''Clicker Heroes'' is an

idle game Incremental games, also known as clicker games, clicking games (on PCs) or tap games (in mobile games), are video games whose gameplay consists of the player performing simple actions such as clicking on the screen repeatedly. This "grinding" ear ...

that was developed by American independent studio Playsaurus. It was originally released for

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in 2014, for mobile devices in 2015, and for

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and

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consoles in 2017. The game is a spinoff of Playsaurus's earlier game '' Cloudstone'', from which it uses many graphic elements. ''Clicker Heroes'' is

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

, but players can use

microtransaction Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

s to buy an in-game currency called "rubies". This currency is not required to progress through the game; it was added some time into the game's life and multiple gameplay mechanics center around obtaining the premium currency in-game. ''Clicker Heroes'' received positive reception from critics; Nathan Grayson of

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called it " perfect office space distraction".

Gameplay

In ''Clicker Heroes'', the player clicks on the monster to damage and eventually kill it. Once killed, the monster drops gold that can be used to

upgrade Upgrading is the process of replacing a product with a newer version of the same product. In computing and consumer electronics an upgrade is generally a replacement of hardware, software or firmware with a newer or better version, in order to ...

and purchase characters. Purchased characters automatically damage the monster, increasing the player's total

damage per second This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

. The game runs without the player needing to do anything. The player must kill ten enemies in one level to advance to the next level. Starting at level five, every fifth level is a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

level, which only requires the killing of one monster to advance. Boss levels have a timer; the player must kill the boss within the allotted time. Between levels 100 and 1,000, every hundredth zone's boss is a "centurion" boss that drops Hero Souls when killed. Additionally, every boss after level 100 has a 25% chance of being "primal". Primal bosses give much greater amounts of Hero Souls in later stages of the game. The goal of ''Clicker Heroes'' is to obtain Hero Souls, which can be used to buy Ancients that give the player benefits, the nature of which depends on which Ancient is purchased. After primal bosses are killed, the player must perform an Ascension before they receive Hero Souls.

Development and release

''Clicker Heroes'' was released as a Flash game on the gaming website

Kongregate Kongregate is an American web gaming portal and video game publisher. Its website features over 110,000 online games and 30+ mobile games available to the public. The company also publishes games for PC, mobile, and home consoles. It was purchase ...

in August 2014, and on

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in September 2014. It was released onto the

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platform in May 2015 for

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and

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

. On August 20, 2015, ''Clicker Heroes'' was released for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. Version 1.0 was released in June 2016. In May 2019, the iOS version was generating an income of $200-$300 per day until an international trademark dispute caused Apple to remove the game from the app store. The browser game was relaunched in September 2022 on the gaming platform

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after a period of inaccessibility due to the discontinuation of Flash.

Reception

''Clicker Heroes'' received very positive reception from critics.

's Nathan Grayson said the game "

s a S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. History ...

perfect office space distraction".

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writer Christian Donlan said the game was his "gaming secret" and is very addictive.

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writer Paul Tassi said if the game gained traction in the mobile market, it could become the top mobile game of 2015. Sammy Barker of

Push Square Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

gave the game a 5/10 score, stating, "Too many brickwalls icprevent ''Clicker Heroes'' from reaching the highs of ''

AdVenture Capitalist ''AdVenture Capitalist'' is a free-to-play incremental video game developed and published by Hyper Hippo Productions. It was first released for browsers and Android in 2014, for iOS (published by Kongregate), Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux ...

'', but this is still a frighteningly addictive incremental title". ''Clicker Heroes'' popularity on Steam initiated the release of other incremental games on that platform. ''Clicker Heroes'' has inspired the creation of other games such as ''

The Longing ''The Longing'' is a 2020 point-and-click adventure game created by the Indie game, indie developer Studio Seufz. Set in an underground kingdom, it follows the Shade, a creature tasked with watching over a sleeping king for 400 days. The player ...

''.

Sequel

Playsaurus created a sequel called ''Clicker Heroes 2'', which was available on

Steam Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

as of 2018. Unlike the original ''Clicker Heroes'', ''Clicker Heroes 2'' is not free to play.

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

hired Playsaurus to develop a ''

Ragnarok Online ''Ragnarok Online'' ( ko, 라그나로크 온라인, marketed as ''Ragnarök'', and alternatively subtitled ''The Final Destiny of the Gods'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) created by Gravity based on the manhwa '' ...

''-themed version of ''Clicker Heroes'' that was titled ''Ragnarok Clicker'', which was released on August 3, 2016.

References

External links

* {{Kongregate 2014 video games Android (operating system) games Browser games Flash games Free-to-play video games IOS games MacOS games PlayStation 4 games Single-player video games Windows games Incremental games Video games developed in the United States Xbox One games