When it comes to MOBAs, Smite stood out from the crowd on arrival. Played in third person, rather than top down, it pits various gods and mythical beings against each other. Smite is still going strong, and still adding characters from many sources. Cthullu himself will join Smite later this month.
Smite came out during a time when MOBAs were seeing a big revitalization, led by League of Legends. Besides the change in perspective, it follows the standard MOBA formula pretty closely. It still has a big following, and updates regularly. A card game spinoff called Hand of the Gods existed for a while, but shut down this year.
Another spin-off of Smite is now ready to pick up where Hand of the Gods left off, hopefully with more success. Prophecy is an Auto-Chess game using the gods from Smite, but with a twist: the gods do not have their default skills. Instead, skills must be bought alongside minions and items and given to them. Unlike the Smite dating sim April fools joke, Prophecy is real and in Early Access right now. However, it is published by Prophecy Games, who have licensed the characters from Hi-Rez Studios. An odd situation, but if the game turns out well, it may not matter.
As the golden age of the MOBA fades, many companies are turning their MOBA properties towards other game types. Hopefully Prophecy will be a title that stays afloat amidst its competition. As more titles emerge innovating on the Auto-Chess formula, that competition is likely to be fierce.
Prophecy is currently in Early Access on Steam on PC.
Source: Game Informer