GAME: Kung Fu Clicker, Idle Dojo by PikPok

GENRE: Idle, clicker, incremental

PLATFORMS: Android, iOS

Here’s a fun fact: clicker games happened by accident. Back in 2010, game designer Ian Bogost developed Cow Clicker to satirise how Zynga’s games exploit the player’s perception of fun through monetisation. Ironically, that game became a success and influenced many clicker games into existence. Though Kung Fu Clicker’s core concept is not too different, its flair makes it stand out.

The presentation is top-notch. The art style has that cartoony crispness, making even its store page a player magnet for anyone looking for a fresh game to pick up.

The game is also neither too minimal nor too flashy. The visuals feel dynamic yet readable. The animations are smooth, brim with personality, and found everywhere — the characters, the backgrounds, the foregrounds, the UI... all have animations to minimise that typical static UI-heaviness most clicker games have.

It’s also rare to experience mobile games with an actual soundtrack. This is usually expected of triple-A quality games, not in free-toplay clickers. It’s even available on their official Spotify/ Bandcamp pages.

Now while the game feels alive because of the music and visual combo, I still worried the gameplay will kill my thumb from a lot of tapping. Thankfully, it doesn’t.

Gameplay-wise, you hire and assign a kung fu master to each dojo floor to defend them from Raids. Winning Raids earns you instant rewards. Considering the incremental nature of clicker games, the Raids fall out of challenge eventually. Though it does increase the satisfaction you get from tapping on the incoming enemies and watching them drop like flies. (Which, by the way, is the only time you tap your thumbs away.)

Upgrading each floor will produce more gold, and faster. When you can’t seem to do this, “transcending” helps — it’s how you acquire permanent production-boosting resources and retain all your masters at the cost of losing your dojo progress.

You will progress a lot faster if you “transcend” more often. However, it’s all you do — what you experienced in those five minutes is what you’re getting for the rest of your time with the game.

The ads are not intrusive. If you want extra resources or boosts outside of gameplay, you have to watch an ad. That apart, no on-screen banner ads. However, some ads crashed the game itself, forcing me to miss out on the rewards.

Best of all, the game allows offline play, albeit with some limitations. For example, you cannot invade other players’ dojos, participate in high-reward events, or watch ads for extra resources. But in a landscape of mobile games that force users to stay online to play them, it’s a limitation I’m okay with.

VERDICT: Given the nature of idle clickers, there’s not much to expect. But overall, Kung Fu Clicker strikes a balance between spreadsheet gameplay and exuberant vibes, essentially being the golden egg among many clicker games. I would rate it 8 out of 10. P