Switzerland-based FunPlus has revealed a partnership with Orlando Bloom to bring the movie star to its mobile strategy title, King of Avalon.

The actor’s character in-game is Orlando the Nightshard, a half-Unmelted playable hero with a customised storyline and a unique skill. The event began on March 10 and is running throughout upcoming months.

This partnership marks Bloom’s first mobile game collaboration as well as his return to a medieval universe. Instead of a bow, Bloom’s King of Avalon character uses the Nightshard Blade, which enables troops led by Orlando the Nightshard to deal extra damage to enemies each round.

Bloom with a blade

"We are honored to be welcoming a star with the talent and global reach of Orlando Bloom to the King of Avalon universe," said FunPlus CBO Chris Petrovic.

"The team has done an amazing job shaping this character and developing a tailored story that King of Avalon fans will love. We can’t wait for our community to discover Orlando the Nightshard and explore his history and abilities in-game."

In celebration of the collaboration, the gift code ORLANDO2022 has been shared to enable players of a high enough level to redeem related items.

"King of Avalon is an incredible world of lore and adventure with exciting characters like mine, who get to roam the lands and conquer different territories," said Bloom. "At a time when games and movie characters are blurring the lines, it was cool to see my character, Orlando the Nightshard, come to life."

At PocketGamer.biz, we recently spoke with director of product for Call of Antia Leon Zhou on differentiating from the well-populated match-three RPG genre and avoiding the trap of pay-to-win.