Evil Lands: Epic MMORPG game

What the game is

A live multiplayer fantasy RPG with three classes, warrior, sorceress and assassin, and a haunted realm to clear of monsters. It's hack-and-slash at the core, with quests to give the fighting direction as you move from Skylark Fields to Broadcove Stronghold and the maps between.

The developer, a studio registered in Poland going by the company suffix, puts multiplayer first: real-time co-op through the campaign and team PvP. It also makes much of its 3D visuals, which aim for a console look instead of a cartoon one. Characters progress through attributes, new skills and gear, and the game requires a connection throughout.

How a session plays

Pick a class, drop into the first field, and start swinging. Quests point you from one map to the next, and the fighting is continuous and physical in the way hack-and-slash is meant to be. Alone, it's a fairly standard loop of kill, loot, level.

With other people it becomes the game it wants to be. Co-op puts live players next to you in the same campaign maps, and PvP sets teams against each other. Sessions tend to be longer when friends are on, and the always-online design means the realm is populated whenever you log in.

Why people look for it

Players want a proper-looking MMORPG on a phone and most of the options are either cartoonish or auto-play heavy. Evil Lands sells itself on a console-style look and on fighting alongside real people in real time, which is the combination this crowd is after. The three-class setup is familiar, which is a comfort rather than a limitation here.

Look and feel

Realistic dark fantasy with high-detail 3D models, since that's the developer's own emphasis, and the five screenshots will show character close-ups, moody landscapes and the glow of spells. The interface is likely a standard MMORPG layout: virtual stick, skill buttons, health and mana bars, a minimap and a quest tracker. Expect the hardware requirement to translate into visibly better lighting than most mobile RPGs.

Updates and upkeep

The 4.6 rating from more than ten thousand reviews is encouraging for an online RPG from a smaller studio, and the fact that it's always-online means the developer has to keep servers running for the game to exist at all. The listing is unusually specific about device support, which suggests a team that pays attention to technical detail. Our page's single store link goes to Apple.

Good for

• Console-look fantasy

  The 3D visuals aim at a realistic style instead of the usual cartoon register.

• Co-op campaigns

  Other players fight alongside you in real time through the same quests.

• Classic class picks

  Warrior, sorceress or assassin is a familiar trio that needs no explaining.

Before you install

Rated 12+ on the store. The listing states a 2GB RAM requirement: an iPhone 6S or later and recent iPads work, while the 6, the 5S, early iPad minis and the iPod touch don't, which is more hardware detail than most listings give. A connection is required to play. It's free; purchases and ads aren't mentioned, though an online RPG will have some. Account details and storage aren't stated.