pokemon unite is pretty fun. you collect points beating wild pokemon like jungling in other mobas, then you take those points to a enemy goal which the points take away HP from. there are no team creeps, it's just hero on hero, and goals do not fire like towers do, but they still heal the defending team. legendary pokemon spawn and defeating them gives your team a boost. your aim is just to score as many points in the time limit, not destroy some final home base of theirs.
it is free to play, everything can be gotten with coins they give you. you do have to use those coins to buy each pokemon though, which I know is to keep you playing and get you to pay, but damn 10k for Gengar and Lucario? they sure know who people want asap lmao. there's also an item shop you buy items out of battle from to equip rather than earning gold in battle to buy items, with a very small pool of items tbqh and the fact they cost thousands puts new players at a disadvantage off the bat.
no chat is a blessing and a curse. you've got a bunch of preset phrases you can use, but damn I just wanna type sometimes than use the awkward wheel that takes up the whole screen. BUT, there's no slurs and toxicity, which omfg I love so much. I've played 3 games and not had to hear the n word, that makes this the best moba I've ever played already.
the roster is very limited, only 20 pokemon total with some roles having as few as 3 pokemon. but, it's pokemon, you already know they have another 900 they can use to fill out the roster, and have already announced 2 more pokemon set to come out later down the line. but, the limited roster and with how long it takes to earn the coins to get new licences, you're gonna have to really like the few pokemon you have at first.
overall, it's very simple compared to your dota and your league, it's obviously aimed at kids, but there's still some strategy and complexity in it with team co-ordination. the setting and aesthetics are ofc a huge part of it, I'm playing this because it's a pokemon moba, not because it's just another moba. I'd absolutely recommend it to casuals and or fans of pokemon. if you want a hardcore moba then it might frustrate you.
Hold the phone. You're yelling me that the Pokemon DON'T evolve as they level up?
Call me when the game has Raichu or Raticate.
edit: okay seems like some do some dont.
they do during the fight, but Pikachu is one of the ones that doesn't. another odd thing is that aside from Pikachu and Lucario start in their 1st stage of evolution, now Pikachu I get for mascot reasons but why Lucario?
Lucario is a mascot too.
eh, idk if I'd called Lucario an icon of pokemon. it's beloved for sure, but my boomer dad knows who Pikachu is, Pikachu is iconic, Lucario is just kind of cool and in some stuff like smash
I mean yeah, it's kinda a forced mascot but still. Anyone who knows about the others knows broadly that they're part of an evolution family, nobody fuckin' knows what Pichu/Riolu are.