothing. So it's pretty much adriven game in my opinion. If we go here, Bangladesh. Okay. Easy. Okay. Interesting.
All right. So, I can Yeah, I can actually I can actually try and do this for you. Yeah. Do you know Raid Rush?
Yes.
Nice. I worked with these guys for a while, but that's not why I picked this. But uh I picked this one because it reminds me one game which is War Robots. And I was talking about War Robots and their playables on the uh during the Applian.

It's only customization of the of the war robots, no game play. And I like this one a little bit because here we have the choice. So let's see. Let's let me check. Let me just pick this. We're not done. So it's reminds me that customization. So here we're just picking towers for let's say our game play afterwards. Let's do this. The only thing which I was really surprised it's not there actually like how I can use these towers within their like battle afterwards. I was like okay so I picked my let's call it squad of towers. Let's just put them into into the into the game play. And I just like, ah, that was a big disappointment. But I love the setup because here is pretty much maybe just

there's the the fantasy is when I go to the actual game play, I will pick these towers afterwards when I actually start playing and that's a good already like good motivation for actually starting.
So the disappointment make you want to actually play it or not?
Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
Yes. I think that that's that's what I see at least in the playables that are done in playable maker like let's call it in general character picking genre of playables like that's quite popular. I cannot say from the marketing perspective that's that's what mate knows like how much it converts and everything but in terms of what's being created like this is this is a very valid trend like you just you know sell like I think in the second game that you mentioned there was like you were picking separately like legs and torsos of this. Yeah. So there wasn't also like any any type of gameplay because it's a 3D game. So I guess like the asset kind of compression would be quite tough.
But still
that's what I wanted to say. Sorry if I skipped your but basically because this

game is like for the real game plan you need to choose because that's what the if I understood correctly that's what the game play is about that you choose the right towers and then basically the game
it's aw it's a tower defense game.
Yeah. Exactly. So if you want to combine both of them into one playable, maybe they have got this issue of, you know, size and limits and length of the playable and everything. So maybe that's why they stick to the to the
Yeah, but come on. Look.
Yeah, that should not be an issue honestly. Exactly. Yeah, that should work.
Just pick maybe instead of four, let's pick two and then then go directly here into the actual like board where you put these towers there. Just show few enemies and that's it. and then go to just hey okay you want to continue playing this download the game. Yeah, if the game play would be done really simple, then yeah, definitely. But
this is this is you're looking at it.
They they could do one more thing to disappoint you even more, which is after you pick the three turrets or four turrets, they present you with the fake

level and then have the battle button there and then when you click it, they just send you.
Oh, that would be Oh, that would be evil. That would be evil.
But that's but that's even logical step. Like you have the first part, then you create this and then you will create
and you will use all three of them and see which one works, right?
Yeah. Exactly. So
that will happen so often or or it's like one level and then it's like okay boss fight and then you're like okay I'm ready [clears throat] for the bus and they sent you to the store.
Mhm. Can you reload the playable again please? If you have it somewhere
here. That's why I was I was going to check like if there is install button if I will skip this. So there is play now.
Play now.
May May I say one thing about this?
Yes.
A best practice about these kind of like staged playables where you have like step one, step two, step three, trap, step four
on step one. So if if you just refresh, okay, you can just refresh it once more.
Yep.
So if you refresh, so if you do nothing

now, do nothing and you watch this screen, nothing will happen, right? there's no like there you will just stay on this screen. One of the things we we have tried in the past and also we have data to back that up is that
if you after 6 seconds or that you know that number can be different but let's say 6 seconds if nothing happened
you make the first choice for the user. So you say canon
then at least for those that are inactive there is something happening on the screen and then if you click canon now if you can do that and then so this is happening on the screen now automatically after 6 seconds so the user sees something and now there is the new opportunity for them to engage with the playable and then again if they do not engage after 6 seconds we make the choice for them
and then at least if they don't do anything if they don't engage at any point there is the full playable which was shown to the user or they decide to engage at a later point within the playable and actually

the overall engagement rate is going up and then your CTA is going up. So this we have seen with playables like this where there's like either different levels or different options to pick from to to have some sort of auto and ideally have some sort of timer, right? So pick your pick your weapon and then you see like 10 seconds just you know you see the bar going down to zero and then within those 10 seconds you pick or we pick for you and then you know you have another 10 seconds to engage. That actually something that might help
different will be a playable if it basically goes out the whole sequence automatically. It's
Yeah, but come on.
But it
it is as a format. It is.
Yeah. And and
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, of course, of course it is. I'm just Maybe it's again me when I'm playing something and I go to playable. I have a feeling [snorts] that when I actually played the the interstitial or rewarded that, it plays faster if I actually interact with them

when I just watch it or, you know, leave my phone and do do nothing.
So I click on even if I don't look like I'm trying to click on it. So it so it goes away quicker.
But maybe this is not okay. So this is just an example where you have like different steps or different stages. But there's also playables where it's like level one is just nothing. Level two is not and then level three is boss fight. And since you're just there looking at the timer waiting for the 30 seconds to, you know, pass. You're like, okay, I'm not going to play this ad. I don't want to do ads. And then you're like, okay, okay, the boss fight. Okay, whatever. I just do the boss fight, right? Whereas if you would not have that, then you would have never reached that stage. And at the end, you can ask yourself, is it done still playable? But it's higher CTA, so who cares?
Exactly. Who cares?
Yeah, perfect. Yeah.
Oh, hello. Hello there. I didn't see you. Thank you very much for coming to this episode. Uh, it's brought to you by our sponsors, PVX Partners, the simplest and most effective credit line for marketing. If you're scaling your business uh, and need funding, here's

the deal. With PVX Partners, you can grow your game easily and your business. There's no equity dilution. You can repay as you get paid and it's flexible and fully tailored to your growth. So you can secure funding in 30 days and get a term sheet in just 24 hours. Don't you wait. Take control of your UA budget without giving away of uh a piece of your company. Visit pvxpartners.com and uh see how they can help you grow your game faster and stronger. Don't wait. Go to pvxpartners.com. So, I picked this one only because this game is targeting me every day 17 times,
especially with playables on Applavin. And I this is one of their like 17,000 playables that I've seen already in last three days. And it's from the company that copied Pixel Flow, like pretty much one to one. They got sued and they had to take down the the original game.

But now they have this and it's pretty much the same stuff. It's just with ants.
Ants. Ants.
I was playing exactly this one and I actually lose.
Really? You lost? Oh, no. Really? Oh,
no. Because I was just messing with the colors and then I
I I made it to a stop where I was not able to choose and and basically continue.
Okay. And and I'm not sure if Oh, okay. So, if I click install, then I can actually go the the twice the speed button was working for me. I was checking the
It is working. Yeah, it's working.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it's still And still I can still play which is great. And they have so many different uh pictures. I was playing some with watermelon and I was also playing with something else. What was it?
Have you have you seen any simple images? Because at least I I didn't check in sensor ter but those that I was targeted with had always like this is I

don't know it's 100 by 100 pixels. I don't know it's just a ballpark like it's quite a lot of pixels there right?
Have you had any point?
No that's the whole point.
Just just thinking out loud. Yeah.
No I like this because exactly what you just said. It's very complex and you need a lot of things and there's also a lot of things happening at the at the same time on the screen and it's also visually appealing. I think also the idea here is that you're already so far in that it is a waste to now even go out of the ad, right? Because you're like, "Okay, you want to you want to clean this up,
but I'm I'm done now. I can't
that's in the the
CTA." Yeah. Yeah. Which is again a little bit disappointing because I would definitely like to finish the level and I and if I finish the level, I'm already super invested and I want to play the game. And this is all like what we discuss with the short drama stuff when they're showing 18 minute long videos but which are pre-qualifying the users. And if I already play this for 10 minutes, oh my god, of course I want

kind of play. I will play it anyway because we're going to talk about it on the podcast because it's very very interesting.
But still and this so so they put the ants in the real game as well, right?
Yeah. Yeah. This is this is this is pretty much it.
This is the real stuff.
This is the real game. Yeah. But it was not originally there when you said they were sued and stuff. It was
No, it was they had pixel flow with the conveyor belts and everything like here now it's a different let's call it different [clears throat] game just hands
and a little bit simplified because there are no conveyor belts. It's just
this is also Voodoo has this right but then you have to put the people in buses. So it feels like it's it's that in combination with the pixel what is called pixel art.
Yes. Okay.
They also have the the sand loop with sand and and physics. They have marble sword as well. Like this is like a huge trend anyway. But this game is scaling like there's no tomorrow. So there's definitely something in there. It's already like 80 or 90K inapp revenue per

day and we are not even talking about ads. So it's huge.
That's so crazy. That's again another example of like
this is to me I'm like what the [ __ ] am I looking at? It's so it's so boring to me. But you know, again, no, it's not for me.
This exact. Yeah. You know, this is my grandpa grandma and grandpa audience. Like this is exactly like my type of game. But I
I don't like this that much as the the other other games and mechanics and more kind of puzzle and and thinking around. This is just like okay. Still like a logic puzzle game and sword game, but still.
Yeah. But again, and what's interesting is like they actually use playables as a standalone assets, but all which I've seen more than combination of video and play that I I was targeted only like by playable like right away.
Mhm. Is there any theory in like what's or you just test both ways with?

Yeah, we just test both ways. I mean, I'm I'm usually doing video plus playable, not playable only. But as soon as I saw this, like, huh, maybe I should I should come back and try try and test it out.
Okay. And I have one more which I think Andre will recognize.
Ah, this Runescape. That's my first thought.
Almost almost. And obviously like this is nothing like the game, but it's it's the king.
It's the kingshot variation obviously losing. [ __ ] hell.
Yeah. I mean, a couple of them were quite
It's tough. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty hard.
Yeah. Yeah. When you were just like messing around, you can lose very easily. Yeah.
Die. Die.

Yeah. So, it's very very complex. I mean complex in terms of like what we can do here. And even though again like it's not really the the game play, but it's how long I'm actually in the in the level. But that's again that's that's the point like you should take what's what you see that is working or at least try to experiment with that and you know brand it or as we see with the fish dodom even just you know take it
and basically use it. I I I remember when we were talking about this one that there was quite of like the the game itself is quite heavy on intellectual property and the quality of assets and everything. As you can see, you can really drill it down to the almost to the bone like to have couple of elements, couple of trees, couple of I think there are only two units, dragon and
dragon and yeah, at least these guys.
Is this uh is this game doing well? Is this popular?
He's doing quite well. Yeah,

it's doing it launched. Yeah, don't worry. It launched a month ago.
Yeah.
And it's doing what like 200 or 300k per day right now and still growing quite nicely. So, this was one of
the Yeah. I just have the feeling and it's the same when we had this this crazy Final Fantasy ad that just
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
It's just like it's an okay game with some sort of brand to it, right? it being Final Fantasy, it being Game of Thrones, which is kind of helping it succeed. But then as as we when we play so many games as as part of our job, I'm like, but the game play just never does it right. That's the the problem I always have when I look at things like this.
I think, you know, at least for those who are fans of the franchise, uh there was the first series more or less being released with the at least at the same time as the game. Yeah.
So it's more like who are you targeting? If you you know obviously the core fans

they would target with any of these
this is a forex game.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So you need to approach it with that with with that in mind.
Yeah. Okay. It's the same with with the the Harry Potter game, right, which was on console. I feel like
for Harry Potter's fans it's really good. For gamers I'm like, "Yeah, it's it's nothing special." You know? That's kind of the the feeling I get sometimes when I see these things. So
yeah, but I mean is it maybe maybe you know it's helping a lot that whoever is being targeted by HBO or or they are already user of that and they see and and all the Game of Thrones ads are they supporting also these games and these games are supporting the movies or the or the series. So it kind of goes you know the more you are targeted with the brand the more you will eventually be inclining to play. I think I had it once when I was playing the Avatar, you know, the last airbender game. They had this
this city building game. I just I I just

downloaded because I like Avatar too much and then, you know, play the game for a little while. But
yeah, you have to be a fan of that.
Yeah. You know,
to try.
All right. Cool. Okay.
You want to go?
Yes. Let's do it. Let me share my screen. All right. Okay. Let me think which one to start with. Let me Let me start with this one because Oh, wait. He don't see it.
Not yet. Not yet.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah. [laughter]
I picked this one because I think this one is it's not gameplay, but if we think about the whole user experience. So, people have just seen a 30-cond ad and then they are presented with this. Okay. And then you have to pick which uh

which trail you're going safe or risky. So, obviously we go with risky. And and there is not much to it, right? It's just it's simple like you understand what's what needs to be done. I think the visuals are good. There is this this I don't know just this this red vignette around it which is just I don't know every playable has that and that's it right like you then get the reward. So there there is everything is in here like there's clear tutorial there's a clear like progression there is a big prize at the end there is a reward. I just wanted to show this because I think it's cool like if you you because you're probably thinking okay where's coin master where's the game play? Yeah. Yeah. I mean you really need it.
We have already seen that maybe in the 30 secondond video before this, right? So I think this is just a very good example of how you can do the nonauthentic playables even with a brand like Coin Master that is doing this and then still this is working well for them. So that's the first one I picked.

I like this one. And I mean obviously Coin Master they have I mean I can't even even say my how many playables they're doing like every month there is something new from
millions.
Yeah. Yeah. And exactly. And uh the point is that you know they they need to do only one thing and that's what they are doing like repeat everything around this kind of FOMO effect about money and rewards and everything and that's basically what you get doesn't matter the game play it's basically you you play you get the coins you will be rewarded and again and again and again doesn't matter how you get there if it's you know which one which one you will choose
also if you pick safe you go again here I think you have four and then on the second turn you you're push Yeah, you go there anyway.
So, you always have the same ending here.
So, it's it's scripted pretty much.
It's it's scripted. You always go here and you get the big prize. So, you never get the the other one.
Yeah. Nice. Okay.
That's pretty good.
I like that they there the legal thing was there like only for half a second.
It needs to be there and that's it, right? So, it's okay.
It needs to be there. Yeah. Yeah. I

mean, but there was like the images and and I didn't even see the rest. But yeah, I mean they they did everything correctly. Yeah.
Where does it say? I think it says it here, right? Okay. It doesn't matter. No one reads that anyway.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay.
But it just needs to be there.
The second one I picked is because I am a fan of the game Vampire Survivors, which I have on Steam Deck.
And so this one is called Lest Asylum.
Here we have it.
Of course,
it's from 37 games. Okay, before I start, I just want to explain this is just absolute chaos from the start.
And
talking about Forex games, man, this is it.
And as you and as you instead of the other way around, the one we saw with you, Andre, uh, with the fish. No, no, sorry. The the the Forex game where you start with a small base and then you upgrade. Here, I feel like it's the other way around. You do start with a small base, but you cannot manage the

amount of enemies until you start building your base. Okay, so let me play it. Um, by the way, also the sound is amazing. You don't hear the sound now, but you hear all the you hear all the weeds. You hear them stack to each other. And
these guys, they are killing it on the videos uh video site. And also like in general, like their creatives are [ __ ] amazing.
Yeah, but look at this. Like I I need to do like 15 different things. I need to get the meat. I need to upgrade my base. I need to get rid of the rats. There's just so much stuff. And I just love this one. I think it's
I think this is even like better than than the White Out Survival with the bears and the meat in it as well. The I I like this way more.
But on the other hand, I think this one is a bit more dark, right? Which it's probably less appealing to like a bunch of the more casual ones.
But still,
yeah, I think this one is just very well done.
And it needs to be. That's the, you know, it's a it's about the silum. Like the whole team is a little bit darker. It cannot be with just roses and

everything. But I like this one because I was actually I think targeted or I found it. I don't know. But I like really this kind of like how they are pushing the the playable is very well balanced in a way that you have the feeling that you are attacked from five different things and that you will almost but you never I mean maybe if you just do nothing
because the rats they don't do damage.
They don't do damage.
Very small very small very slowly. It's basically progressing towards the bad ending but you can manage easily if you play it second time. You can do it with your eyes closed. Right. But it's very the feeling that you need to really rush everything and it's like I really like that the balance of it. Yeah.
Also, in terms of length, this one is
it's a pretty long one. After this upgrade, this final one,
you get a bigger base and now now you cannot do nothing in it.
You'll be sent to the store. So,
I like this one. It's chaos. It's panic from the start. And you you don't even have to think about do I like this game? Do I want to play an ad? Because you have to protect your base. And I have a few actually. So let me let

me give
let's do one more.
Okay. So let's do one more. H I Okay, let me let me just go with this. I think this one was just cool. Uh I think this one you've seen because we talked about it last time. If it's working. Okay, there it is.
Oh, yeah. Yes,
I just like the art style because today it's hard to find a game which is not isometric 3D view whatever casual and so this one is from Voodoo. This one is called Path of Kings and how do you call that again where you have like a level you shoot and then you do an upgrade. I don't know there's a name for that type of gameplay. You also have like you have a lot of shooters like this as well or Archer Hero. It's
Oh, you mean
it's it's the name of the genre, but
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I will I will tell you when when it comes.
Anyway, um let's go with the snake. Uh I

just I just love this. I just love the first I feels like I'm I'm playing something like Cyberpunk or something where it's like first person view. You're holding cool weapons in your hand. Also, this nothing of this makes sense, right? Because why would you pick 25 damage over 30? But at the same time here you get a cool dog. So maybe you do want to pick the 25 one. So and then he's holding that in his hands. And I just think this one is is really funny in general like the design.
It's a rogue like if if I hope that's that was the the name you were looking for or rog light.
Yeah, exactly. So and then here you have the the final one and then you take here and you get sent to the store. So,
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but it would be
and but then again, right, this playable just spoke to me. Not because it's it's the best designed one we've seen. It doesn't have the best progression or anything. It just looks cool and
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
And that's it. So,
I was checking this one. I don't know how far at least I know about it like two months maybe. And I was checking every month and to see like if somebody will do something similar, you know,

just to in terms of gameplay in that playable, but I haven't seen any ripoffs yet. So,
let's see. But I really like this one. The whole feeling of it. And I guess the game is the same. I have no idea. I
The game is exactly the same. So, if you haven't seen, go and check it on on the YouTube channel of Two and a Half Gamers. Yeah, we we talked about it. It's the same thing. Uh, it really needs a little bit of love from Voodoo, but all like the concept is it's amazing. I mean, like the idea, the from the like the POV style of the gameplay, it's it's it's perfect.
I think you can also not lose this one. Let me just go with all the worst choices in terms of damage and see what happens. I think here 25. That's the thing like but again as a player you do not notice this but when I'm playing the playables right you play them a few times because you have to test them whatever so you're kind of figuring out like what's all the the possibilities here and then I'm like it's a shame that we cannot lose this playable as well but then again as

[laughter] the user you will never notice. So
yeah yeah yeah
yeah there you go. So you never lose.
No. And also I like the the progress bar on the top that like you're kind of reaching the castle which is little bit invisible but still if you go and then now you see reach the castle like
that's a nice one. Even if you pay small attention to because I was I was playing with this quite a lot. Even the castle in the what's the code in the end of the path it's getting bigger after each like small small portions bigger but you are you should have the feeling like you are getting closer actually towards it. Yeah.
I I just I actually felt that the progress bar of reach the castle was the the only thing I didn't like because it feels a little bit out of tune with the rest of the playable. It feels like the art style is not really the same. You see, and the castle also doesn't look anywhere close to the castle we're walking to. So again, that's very nitpicky and that's very like from analyst playable point of view. So like

no one none of the players will really care about that too much. But that's the only thing I was like I would have thought.
I'm just trying to show you where basically how far you are, right? So So you are
Yeah.
Don't think that this is like forever.
Yeah. Cool. I have one one more. Maybe
leave it for for next time.
We'll leave that one for next time.
Yeah, leave it for next time. I think three free and three it's it's a good it's a good amount of of playables and it's I like this approach
as well. But I will I will pause it as well because I like them. At least I have less work to do next month.
It's not about about working. It's about uh you know more concise episodes. That's what we discussed before and it's people love it as well and we love it as well.
It's pretty cool that we all got such different labels out of this. So I I really like that.
Yeah. I mean maybe you know M can take like a competition like people will vote which one was the best and no just

kidding. But you know we can
Yeah guys in the the comment section it's all yours in in you on YouTube. So just yeah let us know which one you like the most and if you have any other playables that caught your attention yeah let us know as well
even better join like channel and you can share it all there if you want
and then maybe as a good closer if you ever ask the question which playable performs best we cannot give you the answer because we all think another one is better or another one is cooler so
exactly
I think this episode proved that as well so
yeah exactly that's Why you need to run all of them?
All of them. All the users.
Yeah, exactly. So, thank you guys for coming. Thanks also Robin and Andre for for coming on and talk about the playables. We will see each other next time. Thank you. Bye-bye. He used the buy.