Today we'll take a look at dCrops, "a cryptocollectible game where you are put in the shoes of a farmer". One might equate this to a "blockchain Farmville", though while both share the same theme of farming, dCrops appears to have more depth. It's a relatively new game on the HIVE blockchain, with what appears to be less than 2,000 active players at time of writing.This will focus more on the game design and mechanics, community, and anything unique to the game rather than profitability/graphics/etc. No score will be awarded in this review, as distilling it down to a number is a disservice to the game and can't be used to adequately compare games in this series of posts given the diversity.
The views expressed in this review article are solely based on independent observations and research conducted by the author. The author has not received any sponsorship or payment from dCrops in exchange for writing this article, and the opinions formed are independent of any external influence. Nothing contained within this article should be considered financial or investment advice, please do your own due diligence and research. An attempt is made to have accurate information included, but as projects are updated, this is all subject to change and may not reflect the current state of a project if enough time has passed.
Concept
dCrops is a self described cryptocollectible game, with a farming theme and has a rough simulation of digital farming. Within the game, there are seasons (each lasting approximately 2 weeks) that align to the four seasons - spring, summer, fall, and winter. During a particular season, only specific crops may be planted. Crops appear to have different growing times and harvesting patterns, depending on the exact crop and rarity. Crops that are grown can then be harvested for "shares" which result in end of season rewards.
Platform & Tech
dCrops is a browser based game, running on the HIVE blockchain. Despite being browser based, it is not mobile friendly given the requirement of the Hive Keychain extension - and there does not appear to be an alternative login mechanism for mobile devices.
Entrypoint & Self Sustainability
dCrops currently requires at least one land NFT and one seed NFT - though given the in game seasons, it may be desirable to acquire more than one seed NFT to allow for planting crops throughout all seasons. A HIVE Blockchain account is required. NFTs are available to purchase through the in game market for CROP (the game's token) or SWAP.HIVE. Alpha packs containing 5 random NFTs are available to purchase for CROP or HIVE as well. Given the game's tokenomic model, it's possible that this could be self sustaining, though the horizon on that largely depends on adoption and the future of the game.
Tokens
CROP is the main token within dCrops and is given as a reward for playing in game. HIVE is also distributed as a holding reward based on CROP Power (a combination of in game assets and CROP token held, described here).
Game Loop
The game largely runs in seasons - each lasting approximately 14 days. Within a season, players can plant crops if they own the corresponding seed, have an empty plot, and the crop is "in season". From there, different crops have different growing times at which point they can be harvested. This cycle repeats until the end of the season, at which point end of season rewards are distributed based on the amount and types of crops sold.
Specific crops may have special abilities or chances for multiple crops to be harvested from a single plot. A rarity system is implemented in the form of a star rating - a crop can range from 1 to 3 stars when harvested, with the number of stars acting as a multiplier for the value it sells for.
Gameplay seems fairly passive (though strategic) at this point, which isn't too surprising given it's still in alpha. The "Quests" tab within the game's UI does give enough of a tease though that something more is coming.
Community
The official dCrops Discord and dCrops Blog appear to be the best way to stay updated on the developments within the game and engage with other players.
Final Thoughts
dCrops has only just been sowed, so to speak. The passive and play to earn mechanics could result in a bountiful harvest in the future (ok, no more farming phrases). There's already a solid foundation and approachable theme within the game, with hints of what's to come sprinkled in the UI and the Discord (quests, land rental, etc). It's one of the projects that will be interesting to see how it grows.
I'd like to give a special shout out to 
If you have any thoughts or questions on dCrops, feel free to post them in the comments - or if there's another blockchain game that should be on my radar, shout it out too! Thanks for reading!