Call of Dragons Review: Is It Worth Playing in 2025?

Call of Dragons is a strategy game developed by Lilith Games for iOS, Android, and PC. Its mechanics are very similar to its sister game, Rise of Kingdoms, but Call of Dragons takes things further with improved graphics and a fantasy setting based in the realm of Tamaris.

As a new player, you’ll start from scratch. You’ll build your city, develop your infrastructure, and train troops to fight alongside your heroes in battle. The game is easy to pick up, but mastering it takes time. If you play smart, the large-scale KVK battles can be incredibly rewarding.

I’ve been playing Call of Dragons since it first launched, and in this review I’ll be sharing my own experiences with the game. Please note, I’m not affiliated with Call of Dragons or Lilith Games in any way. Although I cover their games extensively here on the site, all thoughts are my own, there are no paid partnerships or sponsorships.

This review is designed to give you an honest overview of the game from a long-time player’s perspective, and to help you decide whether it’s a game worth investing your time in.

If you’re already familiar with the basics, check out our Beginners Guide to Call of Dragons for tips on game mechanics and how to get started properly.

Gameplay Overview

When you first start Call of Dragons, your city is placed randomly on the massive world map. Each map begins covered in fog, which takes hours to fully explore. You can move your city to almost any location, but be careful, unless your city is within alliance territory, it can be attacked by other players. This isn’t made very clear early on, so it’s definitely something new players should watch out for.

Across the map, you’ll come across Darklings, forts, Behemoths, pets, and various resource nodes. The world operates on a free-for-all system, meaning you can attack any player or claim any resource node. This constant sense of risk and reward adds a lot of excitement, with plenty of opportunities for exploration and battle.

Your overall strength (or “power”) in Call of Dragons is determined by how well you develop your heroes, upgrade buildings, and train troops, all key factors in becoming a serious player.

Competitive Season Map

After the Dragon Behemoth is first captured, the competitive season begins shortly after. This is when top alliances from several neighbouring servers are brought together on a new map to compete against each other for an entire season.

In my opinion, this is what Call of Dragons is really all about. It’s your chance to show off your server’s strength and take part in long, intense PvP battles that are both challenging and incredibly fun. Once the season ends, everyone is sent back to their home server until the next one begins.

However, this is also where many F2P players start to fall behind. If you’re not active, don’t have enough power, or aren’t part of a strong alliance, it can be difficult to make the most of this stage of the game. It can feel a bit unfair for newer players who miss out, and this is where the steep learning curve really starts to show, especially if you’ve already spent hours building your account.

My advice would be to do your research early, learn how to progress efficiently, and if needed, start a fresh account with that knowledge. It’ll make the competitive seasons much more enjoyable and rewarding.

Graphics & Audio

The graphics in Call of Dragons are genuinely impressive for a mobile game. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into bringing Tamaris to life. The fantasy art style feels polished and fits the tone of the game perfectly. Most of the heroes look fantastic, and the voice acting matches their personalities really well.

The game’s sound design also deserves credit. The background music is calm and immersive while exploring, but ramps up in intensity during battles, a small touch that adds a lot to the overall experience.

The only real downside is performance. On full graphic settings, mobile devices tend to get hot and laggy, even on the latest iPhone or Android models. This becomes especially noticeable during large-scale fights where dozens of animations are happening at once.

You can tweak the graphics settings to improve performance, but it’s difficult to fully enjoy the game’s visuals without experiencing some slowdown, unless you’re playing on PC.

Community & Alliance Elements

Call of Dragons strongly encourages players to join an alliancem and honestly, you’ll need to if you want the full experience. Being part of an active alliance completely transforms the game. From large-scale PvP wars to coordinating Behemoth raids, the teamwork and communication keep things exciting even months after you start playing.

Alliances are made up of players from all over the world, making them a great way to chat, learn, and make new friends along the way.

That said, staying in the top alliances requires consistent activity. No matter how friendly or loyal you are, alliance leaders want what’s best for the server, and that usually means keeping only the most active players around. If you’re not a spender, the game can sometimes feel like a full-time commitment, so it’s worth keeping that in mind before diving in too deep.

Is Call of Dragons Pay-to-Win?

One of the most common complaints you’ll hear about Call of Dragons is that it’s a pay-to-win game. And while that’s true to an extent, free-to-play (F2P) players can still get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Especially, if you log in daily, use your AP and collect your daily legendary tokens.

You have to remember that Call of Dragons is very much a team-based, community-driven game. Alliances are only as strong as their members. Sure, big spenders will have stronger heroes, better pets, and more powerful accounts, but if they’re part of an alliance that doesn’t work together in major battles, all that power goes to waste.

I’ve seen this firsthand. I’ve been in alliances where the so-called “whales” are barely active. They fight solo, ignore teamwork, and ultimately the entire alliance ends up losing the season because of it.

That said, a full alliance of active spenders is nearly impossible to compete with if you’re F2P. The power gap between a T4 free player and a T5 spender is massive. Compared to Rise of Kingdoms, the difference in power here feels much more noticeable.

Summary: Is Call of Dragons Worth Playing in 2025?

Call of Dragons is definitely worth playing in 2025. It hasn’t been around for too many years yet, but it continues to receive regular updates with new features, heroes, pets, and seasonal content. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been playing since release, and I still play to this day, so it’s been a few years now, and the game still manages to keep me hooked.

Some servers do tend to die off fairly quickly, but there are always plenty of active ones to migrate to. Personally, I’d say Call of Dragons easily makes my top five mobile strategy games thanks to its addictive gameplay and huge amount of content.

Yes, it has a steep learning curve and definite pay-to-win elements, but once you understand how to grow your account as a low spender or free-to-play player, there’s still a ton of enjoyment to be had. Staying active is key, and while it can sometimes feel like a chore (or even a full-time job), those long, intense PvP fights make it all worthwhile.

I’ve put together a range of Call of Dragons guides here on the site, so if you want to dive deeper into the game, feel free to check out the full collection and start mastering Tamaris for yourself.