The Cookie Run series has come out with several games and at various times has taken the number one spot for mobile games. But given the free to play game also involves microtransactions, is Cookie Run a gacha game?
Cookie Run is a gacha game as it involves gambling with an ingame currency to get better characters or cookies. While this can be earned ingame, you can also spend real money to get more chances at rolling for the cookies.
Let’s look at how Cookie Run works as a game, why it is a gacha game and also what is behind its massive popularity as well as what to expect if you play it. So let’s look at this massive phenomenon and find out what’s going on behind the scenes.
Is Cookie Run Considered a Gacha Game?
Cookie Run has a variety of titles released across iOS and Android and is certainly a gacha game.
It has a low rarity for pulling characters, and you also need to pull shards to level up a character fully and 14 pulls to achieve a similar feat if you pull complete characters, which you won’t.
The gameplay is pretty simplistic and microtransactions serve to speed up ingame processes but if you have the time you can grind out all these items and achievements if you are a free player.
Gacha mechanics are at the heart of the gameplay experience, as you hope to roll to get the rarest cookies, bolstering your team’s power.
Of course, you get more chances by purchasing more chances to spin but the outcome is not guaranteed because it is a gacha mechanic.
What Is a Gacha Game?
Gacha games mean that they are games that have a gacha or randomized loot mechanic within.
Typically, a gacha game operates via purchasing a mystery box via some type of currency, typically a token that has been purchased with real money but sometimes you can earn it in-game by grinding out complex or time-consuming tasks.
The box will contain a variety of items inside, typically items that cannot be earned in any other way in the game. However, as many items can be obtained from the one opening of the box, the actual item you get can vary considerably.
This of course means you can’t be guaranteed to get the best items from the mechanic, which thus pushes you to try and open more to get the desired item.
The gacha mechanic is at the core of many games, especially free-to-play mobile games but also rears its head in a variety of PC and console games such as Genshin Impact.
Many gacha mechanics lead to a game becoming pay-to-win, as if the items are only available in the gacha system and you have to use real money to access these items, then the advantage you’ll get is only one that can be achieved by spending money.
In most cases, this means you’ll be much more powerful than other players who are free players, and no amount of tactics and strategy can overcome this advantage.
What Type of Game Is Cookie Run?
Cookie Run is a type of game called an Endless Runner.
This is a side-scrolling type of game where you constantly move from left to right, avoiding obstacles and using your various abilities to destroy them and jumping over gaps or sliding under barriers.
Variations of the game make it more like an RPG with city management, such as Cookie Run: Kingdom which involves taking a team of cookies into battle while also upgrading and fitting out your town to go further.
Why Is Cookie Run so Popular?
There are several aspects to why the series became so popular including the art style, free-to-play aspect, fun characters and the addicting gacha mechanic.
The improved gameplay that came with the city-building aspect means you can spend a lot of time creating amenities and facilities for your team, and then move onto platforming and battling with your cookies.
Cookie Run has combined many aspects of gameplay that have proven popular in other titles, notably Genshin Impact. Crucially, the fun characters and the ability to watch them interact in a town give many players a sense of accomplishment.
Further, the developers seem very in touch with what the players want and in particular, the regular events and anniversary rewards given to loyal players are very good and keep players coming back for more.
The music score is also very catchy and entertaining, with many players finding themselves humming the tunes at all times.
The concept of cookies running around, fighting each other and also forming complicated civilizations is also light-hearted enough to draw in a variety of demographics who don’t want overly gory or dark themes.
