Best Metaverse Games of 2022

best metaverse games

Our picks 

What are Metaverse games?

Metaverse games are blockchain games with their own digital world called a “Metaverse.” These games often include a large multiplayer component, player vs. player battles, and ways to upgrade characters, all within this digital world. Many of the most highly anticipated Metaverse games are still in development, but there are a sizable number of ready-to-play games that are fun to play and can also net diligent players a profit.

Top 8 Metaverse games

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity

The Axie Infinity Website

Best for: Most active game

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a fantasy game from developers Sky Mavis where players can collect, raise, and trade Pokemon-like creatures called “Axies.” Each Axie is an NFT with unique characteristics based on its genetic lineage that can give it certain advantages in battles.

How does Axie Infinity work?

Axie battles use a combination of strategy and randomness. Each Axie has four cards that can be played during turns and are used to battle your opponents. The battle ends when all of a player’s Axies lose their health points. After the battle, winners receive “Smooth Love Potion” (the Axie utility token) as a reward.

Axie Infinity tokens

Axie uses Smooth Love Potion (SLP) to breed Axies. AXS is the Axie governance token which is used to participate in decision-making about the future of the game. Both tokens can be purchased on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap.

Axie Infinity cryptocurrency and price

To get started, players must purchase three Axie creatures to play. There are over 700,000 Axies currently on the market, starting at around $5, so players can get started for about $15 + ETH gas fees.

Axie Infinity NFTs

The Axie Infinity NFTs are the Axie creatures themselves. There are nine types of Axie classes ,and players can mix and match their various Axies for the best results during combat. Purchase Axies through the official Axie marketplace.

Pros and cons of Axie Infinity

Pros

  • Active player base
  • Lots of tutorials, walkthroughs and strategy content
  • Good capacity to earn money

Cons

  • Not as popular as it once was
  • Must pay to play
  • Has a bit of a steep learning curve
Read our full Axie Infinity review

Decentraland

The Decentraland Website

Best for: Open world metaverse

What is Decentraland?

Decentraland is a metaverse where you can buy land and build whatever you want – buildings, games, events and much more!

How does Decentraland work?

Decentraland puts players into a 3D online world where your avatar can interact with the avatars and creations of other players. You can outfit your character with cosmetic NFTs, purchase land to build on, and participate in games and events with others.

Decentraland tokens

  • decentraland
  • Decentraland
    (MANA)
  • Price
    $0.590
  • Market Cap
    $1.1 B

Decentraland’s MANA tokens enable players to purchase land in the game. MANA is also the governance token for Decentraland, allowing token-holders to make decisions about the future direction of Decentraland. MANA trades on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. 

Decentraland cryptocurrency and price

The game is free to play and even includes a guest mode where players can dive in through their browser without logging in or connecting their wallet.

Decentraland NFTs

LAND is the NFT that represents parcels of land in the game. Players can purchase these parcels and use them to build buildings and experiences. Wearable NFTs are also available through the Decentraland marketplace.

Pros and cons of Decentraland

Pros

  • Has been around for a long time
  • In-depth Builder can be used to create whatever you want on your land
  • Robust SDK allows developers to create intricate experiences in-game

Cons

  • A massive world means that many places are not very busy
  • Desirable land plots can be quite expensive
  • World is low poly, not very detailed

The Sandbox

The Sandbox Website

Best for: Creatives

What is The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is an open-world online world with cubic graphics that provide land ownership, quests, and custom game modes created by the community.

How does The Sandbox work?

After installing the game through the official Sandbox website, your character spawns in the virtual Sandbox world. From there, you can complete quests and explore what others have made. You can also purchase land and use the Sandbox Game Maker to create custom experiences on your land. 

The Sandbox tokens

  • the-sandbox
  • The Sandbox
    (SAND)
  • Price
    $0.592
  • Market Cap
    $1.34 B

The Sandbox token is called SAND, it is a governance token used to make decisions about the game. SAND can also be awarded by players for competing in challenges, helping others with design work, or completing set tasks.

The Sandbox cryptocurrency and price

The game is free to play, so all players need to do is navigate to the Sandbox website and download the game.

The Sandbox NFTs

Players can purchase plots of land as NFTs that can then be used to build custom buildings and experiences on. There are also other NFTs that can be purchased as decorations for your land or items for your character. All this can be found in the Sandbox Shop.

Pros and cons of The Sandbox

Pros

  • In-depth Game Maker
  • Tons of character and object NFTs
  • Free to Play

Cons

  • Resource intensive – Requires a better computer compared to other games
  • Desirable land plots can get expensive
  • The game is still only in its alpha version
Read our full The Sandbox review

My Neighbor Alice

My Neighbor Alice

The My Neighbor Alice Website

Best for: New-to-crypto

What is My Neighbor Alice?

Inspired by the design and gameplay of games such as Animal Crossing, My Neighbor Alice is an upcoming farming and building game. 

How does My Neighbor Alice work?

Players start by creating their custom avatar, which they will use to explore the world and interact with other players. While currently only available to a select set of players, in the future, everyone will be able to acquire virtual land to build houses and farms on.

My Neighbor Alice tokens

  • my-neighbor-alice
  • My Neighbor Alice
    (ALICE)
  • Price
    $1.75
  • Market Cap
    $155.06 M

The ALICE token is the official token of the game. It can be used to purchase in-game assets such as land and avatar upgrades. ALICE is also a governance token which means holders can use it to vote on decisions about the game. 

My Neighbor Alice cryptocurrency and price

According to the official My Neighbor Alice website, the game will be free to play once it launches. Players will be free to “decide on how much you want to be involved in the game’s decentralized features and DeFi,” so traditional non-blockchain play is also supported.

My Neighbor Alice NFTs

Virtual land is available as an NFT in My Neighbor Alice. In-game assets such as houses, animals and decorations are also available as NFTs.

Pros and cons of My Neighbor Alice

Pros

  • Built on Chromia, a low transaction-fee blockchain.
  • Very accessible to beginners unfamiliar with crypto games
  • Lots of future potential

Cons

  • You need to be an existing Land Plot owner to play the alpha
  • Not as in-depth as other play-to-earn games
  • It will take a while before the game is fully featured

Sorare

sorare

The Sorare Website

Best for: Sports fans

What is Sorare?

Sorare is a fantasy sports game based on real-world soccer and baseball teams. Players can battle using collectible cards and earn crypto through winning tournaments.

How does Sorare work?

Players begin by receiving a set of free “common” cards that they can use to learn the game. Players can then purchase and use NFT cards to compete in weekly tournaments and earn based on the real-world performances of the players depicted on the cards. 

Sorare tokens

The Sorare token is SOR. It can be staked to earn passive income or used to purchase new collectible NFT cards. 

Sorare cryptocurrency and price

To get started, players are given “common” cards which have no value and can’t be traded. These are used to teach players the ropes before they get into real competitions for money.

Sorare NFTs

The cards are officially licensed NFT collectibles. They’re broken up into five categories, from most common to the rarest. The more rare a card, the more expensive it generally is. Each card also has a “position,” which is related to the position that the real sports players play during matches. Players must combine positions to form a team and compete against each other.

Pros and cons of Sorare

Pros

  • Based on real teams
  • NFT value can go up based on the real-world performance of the players
  • Relatively simple mechanics

Cons

  • Requires you to keep up with real-world sports matches
  • Highly competitive, with some luck involved
  • Good cards can be very expensive

Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds

The Horizon Worlds Website

Best for: VR players

What is Horizon Worlds?

From Facebook parent company Meta comes Horizon Worlds, an open Metaverse accessible through Virtual Reality headsets.

How does Horizon Worlds work?

Horizon Worlds is an open-world multiplayer platform in VR that’s similar to other games like VR Chat. Players begin by creating and customizing an avatar. Custom “Worlds,” or in-game spaces, exist, such as the Meta Court, where players can argue imaginary cases, and the Questy’s — a nightclub-esque hangout spot.

Players can also build within the game in a fashion similar to Minecraft and can even write basic code to govern rules of custom games. 

Horizon Worlds cryptocurrency and price

Horizon Worlds is free, but players will need to own a VR headset in order to play.

Pros and cons of Horizon Worlds

Pros

  • Backed by a major company with lots of resources
  • Big-name concerts and events
  • VR functionality allows for increased avatar realism in interactions

Cons

  • A VR headset is required to play
  • Centralized, Big Tech ethos with no NFT or crypto monetization currently
  • Available only to US and Canadian players

Illuvium

Illuvium

The Illuvium Website

Best for: Upcoming title

What is Illuvium?

Illuvium is an upcoming play-to-earn game that’s currently in private beta. It will be an open- world RPG game where players can battle each other using creatures called “Illuvials.”

How does Illuvium work?

Players will be able to capture Illuvials by exploring the open world. Open world exploration happens in a third-person RPG style. Actual battles are top-down and involve players selecting Illuvials through cards at the bottom of the screen. Players can move their Illuvials around in an arena-like game board and equip them with different battle gear based on the situation.

Illuvium tokens

  • illuvium
  • Illuvium
    (ILV)
  • Price
    $123.26
  • Market Cap
    $780.17 M

The Illuvium token is ILV, and it acts as a governance token, and it can be staked to earn $sILV2, which is a second token that is used for in-game transactions. Transactions between players will take place using ETH.

Illuvium cryptocurrency and price

According to the developers, players will begin the game in a “free-to-play experience” that’s fully fledged. Players can upgrade to the paid experience if they want to start collecting NFTs and entering higher-tiered regions of the game world.

Illuvium NFTs

The Illuvium NFTs are currently primarily cosmetic. They include badges and emotes, most of which are minted in multiple quantities.

Pros and cons of Illuvium

Pros

  • One of the first AAA games
  • New beta testers are added each week
  • Free to get started

Cons

  • Not a huge play-to-earn NFT strategy currently
  • Currently in closed-beta, so not available to everyone
  • Players with access to the beta are getting a big leg up on everyone else

Somnium Space

Somnium Space

The Somnium Space Website

Best for: Hybrid metaverse

What is Somnium Space?

Somnium Space is an open-world multiplayer metaverse game with in-browser gameplay and VR functionality. 

How does Somnium Space work?

The Somnium Space world is similar to other metaverse worlds in that players can buy land to create custom experiences and use their characters to explore the land of others. Players can use the custom Somnium builder to build experiences on land, as well as the Unity SDK to program custom rules.

Somnium has a VR aspect to it, meaning players can use VR headsets to play, but it’s not required, and most people log in through the web browser and play in 3rd person mode.

Somnium Space tokens

  • somnium-space-cubes
  • Somnium Space CUBEs
    (CUBE)
  • Price
    $1.27
  • Market Cap
    $18.84 M

Sominum uses the CUBE token as its platform utility token. These tokens are used for in-game transactions such as paying other players and buying tickets to events in the Somnium virtual world. The CUBE token can also be used to mint your unique avatar onto the blockchain and even sell it to other players. 

Somnium Space cryptocurrency and price

To get started, players should navigate to the Somnium Space website and either connect their crypto wallets or sign in using their email.

Somnium Space NFTs

Somnium Space, like many other Metaverse games, sells land parcels as NFTs, which can be used for players to build custom experiences on. Many user-generated assets can also be sold as NFTs to other users.

Pros and cons of Somnium Space

Pros

  • Frequent live performances by musicians and DJs
  • Better graphics than many other live VR Metaverse games
  • VR functionality is supported but not required

Cons

  • Not as many unique features as other Metaverse games
  • Barren physics engine compared to other 3D games
  • Still deep in development despite being out for years
George is a tech writer interested in web3 startups and communities. In the dynamic world of crypto, he stays plugged in to the day-to-day headlines, deep dives, and industry commentary.