Relic Arena Review: A Deep Free Autobattler Undercut by Its Own Monetization

Relic Arena, a free-to-play 8-player autobattler from Double Edge Games, sits at 83% positive across 1,024 Steam reviews -- a strong, Very Positive-range reception with an unusually detailed and thoughtful review sample for the genre. Reviewers repeatedly and independently compare it favorably to Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics, several explicitly calling it the genre's best current entry, built around a relic-collecting, hero-led build system that draws real praise for depth. But the sample also contains a detailed, specific monetization complaint that sits uncomfortably next to other reviewers calling the same shop fair -- a genuine split worth reading carefully before committing time.

A Worthy Successor to Dota Underlords, Reviewers Say

The dominant throughline in the positive sample is genre pedigree. One reviewer with 15.9 hours logged calls it "the savior of Autobattler genre and worthy successor of Dota Underlords," adding "it's obvious the team knows what makes this genre great." Another, with 57.1 hours, states "having played a lot of TFT in the past, I can wholeheartedly say that relic arena is the superior game." A third, at 100.1 hours, frames it as one more custom Dota map turned standalone product, but "the difference? This one hits the target... the best auto-battler in the market." These aren't casual, low-investment endorsements -- several of the most detailed positive reviews come from players with 50, 100, and even over 1,000 hours logged, a genuinely strong signal for a genre built around long-term replay value.

Relics and Leaders: What Makes the Build Variety Work

Reviewers consistently point to two specific systems as the source of the game's depth. First, "shopping for items instead of characters," as one reviewer puts it, which "opens up some nice synergies" not present in more traditional autochess formats. Second, and more specifically praised, the relic-banning mechanic: one 57.1-hour reviewer calls it "super refreshing" because it "prevents build spamming," directly addressing the genre's common complaint that autobattlers collapse into a handful of dominant, repeated strategies once players learn the meta. A 47.2-hour reviewer adds that "different leaders also drastically change your builds, keeping things fresh and variable," and singles out the choice between "supers" as adding real strategic depth "that leaves new things to learn every time you play."

A Genuinely Contentious Monetization Split

This is the sample's most important disagreement, and it deserves to be reported as exactly that rather than resolved in either direction. One detailed, 5.6-hour review states bluntly that "the monetization is pretty brutal and extremely overpriced," describing a secondary currency that must be purchased before spending (rather than direct purchases) as "a very annoying dark pattern," and flags an optional "plus" subscription costing roughly $50 a year, concluding "I would give this game a negative review for that alone." That review is specific and detailed enough to take seriously on its own terms. But it sits directly against multiple other reviewers describing the same shop very differently: one 15.9-hour reviewer calls the monetization "very reasonable -- battlepass focusing on cosmetic rewards," and a 3.9-hour reviewer goes further, stating "if you are broke, the monetization is completely ignorable... all ingame power is accessible completely free... not even with a long grind," adding that a leader unlocks after every win. Readers weighing whether to invest time should know both accounts exist in the sample rather than assume either is the full picture.

Match Length: The Genre's Old Problem, Still Present

The same detailed critical review raises a second, more concretely measurable complaint: matches reportedly run "30+ minutes per match" for a top-three finish, with "a lot of downtime during the matches," which that reviewer calls "a complete deal breaker." This isn't a novel complaint specific to Relic Arena -- the reviewer explicitly frames it as "an annoying aspect of many other auto battlers in the space" -- but it's worth surfacing because it's a structural pacing issue rather than a subjective taste complaint, and nothing else in the sample directly disputes it.

Humor and Tone: Historical Figures Played for Memes

Relic Arena leans on real historical and pop-culture figures reimagined with heavy meme humor -- reviewers mention "a large Japanese yakuza sumo guy with a tommy gun" approvingly, and one simply writes "Dreams came true! My favorite goth lesbian and chubby italian made a game together and it's actually very not cringe." But the same detailed critical review pushes back explicitly: "way too much leaning in to memes and other nonsense so there is this weird combo of history for a majority but then you're slapped back to cringe style humor regularly. I don't get it." This is a straightforward matter of taste rather than a design flaw, but it's divisive enough within the sample to flag directly rather than assume universal appeal.

A Population Complaint That Doesn't Match the Rest of the Sample

One low-playtime (0.6 hours) review from September states "it's a cool concept, but with almost no players it's impossible to play." This is a single account rather than a corroborated pattern, and it's directly undercut by the surrounding evidence in the same sample: multiple detailed reviews from the same September window come from players logging 63, 185, and 229 hours, actively engaged in matches months after the May launch. A single low-playtime matchmaking complaint shouldn't be treated as a settled fact about the game's population health when longer-tenured players in the same time window are clearly still finding games.

Final Verdict

Relic Arena earns its comparisons to Dota Underlords and TFT honestly -- the relic-banning system and leader-driven build variety draw real, specific praise from reviewers with serious time invested, and the genre pedigree comparisons come from people who clearly know the space well. But this isn't an uncomplicated recommendation: a detailed, specific account of dark-pattern monetization (a gated secondary currency, an expensive subscription tier) sits directly against other reviewers calling the same shop fair and generous, and match length remains a real, unaddressed structural friction point shared with the rest of the genre. Worth trying, since it's free, but go in aware that the monetization experience reviewers describe genuinely seems to vary.