Greed Mechanic Returns as Onchain Heroes Drops Weekly Maze of Gains Update

In Brief:

• Onchain Heroes rolled out a Maze of Gains patch this week that touches mobile performance, brings back the Greed mechanic, and reworks the Stash and earnings systems.
• Announcing the update alongside its weekly stats, the studio called it “A big patch this week!”
• Built on Abstract, Maze of Gains has been in open playtest since July and has yet to reach full release.

A patch shipped this week by Onchain Heroes overhauls mobile performance in Maze of Gains and reinstates the game’s Greed mechanic.

The studio folded the update into its weekly stats post, naming three items: a “Mobile performance overhaul,” “Gameplay changes – Greed is back!” and “Stash & earnings improvements.” Further details, it said, would arrive later in the thread.

Mobile first

For a game structured like this one, the mobile fixes carry more weight than the wording suggests. Maze of Gains is played in the browser across desktop and mobile, and sessions are lengthy and input-heavy, with players venturing deeper into a maze and deciding when to bail out with the loot. Stutters and frame drops in that loop are more than a nuisance — they end runs.

This kind of tuning has been a direction Onchain Heroes has pursued for some time. The team adopted a hybrid architecture that settles payments on Abstract while running gameplay logic off-chain, an arrangement intended to enable quicker iteration and smoother play. The same split underpins the rebuilt in-game marketplace, which uses a custom orderbook with payments onchain and item settlement off it.

Greed returns

No mechanic sits closer to the game’s central tension than Greed. Players are dropped into mazes to battle, gather upgrades and gauge the right moment to exit. Venture deeper and the reward climbs. Linger too long and you walk away empty-handed.

Neither the reason Greed was removed nor the shape it takes now was addressed in the studio’s headline post. The return was presented as a gameplay change rather than a new addition.

Arriving in the same patch are the Stash and earnings tweaks. Both belong to the reward end of the loop, an area under continuous rebalancing since the studio confirmed that Season 2 marked the final period in which $HERO would be easy to earn.

Where the game stands

Testing on Maze of Gains 2.0 began July 1, when Onchain Heroes launched an incentivized playtest backed by a prize pool of 250 Arcade Keys. Getting in required either a Ringbearer NFT or an Expedition Pass.

For the second round, that barrier was removed. The studio threw the playtest open to all comers, scrapping the NFT requirement and allowing players to earn keys through play and feedback submissions ahead of the full release.

With the 2.0 build came persistent upgrades that carry across a run, plus a redesigned battle system centered on reading enemy patterns rather than relying on chance. New biomes, one-off rooms and in-game items that escalate the stakes with depth were also added.

Token and economy

In-game transactions run on $HERO, though its purpose is shifting. Ahead of OCH World, its persistent-world project, Onchain Heroes rolled out Valor — a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar — together with a custom marketplace on Abstract. Valor is designed to displace volatile in-game currencies and comes with no gas fees, while $HERO is being repositioned as a premium currency for exclusive features.

When OCH World goes live, Season 2 $HERO reward balances will transfer automatically. Citing quality and stability, the team moved that launch from the fourth quarter of 2025 to early in the first quarter of 2026. Primora serves as the first playable zone, offering mining, forging and cooking from day one.

Background

Maze of Gains exists alongside the flagship Onchain Heroes idle RPG, a title constructed around Genesis Hero NFTs and $HERO rewards that relies on Proof of Play’s VRF for randomness. Its creator is Skarly, previously a lead developer at Wolf Game.

This week’s patch was relayed to regional players by Abstract’s Chinese-language account. A pipeline into those markets is already in place at Onchain Heroes: a scholarship program run with Abstract Asia distributes 300 keys each month to players across Korea, China and Thailand.