Auto Chess comes full circle with its own MOBA spin-off Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Auto Chess comes full circle with its own MOBA spin-off Shift strategy. News by Wesley Yin-Poole Deputy Editorial Director Updated on 19 Jan 2021 4 comments The publisher of Auto Chess has announced an Auto Chess MOBA. Auto Chess MOBA uses the heroes from Auto Chess, all of which will be free to play with. Dragonest made the announcement in a video published earlier in January (thanks, Kotaku). Watch on YouTube There's a wonderful circle of life element to this announcement: in early 2019, a group of Chinese developers collectively known as Drodo Studio released Dota Auto Chess, a custom game mode for Valve's MOBA, Dota 2. Dota Auto Chess exploded in popularity, sparking a race to release competing auto battlers at a raft of PC gaming companies. Riot released Teamfight Tactics, Valve released Underlords, and Blizzard took a shot with Hearthstone's Battlegrounds mode. Drodo Studio eventually released Auto Chess as a standalone game, published by Dragonest. While the auto chess hype has certainly died down (Valve's Underlords isn't in the top 100 games by current player count on Steam), the MOBAs the genre spawned from remains hugely popular, with Riot's League of Legends and Valve's Dota 2 still pulling in millions of players. Dragonest didn't say much about its Auto Chess MOBA, but it did promise to keep things fair with no pay-to-win elements, no stats growth outside games and all heroes being free. Meanwhile, there's a day / night cycle system and destructible objects. Platforms and a release date have yet to be announced, although based on the snippets of footage in the announcement video, Auto Chess MOBA is a mobile game. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade Ups and downs. 7 Lady Dimitrescu will be a tad smaller in Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries DLC Level the playing field. 1 Overwatch 2 suffers another DDoS attack and character roster bugs Mei Mei. 13 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store