Genesis is now free to play from the Sony PlayStation Store

The Multiple Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game is free to download from the Sony PlayStation Store. After spending a few hours playing Genesis, I can definitely recommend it.

What is Genesis?

Genesis is the latest release by Rampage. The game is a top-down MOBA – think League of Legends and DOTA – but designed for the console, and it’s entirely free for you to check out right now.

The MOBA has seen somewhat of a downturn in popularity as the battle royale genre captures the imagination and wallets of the masses.

Yet the MOBA still does great as eSport titles, and there’s something about tense strategic MOBA battles that creates a unique experience that bridges the divide between strategy games and action titles.

While it’s possible the world doesn’t need another MOBA, the fact that it’s playable on console makes it quite unique and could help reignite interest in the genre.

MOBAs on console

League of Legends and DOTA have made every effort to ensure their games can run on low spec PCs. However, they have still completely bypassed the console market.

While Smite has tried to create an option for console users, it’s gameplay is a lot more action-focused. This means that very often, the barrier to entry is quite high.

Smite is essentially an over-the-shoulder 3rd person game that exists in a MOBA arena. What that means is that often – especially when starting out the game – the game will reward fighting skills more than strategy.

For the same reason, a lot of the nuance around the game’s meta is lost. Against someone with far superior 1v1 (‘One Versus One’) fighting skills, you’re always going to struggle.

Looking at Genesis – and it’s still early days – it seems like they’ve managed to deliver a really well-balanced roster of heroes and a very familiar format.

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Genesis is perfect for MOBA noobs

A lot of the build elements can be automated so as not to be overwhelming for first-time players. It’s very easy to drop into your first game and just play. It will be interesting to see how the game develops.

There isn’t a lot of instruction for first-time players about how to play the various roles; but at least at face value, Rampage has built a very capable and good looking MOBA for consoles.

The only real complaints at this point would be that the character abilities do seem to remind me of some I may have seen in other MOBAs. A lot of people have pointed out that the artwork is quite reminiscent of Overwatch.

The MOBA gameplay feels solid, and the servers have been reasonably responsive so far. Add to that that there is also an included campaign that can be played co-op; and Genesis is a pretty impressive offering for a free-to-play title.

Also read – PlayStation 5 is the most anticipated next-gen console