The team working on Huntertales has shed some light on some of the GameFi mechanics we can expect to see included in the game once the main campaign phase begins at some point after this month.

How Does Huntertales Approach GameFi?

Huntertales describes itself as diving into “GameFi 2.0”, a new set of on-chain mechanics that aim to resolve the issues of previous play to earn games by blending idle gameplay with collaborative financial mechanics. According to the developers, the project seeks to move beyond traditional risk to earn (R2E) frameworks and explore what they call “financialised on-chain gaming”, where coordination and community decisions define value creation.

The team explains that most previous GameFi titles, such as Wolf Game, DeFi Kingdoms, or Raid Party, eventually struggled because their economies relied too heavily on constant player growth. Huntertales’ official X article basically explains that in these models, payouts scale with the number of active players, while new capital inflow slows over time. Once new participants stop joining, payouts exceed inflows, and the system collapses.

Risk to earn games improved this by turning the economy into a zero-sum model in which players stake tokens and outcomes depend on chance or skill, with the protocol taking a small fee. However, this model still depends on player churn and perception of positive expected value. When players realize the expected value is negative, they leave, leading to decline.

Huntertales aims to solve this problem through “coordination uncertainty.” Rather than creating competition against a protocol or house edge, the game focuses on community coordination and decision-making as the main source of risk and reward. Players’ choices, such as how to allocate resources, where to deploy Hunters, and which territories to defend, all influence the global outcome. The developers use a Markov chain model in which every season’s results influence the next, creating lasting consequences for collective actions.

“We turn single-player experiences into massive collaborative scenarios with a decision space where optimal strategy cannot be determined a priori, but emerges from collective behaviour. Yes, we know, this is vague. But we're keeping some cards to ourselves!”

Teaser of GameFi Mechanics in Huntertales

The game’s world revolves around Sylvaris, the last human civilization facing extinction after exhausting its natural resources. Its scientists discover that creatures on the nearby Dark Continent produce a vital energy source upon death. The Crown declares a “Great Cleansing," framing this extraction as a righteous war. Players join the campaign as Pioneers, tasked with exploring, building settlements, and conquering sectors of the Dark Continent.

Gameplay is set to unfold on a global campaign map that updates in real time. Each sector shows which faction currently controls it, with higher-risk contested zones offering greater potential rewards. Players recruit Hunters through a gacha system using the game’s token. Hunters come in different rarities, each with distributed stats in Power, Luck, and Speed. They are deployed on quests, which run automatically and yield resources depending on probability and party composition.

Each player’s settlement can be upgraded using earned resources. Settlement Power determines quest quality, Hunter rarity odds, and access to late-game mechanics. The more powerful your settlement, the greater your chances of obtaining rare Hunters and valuable rewards.

Every season features large-scale narrative and mechanical shifts driven by the player community’s collective performance. If the community fails to defend a key region, the world permanently changes. If they succeed, new quests and opportunities open up. This dynamic design creates a feedback loop where risk, reward, and coordination determine the evolving economy.

Tokenomics in Huntertales are also set to follow a supposedly sustainable model. Total token issuance is limited by earning gradients, meaning that safe strategies generate stable but smaller returns, while higher-risk coordinated strategies offer amplified yields. Seasonal burns of accumulated supply help maintain balance and encourage long-term participation. To play future seasons, players must spend the in-game token, ensuring cyclical value flow rather than unchecked inflation.

Overall, while much is still yet to be revealed, it seems that the developers want to create an economy where “stakes come from coordination uncertainty” instead of arbitrary luck or unsustainable payouts. By tying progress to the community’s collective choices, Huntertales is attempting to transform GameFi into a social experiment in collaboration, resource management, and strategic alignment.

While this all sounds nice on paper, hopefully this will prove to be truly a long-term, sustainable idea in practice, and we may not have to wait too long to find out.

What Is Huntertales?

Huntertales is an on-chain idle game set in the fallen kingdom of Sylvaris. Once a thriving human civilization, Sylvaris faces collapse after centuries of over-exploitation. The remaining survivors turn to the Dark Continent, a hostile land filled with sentient fiends that release a rare energy source when defeated. The Crown uses this discovery to justify a massive military campaign known as the Great Cleansing.

Players take the role of Sylvaris Pioneers, explorers sent to establish settlements and reclaim territory for the kingdom. Each settlement becomes part of a shared war effort on a global map that all players contribute to. Every upgrade, quest, or resource allocation directly affects the outcome of the Great Cleansing Campaign, connecting individual progress to a wider collective struggle.

Huntertales uses a retro pixel-art style to depict its dark fantasy world. The gameplay blends idle mechanics with social cooperation. Instead of chasing personal profit, players must coordinate to ensure Sylvaris’ survival.

The game’s developers describe it as “a test of unity.” Every decision a player makes impacts not only personal rewards but also the fate of the entire kingdom. The shared campaign map updates continuously, showing the progress of thousands of players as they push deeper into the Dark Continent.

Although originally planned for a stealth launch in September, the developers instead released a pre-season event that allows players to explore the early game and earn rewards by referring friends. This marks the beginning of what they call the Pioneers Program, an early access referral-focused phase meant to prepare the world of Sylvaris for its full on-chain debut. If you want to take part, check out our article on Huntertales’ Pioneers Program to learn more.