Getting started with 'Merge Adventure' (no spoilers!)

Merge Adventure:Magic Dragons may seem simple enough at first glance, but its depth might just surprise you. To get the most out of this game (especially when you just got started!) you really should pay close attention to some basic mechanics. See, sometimes even merging isn't the best of ideas. Sounds crazy? Well, let's dive in!

Editorial (intro)

Hi gang!

Merge Adventure is one of my all time favorite merge games, so when I discovered this on Steam... you betcha that I couldn't resist giving some love back to the developers! So... being a bit of a veteran my mind was made up: time for one of my guides!

Now, you might be thinking... "Shell, that's fun and all but if we check your stats on Steam... uhm, you really are a newbie buddy!". Well, looks can be deceiving but you know what they say: "pictures, or it didn't happen!", eh? ;)

My progress on my "other" game...

Here you see my progress on my "original" game and as you can see... that's not something you achieve within a few hours. Trust me when I say that I'm by far a newbie.

And just for full disclosure:

This is my current game (time of writing!) on Steam

You betcha I unlocked those bonus areas again, I know that getting a Steam hub isn't free and maintaining one also takes time and effort. While I am not a fan of "buying" a game twice there are exceptions.

And before we now condemn Neverest Games for "blatantly reselling their game" I'd like to point fingers: at Rockstar Games. Do you own GTA5 on PS3? Ha! We now no longer support it! BUT, if you hurry you can buy the game again for PS4 (full price of course). Yaay, it's released on PS4. Great news y'all: we now also released GTA5 on PC! Get ready to buy it again. What's that? You bought the game for PC while you were still playing on PS3? What a cheapskate you are... no, you can't get your progress copied over. Because you're a cheapskate (most certainly not because our game has been run over by hackers, modders and cheaters and we can't do anything about it).

Just saying, and now keep in mind that this game is free to play. ;)

Three platforms to 'rule them all'? ;)

I don't recall all details anymore but I first discovered this game on the Windows store. It immediately managed to suck me in and before I knew I was busy playing levels to collect new items, and then working hard to (re)organize my realm so that I could actually store all my new loot somewhere, good times ;)

It is then when I eventually also discovered this game on Android, so I started playing a bit on my phone as well. Which is actually my only (small!) gripe: you can't really connect your games, which is a bit of a shame.

And yah, despite all this I totally glossed over the fact that Neverest Games had landed on Steam last year, good times!

Why I totally love this game...

When you think about free merge games... I dunno about you but my idea is "cash grab". You can see for yourself if you give this game a try: the 'golden' area on the bottom right corner? Of course they want you to pay money for it, darnit!

So here's the thing: you don't have to buy into that. I'm serious... when I (re)discovered this game on Android I didn't want to buy into all that stuff again, I already did that in my original game. So I didn't. And guess what? I had just as much fun. Sure, some creatures only appeared later and I didn't get as much gems but meh.. I still had fun!

Honest gameplay
The main way to progress in this game is by increasing your creature power. More (and bigger) creatures = more creature power. One way to obtain creature eggs is by purchasing them in the shop, and guess what? The credits to get those eggs are fully renewable. In this game money literally grows on trees ;)

Some strategy required
With merge games you think about merging items. Yah, picture me surprised to learn that sometimes it's best not to merge anything but leave things as they are. There's actually a bit of strategy involved.

Satisfying graphics
I dunno, this is obviously a personal opinion, but I really like the graphics for what they are. The creatures look nice, the several items are pretty detailed and all in all... I think this game has very solid graphics.

The devs listen to the community!
Grandpa Shell here kids... now let me tell you the story of Merge Adventure before we had that weird magnet on our screens... ;)

All pun aside though, the developers really try to improve on this game. And I'm not kidding: if you want to merge your creatures you can try to pick one up and bring it close to the others but that doesn't always work. Not too big of a problem in your realm because of the encyclopedia (I'll explain more later) but if you're playing one of the many levels... then it becomes tricky. So they added the magnet.

Despite the game being free, and despite you not being required to purchase anything. Which brings me to....

Honest purchasing options
I'm not gonna lie: if you want the most out of your game then it definitely helps to buy yourself some extra goodies, like the bonus area(s) near the lower right corner of the realm. But what I really appreciate is that the things we can purchase aren't just simple "bonusses" like (for example): extra energy or some extra in-game cash. Instead the items which you can buy (or unlock) truly enhance your game.

Trust me: those bonus areas can become really useful when your realm is slowly but steadily filling up.

So yah, there's a reason why my 2 golden islands are already unlocked ;)

But anyway, onto the actual guide!

What is 'Merge Adventure' all about?

For those of you who are already familiar with this game (or merge games in general) => feel free to skip this part and hop on to the next chapter. Thing about me: I always like to go the extra mile in my guides, so yah.... this is for those Steamers who haven't played any merge games before and are now wondering what the fuss is all about.

Merge Adventure:Magic Dragons is a so called "merge game" (duh!). In these games you need to collect items which you can then 'merge' together so that you'll get a new item. If you merge three items of the same type you'll get 1 new item, but if you merge five you'll get 2 new items. Items which can be merged are provided in "tiers", so you usually start with level 1 and if you merge three of those then you'll then get a level 2 item. Merge three of those level 2 items and you'll get level 3, and so on.

Bring 3 items together and they merge into a new item...


It's not just items though...



This game also provides creature eggs. Guess what? If you merge 3 eggs together you'll get a baby creature, and once again: if you merge 5 eggs together... you'll get two baby creatures. And those creatures can also be merged to create ("breed"?) more powerful creatures, see the screenshot above for an example of that.

As you might be able to guess from the name... dragons are also part of this. Basically we get a whole plethora of mythological creatures: dragons, minotaurs, unicorns, etc.

The thing about creatures: they can harvest items which will result in them obtaining all sorts of other, new, items. Sometimes those new items can be merged, and if not... maybe try to get a creature to harvest things from it?

The story

Now... Neverest Games actually has a presence outside Steam. Yah, they have their own website[www.neverestgames.com] but unfortunately... it seems things have degraded a bit. I dunno, there used to be a brief story there but now it's more about the merge game features (and them hiring, keeping my fingers crossed!).

So take this with a grain of salt please, but here's my take on all this....

"You stumble upon a magical realm but the ancient gods are not happy. During your brief interactions to learn about your newly founded (merging) abilities they use their powers to shroud the land in clouds, leaving you with ample room to move. That'll show you! But what they didn't realize is that you can grow stronger, slowly but steadily. Strong enough to raise your hand ("mouse cursor") and wave ("click") their clouds of oppression away!

The only problem now is the curse they left on the lands ("locked squares"). Luckily enough you can fix all that: by using your merging abilities you also release magical energies which will help to lift the curse. In addition the magical creatures of the land are also eager to help and take back their lands...".

And that's roughly this merge game in a nutshell ;)

Taking a look at the interface

When you just get started you will see something as shown above. While the screen is pretty straight forward I think there are some things you should definitely keep in mind...

Resources and settings

In the upper right corner you'll get an overview of your resources, in specific: your gold (left), your minerals (middle) and your gems (right). This is important to keep in mind because there is a limit to the amount of gold and minerals you can store. If you try to add more then the excess either gets placed in your realm, or... the game will refuse to collect anything because of your full storage; this will happen when playing levels.

So if you are going to play some (new) levels you should always make sure that your storage isn't completely full, otherwise you're wasting valuable resources!

The settings

Settings screen, with realm preferences.

Once you're in your realm then I strongly suggest to enable the setting which I highlighted above: "Require overlap merge". See, by default the game will automatically merge 3 items of the same kind as soon as you place these next to each other. The problem though is that it's usually much more feasible to merge 5 items of the same kind: this gets you two new items.

But there's only so much room in your realm, so having to keep items at a certain distance to prevent them from "auto mergeing" can become a huge annoyance.

I've selected the magical root, yet the game doesn't try to merge them...

So the best way to avoid all that is by enabling this setting. Keep in mind: this section is only available to you whenever you're in your realm, and this setting only applies to your realm. "Auto merging" is still a thing when playing levels.

The book of creatures & the shop

In the bottom corner on the right side of your screen you'll find these two icons shown on the right =>. The top icon gives you access to the so called Creature Book, whereas the bottom icon opens the shop.

Creature book

Creature book showing my Minotaur progression...

The creature book shows you an overview of all the eggs and/or creatures which you've unlocked, and it also provides indicators as soon as you can merge certain eggs and/or creatures.

At the bottom of the screen you'll see an overview of all your unlocked creature types. Notice the small icons which indicate that you have either an egg, or an egg with one (or more) creatures? There's also a small exclamation mark as soon as you can merge certain eggs or creatures.

Keep in mind that while it might be tempting to merge 3 creatures... if you merge 5 then you'll get two new creatures instead of one.

The shop



The shop gives you the option to purchase creature eggs, storages for your creatures, gold and/or minerals and you can also purchase some bonus items. Keep in mind that if you purchase items then the price for that item will slowly go up. So buy with care!

Also: gold and minerals are renewable, but gems are not! While you will earn a few more gems during the course of the game don't expect any huge amounts. So always be very careful with the way you spent these!

The info bar

In the lower left corner of your screen you'll find the information bar, as shown above. As soon as you select something it will show you what it is you've selected and what you can do with it. If you are in your realm you're usually able to sell the selected item, but if you're playing a level (as shown above) then you can only dispose of the item.

Careful with this though.... because generally speaking it's definitely not worth it to dispose of any items like this, even if you can sell them.

Behind the infobar you'll sometimes notice 2 icons: a question mark and/or a magnet. Their visibility depends on the type of item you've selected. If there are more items available in your playfield then you'll see a magnet icon: if you click on this then the game will automatically move any other item(s) next to the one you've currently selected. This makes it easier to merge them.

If you press the question mark though...

The Mysterious Meadow, one of my favorite items in the game!

When you click the question mark you'll get an overview of all the available tiers of the item you've currently selected. In the screenshot above I'm looking at the mystery logs tree: from an ordinary log right to a whole meadow!

You can do this for any other item as well, as long as it's mergeable of course.

Quest icons

Whether you're in the realm (as shown above) or in a level: you'll always have some quests available to you. You will find these icons on the left side of your screen, and I strongly suggest to pay close attention to them because doing these quests will earn you some valuable rewards.

As a rule of thumb: always make sure that you "close" a finished quest before doing anything significant in your realm, this is especially true in the beginning. As shown above you can recognize a finished quest by its filled out medaillon icon.

See: the next quest doesn't become active before you closed the current one. And it can become tedious if you just merged 5 creature houses, only to find out that this was also actually a quest which you could do, so now you merged those houses yet didn't get any medal for it.

oh, and as for those gold medals?

Gold medals can be merged too: up to 5 levels!

I really enjoy this design you know... that level 5 gold medal actually takes up 4 (!) squares, it's HUGE. And... merging these medals also makes them more valuable. You can get some cool treasure chests from all this.

The map

Last, but not least, is the map. If you click the map icon shown in the top left of your screen you'll exit your realm and enter the level overview, shown above. Levels can earn you new rewards, which get transported to your realm. It's usually a good idea to play levels as soon as your creatures are asleep.

Careful of your energy though! Playing a level requires energy, and you have 10 energy at most. This is shown in the upper left corner of the level overview (see screenshot above).

Now... onto the game tips!

General tips & tricks

Don't be too dismissive of "useless" items!

Here I have a "withered herb" selected and as you can see... you can't really seem to do anything with it. It can't be merged, the game doesn't provide much info. So now what? Well, I suppose we can always sell it, right?

Do yourself a favor though: don't!

Just because an item might appear to be "useless" doesn't always mean that it also actually is. In this particular example you can harvest these herbs with a creature, which will get you water stones, and those can lead you to 'floating droplets' and 'stellar springs'. Fun fact about those two: if you tap on them they release a small amount of energy, so these items can actually help you to heal the land!

Merging isn't always the best idea!

Early in the game you'll soon come across flying seeds: small white items which literally float over your screen. If you 'catch' them (by clicking on them) they'll drop on the ground. So far, so good, but here's the catch: you could merge them together, three leaves will get you one magical root, and as usual merging five leaves gets you two roots. However..., if you leave these roots alone then every item will grown into an individual magic root all on its own.

So... merging three flying seeds would give you one magical root. But leaving them alone would get you three magical roots. Ergo: merging these is not in your best interest.

Don't play levels with a full storage.

In the realm you can set up a gold and mineral storage, these are used to store your... well, gold and minerals (duh ;)). Thing is: these can get fully filled up, after which you won't be able to add any more. This isn't much of a problem in the realm because the items (gold or minerals) get placed on the ground again, but if you're playing a level then the game will simply refuse to pick up the item because of the full storage. Which would be a waste of good resources.

Set up chain reactions for extra points!

Merging magical roots, guess what's going to happen next?

As you should know by now: if you merge three items then you'll get one new item of the next level or 'tier'. Merging magical roots gets you a magical flower, and merging those gets you a big magical flower. So far, so good.

But if you merge 3 items right next to two items of the next tier then this will trigger a chain reaction: the original 3 items get merged, this creates the new item which then gets automatically merged with the other 2 items. And as a bonus... it also gets you a bonus item. In a bubble! ;)

Take the above screenshot... I'm merging three magical roots, this creates a magical flower. But because there are already 2 other magical flowers next to the square in which I'm doing the merging the new flower gets automatically merged into a big magical flower. But as you can see there are also 2 of those present, so this will then trigger yet another chain reaction which creates the red magical flower. As well as two bubbles with bonus points.

This is actually one of my favorite things to try in this game: trying to set up big chain reactions.

Fun fact: you can even do this with the bonus items themselves. Not just that... when setting up chain reactions you're also not limited to just using 3 items either:

Setting up a chain reaction with bonus items...

See what I mean? When I merge the three yellow items (on the right side) this will result in a new blue item. So now I have 5 blue items: that results in the creation of 2 red items. So now I have 6 red items, all of a sudden that will result in 2 white items. And since I also place 2 white items in advance, that results in a new level 5 bonus item.

Creature power is the key to progress...

If you check the 'Creature Book' (see previous chapter for details) you will notice some statistics in the upper left corner: the amount of creatures you have unlocked (vs. the total amount available), but next to that you'll notice a number: your creature power, and the higher this number gets, the more land sections get unlocked in your realm.

So creature power is key for your game progression.

However, don't confuse creature power with the creatures stamina. Their stamina merely determines how much a creature can do ("harvest") before it runs out of energy and then has to sleep it off again.

Always try to complete level quests

Both the realm as well as the individual levels give you quest tasks to complete. As mentioned above: always try to complete them because this gives you some solid extra rewards. And keep in mind that the medals you receive can also be merged themselves.

Level rewards screen scrolls sideways.

Now, sure, the game does tell you about this if you pay close attention to the top of the screen: this lists the total amount of bonus items, as well as the amount you already selected (the 4 / 7 shown here).

When I first played I totally glossed over this fact, thus missing out on some items.

This also brings me to another thing: keep in mind that you can always re-play levels to get extra items. Some rewards are one time only (like the special rewards which you can get for completing quests), but others will always be handed out again.

In addition... some levels are also focussed on generating certain resources (like minerals). Obviously... anything you can pick up and store is yours to keep.

What do you get from supporting?

The starter pack...

I really hope you guys will take the time to check this chapter as well, because in my opinion this game truly deserves all the support it can get. But... if you want to get the most out of your buck, maybe this can help.

How does this "support" work?

Simple... while the game itself is fully free of charge the developers hope that you will purchase some in-game options using real money. There are three bonus islands which you can unlock by purchasing them, 2 right from the start and a 3rd later on in the game.

There's a "starter pack" which the game will also briefly advertise, you can see the screenshot above.

And finally... gems can give you access to special perks and items. You can buy these items using those gems in the shop, and if you complete a level then you'll also get a chance to purchase something extra with gems. While gold and minerals are renewable, gems are not. So yah, if you need more gems... then you can purchase those in the in-game shop too.

But having said all that... for the record: this game is not "pay to win", it truly isn't. If you keep playing for free you'll eventually get the same kind of stuff that "supporters" get, the main difference is that it will probably take you more time.

However.... you definitely get an advantage by unlocking the bonus islands.

In fact....

Bonus island > Starter pack

The first bonus island is also a lot cheaper too!

Don't get me wrong here... Both are good purchases and I honestly suggest that you consider to grab both if you're having a good time and also want to support this game.

Yah, I speak from personal experience ;)

But the thing is: the extra space which you can get for your realm is a lot more useful to have than a few creature eggs plus a tree. And honestly, I think this also applies to the 2nd bonus island, which is a little more expensive than the first, but also a very solid purchase:



So, what do we get out of all this?

On the first island

• Sacred dragon => The biggest item, literally and figuratively. Every 4 hours it can generate a sacred horn. When used the horn will wake up one of your creatures, and reset its stamina.
  
• Minotaur eggs + creatures. You get a nest of minotaur eggs, a minotaur teen and baby and 2 more (individual) eggs.
  
• Several coins (see screenshot).
  
• Two "Juicy trees" (level 2: the Warped green tree).
  
• One "Divine tree" (level 7 (!): the Violet tree).
  
• And finally several gems (the hearts? Those are the "Enormous adventure gems").

The second island

• A lot of gems, as you can see. Those "horns"? That's the "Gems of adventure" item, level 3. You get this by merging those hearts.
  
• The Triangled sacred stones (level 4) as well as three scattered stones (level 1). The green items? These can be harvested for minerals, which makes these very useful to have early in your game.
  
• A nest of Phoenix eggs, as well as two individual Phoenix eggs.
  
• A nest of Ice dragon eggs, plus 2 individual ice dragon eggs.
  
• A lot of gold (the rings and the jewels / "pile of treasure"?).
  
• A nature chest with random loot.
  
• "Gem chests" (I forgot to look up their official name) => these chests give you random gem items which you can merge to make bigger items.
  
• Two "Juicy trees": (level 4: the Enchanted banana tree).
  
• A Sacred chest with plenty of random loot.

I hope you guys can now understand why I think that these islands are much more useful to have than the starters pack. But... speaking of which.... You've seen it in the first screenshot? 2 nests of eggs, 2 creatures and one of the Divine trees (Vivid pinky tree, level 8).

The starter pack is really nice to have, especially because those baby creatures have more stamina than a regular one. Still... when in doubt... then my honest advice is to focus on the islands first. Because extra space in your realm is very useful, especially in an early game.

In conclusion...

And there you have it, thanks for reading my guide! I hope this was useful for some of you.

Feel free to leave any comments, but please keep in mind that I really don't consider myself some kind of "know it all", most of what I know comes from trial and error. Even better: this game still has some secrets for me ;)

So for specific questions of the game itself I really suggest to use the community hub forum where more players can look at your questions.

As for me... being a bit of a Steam "fanboy" I just moved my previous ("Windows Store") game out of the way and shifted my full attention to Steam. On one hand it's a bit annoying having to start from scratch again, but on the other hand... it also has its benefits because with this game knowledge truly is power.

So yah... there you have it. Thanks again for reading & happy merging y'all! :)

[ZJfalcon]

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