Lootborne is out, and the real question remains the Steam Market opening in a week

We looked at Lootborne from a distance a week ago, with genuine curiosity and a clear reservation. It launched today, so here is the verdict, keeping the same reservation.

What keeps its promises

The window. That is the central argument and it works. The game runs in a window small enough to sit beside whatever you are actually doing, with an always-on-top option. Your hero fights and loots on its own for as long as stamina holds, then rests and goes again.

That honesty is rare. Plenty of idle games pretend to deserve your full attention. This one owns being a desk companion, and that is exactly what it is.

The density of items. 424 items across six rarities, five elemental affinities that stack, 26 perks and 25 potions. That is a lot for this format, and it gives you a genuine reason to glance at the screen now and then.

And the option to respec your stats, which stops an early mistake condemning a character. In a game where you progress slowly and in the background, that is an essential courtesy.

Duplicates go to the forge, where you can gamble them upward. Classic, effective, addictive.

Asynchronous PvP

Your build faces other players' builds, with no lobby and no queue.

The clever detail: challenges resolve even when you are not playing, with results waiting on your return. There is a global ladder, the option to challenge Steam friends, and four PvP bosses dropping gear unavailable elsewhere.

That is the right format for this kind of game. The wrong format would be asking somebody who plays in the background to log in at a fixed time.

What I still cannot judge

And this is the important point, so let us be clear.

The Steam Market only opens a week after release, so on 28 September. At that point, some of the game's items become tradable for Steam Wallet funds.

The studio set precise safeguards, and I repeat them because they matter: only Rare and Epic items, plus Legendary items dropped in battle, will be tradable. Common, Mythic and Ascended items are account-bound, as are forged Legendary items. Trading unlocks at level 15.

And the studio phrases it healthily itself: it considers this a feature of the game, not a reason to play it.

Still, the underlying question is untouched. When a game's items carry a real price, the progression curve changes nature, safeguards or not. We will know next week whether the balance holds or whether the ladder becomes a question of wallet.

What I make of it today

If you want a game to leave running while you work, with enough depth to occupy five minutes an hour, it does the job and does it well.

If the idea of a game item being resold makes you uncomfortable, wait a week and watch what becomes of the global ladder. That is the only indicator that will mean anything.

And keep in mind the last unknown, which applies to every game of this kind: asynchronous PvP only lives if there are people. An empty global ladder is not a ladder.

Do you leave it running through your meetings? Confessions accepted on the InsertCoins Discord.