If you play the popular MOBA Dota 2 on PC, you may or may not have heard of a mod that’s sweeping through the community called Dota Auto Chess. It’s got nothing to do with actual Chess, other than featuring the board, but it still requires some long-term strategic thinking that’s proving very compelling (if the tens of thousands of players and the 6 Million+ subscribers are any indication).
The interesting thing is, a lot of the action is automated. The player has to assemble a squad of four heroes taken from the Dota 2 roster (their abilities have been changed for the most part), but the actual ‘battling’ is automated. There’s an added tactical dimension in terms of how you position your heroes, but victory (or defeat) resides mainly in your strategic decision making skills. What heroes do you buy? Do you invest in multiple copies of a single hero or try and go for an even board? What synergies can you capitalise on?
It’s one of those things that has to be seen to be fully appreciated, so we’ve embedded the first video in a series done by YouTuber Quill18, who we know from his Paradox coverage. He’s less shouty than most and hopefully you can get a rough impression of the game.
We’ve also talked about Auto Chess over on our sister website via an in-depth tips guide, if you’re curious to know more about the current meta. As a concept, this mod could be well suited for the mobile audience given its relatively light interaction needs, paired with an incredibly high skill ceiling in terms of strategic and tactical gameplay. The mobile version is going to strip out the Dota IP (which mainly comes from using the heroes) so that developer Drodo Studio can own it outright.
According to VentureBeat, It’s available for pre-registration in China, but nowhere else. It’s supposed to be coming to iOS and Android, but we don’t know anything in terms of territories or a release schedule.
We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.