Ev.io Beginner’s Guide: How to Earn Solana in This NFT First-Person Shooter

Ev.io is a free-to-play, first-person shooter multiplayer browser game that plays like a throwback to classic arena shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament. It’s a simple test of blasting skill: use your weapons and equipment to “frag” your foes and come out with the most kills.

While the game is free-to-play and available to anyone, you can also earn cryptocurrency while playing by purchasing one of the game’s NFTs minted on the Solana blockchain. With an NFT equipped, Ev.io adds a play-to-earn dynamic, letting you snag some SOL by dominating opponents.

What is Ev.io?

Ev.io is a first-person shooter game with four game modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch, sniper shotgun, and survival. Deathmatch and sniper shotgun are free-for-all game modes, with every player fighting for themself, while team deathmatch has more focus on team-based gameplay. All of these game modes are played online against other users.

A screenshot from Ev.io. Image: Decrypt

Survival is a unique offline game mode akin to the Zombies mode from the Call of Duty franchise, as you spawn in with basic weapons and face waves of zombies with the sole aim of surviving for as long as possible. Be careful, as the enemies get tougher and tougher and eventually are equipped with their own weapons.

Before dropping in game, you can select from five weapons, including a hand cannon and a laser rifle. You also have abilities, like teleporting, and two equipment choices—a stun or smoke grenade. Once in-game, you must use your weapons, abilities, and equipment to climb your way up the leaderboard.

What platforms is it on?

Currently, Ev.io is only available as an in-browser game and is highly accessible for all desktop devices. It uses the Solana blockchain for its NFTs and play-to-earn functionality.

Do I need NFTs to play?

No, you do not need NFTs to play Ev.io. It is a free-to-play game, and NFTs are only needed if you want to unlock the play-to-earn side of the game. The ability to earn Solana (SOL) may provide some players additional motivation to jump in, but it’s an optional feature.

How does play-to-earn work on Ev.io?

To unlock play-to-earn functionality on Ev.io, you must purchase an NFT from a secondary marketplace like Fractal or Magic Eden. Once you’ve bought an NFT skin and it is in your wallet, open Ev.io and connect your wallet under the “crypto” tab (top right). Once connected, head to the loadout tab and equip your character skin.

Ev.io NFTs enable play-to-earn crypto rewards. Image: Decrypt

Each NFT has a power level, and the higher the power level the more SOL you’ll earn for your in-game achievements. You can participate in events, daily quests, clan wars, and more to power up your NFTs.

You will earn “e” for your in-game score, which is primarily based on the number of kills you get. This in-game currency can later be traded for SOL. Or, if you have the Bonk character skin, you can earn BONK tokens.

Note, however, that you can only earn SOL in the deathmatch and survival game modes. Furthermore, you’ll need a minimum of 10,000 “e” to be able to convert and cash out. A developer from the Ev.io team on Discord said that the e-to-USD conversion rate varies, but is approximately $1 per 2,000 “e” earned as of this writing.

How do I play Ev.io?

Head over to the Ev.io website and simply click “Play” to get started. The design of the game is very frictionless, making it easy to get into your first online multiplayer game. If you want to change your loadout or abilities, simply pause the game and use the tabs at the top right.

A screenshot from Ev.io. Image: Decrypt

It’s easy to give the game a try and see if you like it. If so, then you might want to create an account and/or purchase an NFT to start to earn while playing.

The keyboard and mouse controls are very typical of a first-person shooter, although some equipment and abilities are bound to somewhat odd keys for the genre—and it appears that there is no way to change this. That said, just look at the bottom left of the screen to know which key uses which equipment or ability.

Other than that, you’re set. Head into the game and slay some foes. Perfect your character classes, memorize the map layouts, and get to the top of that leaderboard. Good luck.