Honor of Kings review - "A classic MOBA you can play for hours"

• Honor of Kings' character roster possess interesting abilities
• The game runs well across multiple devices
• While it doesn't push the genre forward, it's still a great MOBA

Starting a new mobile MOBA can feel either existing or prematurely exhausting, because everything comes with new skills and various over-the-top mechanics you need to remember (if you want to rank, at least). That is not necessarily the case in Honor of Kings, and that's something I found out after playing the game extensively. So here is a complete Honor of Kings review, so you know what to expect!

Simple gameplay, easy-to-understand mechanics

Honor of Kings is a classic MOBA that stays true to the genre. For those who don't know, a MOBA is a multiplayer online battle arena, a.k.a. a multiplayer game where a group of people, in this case five, have to fight another group with the same number of players. 

The PvE aspect of the game

Just like in other MOBAs, there is a common objective for both teams: destroying the enemy base. That is easier said than done since everyone is trying to defend it. In Honor of Kings, that's where the gameplay becomes fun. In my experience, taking down the towers to get to the base has been a very smooth process, especially when playing a mid-lane Mage. 

The jungle camps are also easy to farm, and after a single match, you can easily grasp where each enemy is/should be, and how you can beat them. I can't say the same applies to player battles, but we'll get to that later. 

There are also two bigger mob camps, which can sometimes be soloed by a powerful jungle with possibly another player, or by the entire team. Those grant buffs to the whole team, but in my experience, players sometimes tend to skip these altogether and just go for the quick win (push towers, get the base). You could say that's because of the fast-paced matches, but, I believe these mobs should give a little more incentive for players to go for them. 

Anyway, that's it for the PvE aspect. It's good, it's simple, but after a while, it could get pretty repetitive, especially if you want to just climb. Climbing ranks can feel like a grind if you're focused on objectives alone, and if you're a low rank. At higher ranks, it tends to get better.

On to the PvP

The PvP aspect of Honor of Kings is above average. I would say that once you manage to learn one hero and learn their range and skills (damage, tankiness, speed, pretty much everything), it starts to get fun. 

Matching is fair

When it comes to player matching, the matchmaking system seems balanced to me. I've had players that understood the game from my first few matches, and players who were completely new. However, while that might sound bad, the enemy team did too, so it all evened out in the end.

That gives additional points to the game in my book, because when you want to play a MOBA, you want to rank up as best as you can.

If you're scared of running into bots and smurfs, that could be a possibility, but it did not happen to me. I think there is (or at least, there should be) an anti-bot system in place, so if that's something that crossed your mind, rest assured, it is not common.

Decent graphics, great sound

The graphics in Honor of Kings are neat. I love the effects and animations each hero has, and that gives a little insight into their personalities and powers. It's great, and the sounds are too. There are voice lines and an announcer voice too, which is normal for this type of game, but here they fit together very well. 

The game runs well on mobile, without overheating

I have played Honor of Kings on my ROG Phone 6D Ultimate, which is indeed a gaming phone, but I've also played it on an old Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G, and in both cases, everything ran well.

Overheating was never an issue on any of the devices I played it on, and that's a major plus. I believe Honor of Kings has been properly optimised, so if your device cannot run any other MOBAs, such as Wild Rift or MLBB, then you most definitely need to give this one a try.

There are plenty of freebies and resources to incentivise you to play more

One feature that stood out to me was the amount of freebies I received. Free heroes, materials, skins, and pretty much everything you could think of. This is another big plus because if you want to be a F2P player, you need as many of these resources as you can get your hands on.

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• Honor of Kings tier list

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As a F2P player myself, I haven't felt a need to spend money to be able to play at all. All the heroes I play got decent upgrades with just the free stuff, and that was big for me, since I have played this game for a decently long time (I've briefly tried the Chinese version too).

Is Honor of Kings unique? 

The simple answer is no, Honor of Kings is not a unique game, but it is a solid MOBA that can stand its own against other entries in the genre. It has unique features, characters, and mechanics, and there are plenty of aspects to this game to make you like it. 

There are lots of in-depth things you can learn too, from team synergies to strategies, but the first step is to start playing. If you're a fan of the genre, I strongly suggest you give it a try. I am pretty sure you'll like it as much as I did.