The game combines fun and dynamic gameplay with beautiful graphics.
Big Time is a MMORPG currently in the Early-Access phase, and developed by a team of veterans who have worked across all major gaming giants. The game is set to release worldwide in 2023 but has already peaked a lot of interest among content creators and gaming communities.
This article was authored by Nicola Fraccaroli and Unbound.
Key Takeaways
- A Free-To-Play title with a visionary roadmap and with no pay dynamics.
- The game aims to combine fun and dynamic gameplay, beautiful graphics, challenging adventures, and innovative aspects such as timelines and personal metaverses. Gameplay-first is the mantra.
- Several aspects of the game are yet to be developed and implemented, including tokenomics, but we know that Big Time’s Token will be available to active players only, rather than being distributed to outside actors, and that there won’t be any ICO or IDO. This approach, in itself, represents a big step forward for Web3 gaming.
Fast action gameplay, a luscious and vibrant world, challenging but rewarding dungeons, time travel, class versatility, and Free-To-Play. As long-time RPG fans, we might have seen these features on established titles with millions of other players.
But combine these elements with a potentially limitless storyline and a player-owned economy that blurs the lines between virtual and real worlds, and you’ll realize there is so much more Big Time will be able to offer. A first-of-its kind experience able to merge traditional RPG elements with features and vision likely to become benchmarks for next-generation games.
We have had the pleasure to play through the Early-Access version of the game with pro player Yong and here is our game review at the current state of development. Please note that major changes to the game experience might be implemented in coming weeks and months, the more features are added.
What is Big Time?
Big Time is an open-world multiplayer ARPG, where gamers will play as time travelers who’ve been summoned to the end of the universe to fight back against history collapse. They will encounter hordes of mobs, from dinosaurs to robots depending on which timeline they will be on.
The game is currently in development by Big Time Studios, which boasts one of the most experienced teams in the gaming space, including veterans from Epic Games, Rockstar, Riot, Activision, Blizzard, Decentraland and others.
Since its Alpha launch in 2022, it was able to attract many gamers’ eyeballs and grow without major marketing campaigns. Why? Big Time is not a common RPG title. Among other upsides, it allows players to monetize their playing time with unique cosmetic collectibles that can be found in the virtual world and traded for real-world money. Without disrupting the game experience and without including any pay-to-win mechanics.
Today, the game is Early-Access, but it already can count on 1mln+ pre registrations and a Discord community of 400k+ members and major features from streamers like Brycent, The Buffessor and Gen Z star Zachary Alexander Rice.
Just with these premises we’d say: alright, all-nighters here we come. And we were definitely not left disappointed in our playthrough – snack stacks down to the bone.
The World- No Man´s Sky beauty
Hard to assess the size of Big Time’s map as of yet, but we can tell just by strolling through the starting area, that the open playable world will be vast, not even considering dungeons, where you’ll spend a good portion of your time.
How Big Time is divided
The Big Time universe, for now, can be divided into five areas, each with its own natural “theme” and difficulty:
- Rustling Forest and No Man’s Land – For beginners, easy dungeons and starting equipment (lvl 1-20).
- Wasteland – Mid-level area, challenging dungeons and decent drops (lvl 20-40)
- Icy Waste and Icy Castle – Best drops, very intense fights (lvl 40+)
The surrounding environment is beautiful, with bright colors, sharp element designs, and smooth motion, hard to pick a location to take THE best screenshot, even at lower resolutions.
Every corner has its own characteristic beauty, whether in red forests, icy caves or in urban centers. One great aspect is that, despite early-stage development, almost all playable areas can be already explored without getting stuck or encountering bugs.
Not only does the game allow you to wander around in the wilds, but at a certain level you will receive a device called Time Machine, otherwise known as a Personal Pocket Metaverse (PPM).
As Big Time states
This device is a player’s portal to their own universe. You can think of the Time Machine as a starter home to hang out with friends or showcase your collectibles and loot.
In our Early-Access playthrough, we didn’t have the chance to explore our Time Machine, but it sounds like a very promising feature, especially when linked to crafting of tradeable collectibles, which we will explain later in the article.
Classes- Hopping through time like there´s no tomorrow
Each player starts the game by picking a class among four available, each with their own skills tree:
- Time Warrior. The tank, able to aggro enemies, stand and deal high damage. One of the most recommended starting classes given its high survivability, even in solo.
- Chronomancer. The magical class, able to deal extensive ranged damage and weak enemies.Chronomancer is probably the best class for soloing, because of range, with a well-equipped time warrior as second best class.
- Shadowblade. The rogue going stealth and inflicting high close-range DPS.
- Quantum Fixer. The healer, buffing allies and wearing a shield to stand damage.Quantum fixer can’t really sustain damage once you get past the starter levels.
Do you need to create different characters to try out and enjoy each class? HELL NO! One amazing tool, which extends gameplay limitlessly depending on each player’s preference or necessity, is the Pocketwatch.
This device, which can be obtained as drops, can be worn by the player to change “timeline” and switch class at any point during the game without cumbersome reloads or respawns. One minute you are a Shadowblade, next minute you can be a Quantum Fixer or whichever class, in the exact same location.
You will find plenty of Pocketwatches in the game, each with its own characteristics. But be wary, each Watch follows its own timeline, so as soon as you equip one and change to a new class, you will be back at lvl 1 again. As streamer The Buffessor suggests, if you get a decent Watch you like, level that up, collect the best ones for all other classes before switching and leveling up again.
Also, not happy with the ability you spent points on? No worries, you’ll simply be able to reach one of the Reset Shrines across the map and you’ll receive all your ability points back!
In short, Big Time offers countless hours of fun with different styles and gameplays, it is really up to the player to pick which ones.
Dungeons- Bigger party, better drops
Dungeons represent the venues where most of the fun (or humiliation) will take place, and where better loot will be dropped, especially if in a party.
There are the types of dungeons for now, Grass/Forest, Icy, Desert, Tech (Syphon), which can be accessed through portals scattered around the map and that, thanks to Procedural Generation technology, will offer a different, randomized experience each time a party joins in, with different mobs, quests, bosses and loot.
The ultimate objective, however, is usually killing the final boss/bosses and picking up rare drops and gold. Of course, the higher your character level, the more complex the dungeon will be.
Clearing and completing dungeons with a party of players (up to six) vs solo will provide you with more drops, more collectibles and more XP (besides being more fun too).
As the game is still in Early-Access phase, finding a group of fellow adventurers might not always be easy through the in-game chat, not even in Water Town, but multiple Big Time communities are active on Discord (Official server, Bulls Guild, Big Time Warriors etc.), where you can find and plan your raids.
A player-owned economy
Perhaps one of the most fascinating and innovative aspects of Big Time is its vision in regards to collectibles and game economy.
If you have not had the chance to try out the experience of Web3 games before, Big Time will allow you to have a classic ARPG experience with traditional game mechanics and story. The game will still be free-to-play, with no lame pay-to-win aspects. Cool, right?
However, if you’d like to test or enjoy built-in Web3 features, such as tradeable collectibles and community benefits, Big Time will offer you the chance to do so, even for free.
Each player will be able to truly own valuable in-game items, either ones dropped by mobs or crafted, with the opportunity to trade them freely and, for some of them, potentially earning real-world money.
The Web3 elements that will be introduced within Big Time are either functional to the game experience (utility) or cosmetics-related. They are the following:
| SPACE | Big Time’s version of virtual land or classic RPG “inventory slots”, used to expand your in-game Time Machine. By acquiring SPACE in raids or purchasing it through the game Marketplace, you will be allowed to activate special utility assets, such as Time Warden, Forge and Armory Rooms. The larger or the rarer the SPACE, the more assets it could contain. SPACE will be available in a limited supply of 600,000 units. |
| Forge Rooms | Forges will be a way for players to create their own tradable weapon skins and other NFTs. |
| Armory Rooms | Armories will allow users to create their own cosmetic armor skins and other NFTs. |
| Hourglasses | Assets which can be equipped to unlock Big Time Token as loot drops. |
| Time Warden Rooms | The Time Warden Room allows players to either create Hourglasses or fill them back up. |
| Big Time Marketplace (Open Market/Open Loot) | The marketplace that allows players to sell and buy items and collectibles, even for real-world money. Thanks to the launch of Open Loot, the marketplace will become interoperable and accept items from other Web3 games! |
| Big Time Token | An asset obtained as loot only by active players who have hourglasses equipped. These tokens can be used to grant several in-game and community benefits |
Extensive details on the upcoming in-game economics and Token will be released soon by the development team and we look forward to learning how they designed it and envisioned its sustainability in the medium and long term. ICO and IDO will not be on the roadmap, we know it already.
The novelty in this sense is that, even if there were no Web3 elements in the game, it would still be a fully-fledged MMORPG able to entertain and inspire players for countless hours, and we love it.
Conclusions
Several months separate players from getting their hands on the open version of Big Time. The game develops fast and becomes increasingly sought-after, thanks to an already extensive number of content creators and guilds that have amplified its reach worldwide.
Many aspects of the experience still need to be implemented, such as the underlying plot, PvE, PvP (Guild wars) and Token, which will constitute major leverages for gamer acquisition and retention.
But as gamers and Web3 professionals, Big Time is already shaping to be a first-of-its-kind title, able to merge fun and dynamic gameplay, beautiful graphics, and challenging adventures, with a whole new set of Web3 elements.
There´s a lot of potential there because the game plays well. If they fashion the lore and storyline correctly, Big Time will be big time for gamers.
Brycent
Player-owned assets and Token, tradeable collectibles, marketplace interoperability have all great potential as concepts, but have so far been abused within the Web3 gaming industry to sell speculation-based experiences that were very far from being enjoyable or even able to be considered “games”.
We have high hopes such an experienced development team will be able to engrain all these aspects smoothly, rather than divide players into those who are seeking for fun and challenge, with those seeking for profits. And from what we have seen thanks to our playthrough and interviews with the team, Big Time has learned the real value proposition Web3 brings to gamers, without infringing on a fully-fledged, standalone ARPG experience.
How to join Big Time Early-Access phase?
As the game can be played for the moment on an invite-only basis, players willing to play Big Time can do so through a Ruby Pass, given out through partners’ initiatives or official giveaways, or by purchasing Gold, Silver and Jade passes through the marketplace. Thus, follow Big Time official channels and leading streamers to stay updated on upcoming opportunities. Also be wary, DO NOT purchase early-access passes on external marketplaces such as OpenSea, they could likely not be genuine.
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