Hero Factory Review

Fighting Sausages

I was expecting something akin to Bionicle. What I got was tiny sausage people (though that’s not a bad thing). Hero Factory is an idle RPG from PlayHard.Lab bursting at the seams with content. Send your diverse sausage army to fight against colorful enemies and earn coins across 100+ stages.

Conveyer Belt Heroes

What’s a tiny sausage man to do when his business goes bankrupt? Fight giant monsters! So opens Hero Factory, and thus begins the monster-bashing. The first hero type is a Swashbuckler, armed with sword and shield. Heroes are armored up and provided weapons via a conveyor belt. Then they take an elevator up to the battlefield. If you think the conveyor belts move too slow, tap them repeatedly to activate Turbo Mode. Don’t worry about the monsters, they’ll fight them for you! Every monster defeated, whether a Mohawk Hog or Bladebeetle, earns you a set number of coins. But the Swashbucklers can’t fight alone. The more money you earn, the more hero types you can purchase. From the arrow-shooting Hunting Queen to the burglar-looking Blade Master, there’s no monster your heroes can’t fight.

Not only can you purchase heroes, but you can also upgrade the conveyor belts. Each upgrade makes the belts faster and shinier. Additionally, if your heroes are having a hard time defeating a certain monster, there are ways you can help them. Spend gems to unlock different Skills cards. For example, the Roboking skill drops a giant robot onto the field which punches monsters. Skill cards use a lot of mana, so keep an eye on your mana bar. Help also comes in the form of the Fairy Gift, which you get by tapping the fairy that occasionally flies across the screen. Watch a short ad to earn extra coins, mana, or a limited time-fighting ability. A little assistance goes a long way.

Gems & Ads, Ads & Gems

It’s incredibly easy to earn gems in Hero Factory. Not only are there daily quests, there’s also a long list of achievement quests. If you complete all three daily quests on time, you get a reward of 50 gems. Additionally, gems are provided by a tiny sausage man in the top right of the screen, after you complete his tasks. The game doesn’t pressure you to spend gems, and you soon find yourself with over 1,000. Gems are also earned by watching ads. Watch five ads and earn 20 gems after each. You only get five a day, but they’re worth it. In the Equipment section of the Store, watching an ad opens two different reward boxes. Both boxes give armor and weapons for your heroes: Normal gives normal and unique while Superior gives rare and legendary. You can also watch ads in exchange for help on the battlefield.

Additional Content

Want to upgrade your heroes’ armor or weapons? Then head on over to the Enchant section! There, you merge powerful Enchant Stones on Enchant Tiles, which are earned by defeating monsters, and then pick which hero to upgrade. Though you don’t get to choose what part of your hero, it’s fun watching the roulette-like screen cycle through items. Different Enchant Stones give a different number of points. For example, a Crude Stone gives one point, while an Ample Stone gives sixteen. Merging the same types of stones unlocks new ones and rewards you with gems. There are 24 stones to find in total, each shinier and more powerful than the last. Plus, if you didn’t think you were getting enough rewards already, go to World and tap the Adventure Map. Passing stages in multiples of 20 give rewards like gems, skills, and even a Normal box.

Also in World, there’s a section called Raid. In it, your heroes fight more intense monsters leading up to the Hydragon (a dragon-headed hydra). Fighting is a little different here, as Turbo Mode is on the whole time, and your mana restores much faster. Defeating the Hydragon nets you Raid Jewels and Fangs. Both are spent in the Raid Store; Jewels buy Normal and Superior boxes, and Fangs buy a special outfit set for your heroes. Lastly, there’s a section called Training, where you increase different stats by going on a vacation. Watch your heroes fly in a plane and take a break by a hotel pool. After a vacation, you earn Medals, which are used to upgrade stats like gold gain, attack power, and health.

Needs Improvement

Unlocking different hero types is fun, but Hero Factory makes it an expensive endeavor. The Swashbuckler, Hunting Queen, Blade Master, and Witch are reasonably priced, but the cost of the following heroes is ridiculous. No matter what I do, it feels like I can never earn enough coins. A challenging earning system is one thing, but an impossible one is just unfair. Unlocking more Enchant Tiles takes forever as well. Until you get more tiles, you’re stuck with the same Enchant Stones over and over, which gets frustrating quickly. It also doesn’t help that you never know when you’ll get another tile.

A Sausage Party You Want To Join

Hero Factory is an overstuffed idle RPG that keeps you coming back for more. Varied heroes, colorful monsters, and rewards galore all make this game worth playing. Though certain areas could be made less challenging, Hero Factory is still worth a download. Fight on, tiny sausages!