70 Macworld • February 2022MAC GAMING
phase, although we imagine there will
be the usual selection of freemium
purchases to unlock new heroes
and items once the game has been
officially launched.
It will help if you’ve played DOTA
or other similar games in the past, but
Underlords does include a tutorial to
help you get started. Each round of
battles begins when you choose your
‘crew’ from a selection of predefined
hero characters. Each hero has their
own powers and abilities, such as the
stealthy Assassin or the shape-shifting
Lycan, and you can combine heroes so
that their abilities complement each
other, as well as upgrade them to make
them more powerful as you progress
through each round of battles.
Once you’ve selected your crew
you simply place them on a battlefield- which is divided into squares like a
chessboard – and let them fight for
themselves (hence the term ‘auto-
chess’ that is sometimes used to
describe this type of game). Along
with the tutorial, Underlords also
includes an offline mode that lets you
practice against an AI opponent, and
you can then move into the Casual or
Ranked multiplayer modes where you
play against other people online.
Playing Underlords feels a little
like a computer card game, where you
select your cards and place them on
the board to start a battle, although
its 3D graphics and special effects
may make it feel a bit more accessible
and appealing to newcomers. And,
as the game is free to play, there’s
nothing to prevent you from trying
it out on any of your computers or
mobile devices.- Heroes Of The
Storm (Heroes 2.0)
Price: Free from fave.co/3lUwyMB
Heroes Of The Storm follows the
same format as MOBA rivals such
as League of Legends (below), with
two teams of players fighting to
control towers and other landmarks
within each battle zone. However,
HotS has a trump card up its sleeve
as it allows you to play with familiar
characters from other Blizzard games,
such as Diablo, StarCraft and World
Of Warcraft, making the same feel
accessible even if you’re new to the
MOBA genre.
But online games need to provide
a steady stream of updates and new
content in order to keep players
interested. Heroes Of The Storm has
delivered an almost never-ending
list of new characters for you to play,
as well as new battle ground maps,
and even entirely new game styles,