Photo from Flickr/Jimmyllo

By Jesse Friedlander
Contributing Writer

Clash Royale, a free-to-play multiplayer game, had a soft launch on January 4, 2016 and was released for iOs in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and New Zealand. A soft launch is when a game is in beta, and a company wants to see the demand for the game before officially releasing it to the open market.

Supercell, the mobile gaming giant, has created several popular games, such as Clash of Clans and Boom Beach.

The objective of the game is to take down your opponents towers in three minutes and to defend your own towers. If you and your opponent have the same amount of towers up after three minutes there is a one minute overtime, and the next tower down wins. If no towers are taken in overtime, the game ends in a draw.

There are 48 cards in the game, which each hold different purposes and are separated into categories by their rarity: common, rare, epic and legendary. Players collect cards by opening chests, which are also organized based on their rarity: silver, gold, magical and super magical chests. Chests are awarded by winning games, or every 4 hours in a free chest given by the app. Users can also buy chests using gems in the game.

An issue many users are experiencing with the game is whether the game is pay-to-win or not. Players increase their levels by upgrading their cards, but it is very difficult to upgrade certain cards without spending physical currency. According to Supercell forumer and twitch streamer xCWx, top players within the game have already spent over $10,000 in order to max out their cards.

The game became an instant success and is currently positioned as the 27th top free app in the Apple App store. Although it still has some kinks it has to work out, Clash Royale has the potential to be Supercell’s next big game.