With the dozens of "DotA-clones" flying around, what has Petroglyph's Rise of Immortals done to beat them all down? We tried out the game to find out!

It's no secret that the video game industry, like any other consumer industry, operates largely by trends and popular concepts. Back when World of Warcraft gobbled up an unprecedented number of subscribers in the mid-2000s, competing MMORPG developers were working furiously to reinterpret that experience in order to steal some momentum for themselves. These days, the same can be said about the dozens of "DotA-like" (Defense of the Ancients) games being released every year.

Right now, Riot Games' League of Legends is probably doing the best as a "spiritual successor" to the incredibly popular Warcraft III mod, but S2 Games' Heroes of Newerth is still going quite strong, not to mention Valve's upcoming DotA 2, which is currently in development. As with every competitive industry, however, there are also the smaller companies toiling away to accommodate the players who just couldn't connect with any of the above, and Petroglyph Games' Rise of Immortals may just fit that niche.

Rise of Immortals is set in the world of Graxia, 300 years after the events of a previous Petroglyph game, "Guardians of Graxia." In terms of general game mechanics, Rise of Immortals plays like a very traditional game of DotA, with players spawning on a three-lane map with 'creeps' spawning from each base, and two towers defending each lane. Players select an "immortal" to play and, during the course of the game, they can level up one of their four abilities while buying items in order to get stronger.

Where Rise of Immortals tries to set itself apart from its other "DotA-like" competitors, however, is through its heavier focus on sticking with one immortal. There is a persistent leveling element tied to your account that grants access to a diverse talent tree for each immortal, with some talents bolstering - and even changing - many of your immortal's abilities. There is also a persistent "Artifact" system, where players can purchase artifacts that grant minor, persistent bonuses to their champion (like +10 health). Think of the rune system in League of Legends, and that pretty much sums up the artifact system of Rise of Immortals.

In terms of general gameplay, Rise of Immortals opts for a more simplistic item system, as most items give basic stat bonuses and can be upgraded up to four more times with escalating gold costs per upgrade. This does a great job of streamlining the experience of Rise of Immortals, as players can simply choose the basic stats they want to pursue (+damage, +defense), and then they can upgrade along those lines. This is in comparison to more complicated games, like Defense of the Ancients or League of Legends, where players usually memorize the item "recipes," and then build their basic items that will be used in creating the more expensive ones. 

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