On June 20, Yuga Labs made major waves by announcing something called the “HV-MTL Forge” to begin on June 29. After sharing only a few major details about the event on social media, the Bored Ape Yacht Club progenitors have now unveiled the full extent of the significant metaverse gaming expansion. Here’s what you need to know.

What is the HV-MTL Forge?

The HV-MTL Forge has everything to do with, you guessed it, HV-MTL. A seemingly stand-alone gaming venture launched by Yuga in March 2023, HV-MTL is dissimilar from Otherside (an MMORPG linked to the BAYC ecosystem) as it features a narrative revolving around 30,000 sentient mech NFTs.

Initially billed as one of the “final” stops in the still-evolving, multi-part MDvMM.xyz saga, it’s become clear that HV-MTL is something completely different from the many NFT-based initiatives Yuga has released over the past few years. And with season one of the Forge, collectors will finally be able to experience everything the new platform has to offer.

Essentially, HV-MTL Forge is not a single event but a game billed as “a mix between a pet game and a casual world builder,” but that will eventually culminate as a competitive dungeon crawler. Per information released via Yuga’s HM-MTL game guide, the Forge will span a total of six seasons and will rely on users to “build, flex, fight, and evolve.”

“Your HV is relying on you to evolve into an Evo2 and earn up to six powerful upgrades for its Evo2 form. You’ll do this by building a workshop — your Forge, which will generate the energy needed to explore The Rift — and keeping your HV happy,” the HV-MTL site reads. “You’ll be at the mercy of fellow degens voting daily on how your Forge stacks up. After three weeks, the season’s votes are tallied, and your fate will be sealed.”

Gameplay unpacked

As far as the gameplay of the HV-MTL Forge is concerned, there are a few considerations to take into account. Namely, we need to unpack the three distinctive game types that make up the Forge ecosystem.

A casual world builder

First, the importance of “forging,” AKA building out your HV’s “crafting station,” cannot be understated. Every player will start out with only a few “blueprints,” with others unlockable by discovering and completing hidden objectives. These blueprints allow users to construct “tiles” and “decorative objects.”

Users will want to “flex” their Forges by creating a unique, interesting, and useful crafting station, as stations will be ranked over time, with those that receive high marks on their builds given access to unlock upgrades and prepare themselves for in-game world events to come.

Coinciding with crafting stations is something called “energy.” Energy is the main resource of the game and one that can be earned over time by building, interacting with, and upgrading tiles and decorative objects.

Similarly, within the HV-MTL Forge exists “portals,” which are machines that allow a HV to travel to other dimensions and users to bring other HVs their wallet into the game. Portals seem to go hand in hand with energy generation and consumption, which you can read more about here.

A pet game

In addition to placing importance on worldbuilding, players will also need to take care of their HV’s. After all, they are sentient mechs. “Your HV is not just a pile of junk and cables — it can get cranky, sleepy, and thoroughly unimpressed with you. When that happens, its energy production will be lower, so don’t slack off,” the HV-MTL site reads. “Take care of your HV, and it’ll take care of you.”

In true pet game fashion, within the HV-MTL Forge, users will need to clean up after their HVs, pet or otherwise pay attention to HVs, give their HVs time to sleep, provide acts of service — like opening portals and powering up their HVs with energy — and more. Although the Forge may be about building and — perhaps later, battling — HVs must be taken care of in the meantime.

A competitive dungeon crawler and more

It’s important to note that, with the Forge as new as it is, we’re really only scratching the surface here. With six seasons already on the horizon, there will undoubtedly be a complex array of interweaving mechanics, the likes of which we have only yet to see. Specifically, the competitive dungeon crawler portion of the game is something we can currently only speculate about.

Yet, considering mentions of things like portals, energy, and the need for building tiles and decorative objects, it can be inferred that the resources a player will start with are finite. If that’s the case, then HVs and owners will surely need to venture far and wide throughout the Forge ecosystem to obtain other materials and engage in various tasks and adventures.

Of course, this will all loop back into the competitive portion of the Forge. Throughout the game, players can receive something called “amps,” which can be used to unlock the new evolutions (i.e., the aforementioned “Evo2”) of an HV simply by taking care of their mech.

So far, we’ve learned that these amps will come in five class rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, or Legendary. Similarly, the rarity a player can earn depends on their leaderboard rank at the end of a season. There’s that importance of building in action.

HV-MTL, Bored Apes, and beyond

Although HV-MTL is very much its own ecosystem under the Yuga umbrella, there will also be space for BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC holders within the game mechanics. These mechanics won’t be revealed till season two of the Forge goes live. Only then will unique, claimable items be available to holders of other Yuga NFTs, and they will reportedly have ongoing utility in the rift.

While there’s definitely more to the HV-MTL Forge that users will want to learn about, the full scope of the game truly might only be revealed by playing. And since, as of June 29, holders of HV-MTL NFTs have been granted access to Yuga’s comprehensive new gaming experience, it’s surely only a matter of time before the (often quite vocal) gamers and commentators of Web3 begin to report in.

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