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Mojang card game 'Scrolls' reborn as 'Caller's Bane'
When Scrolls was hit by a Bethesda lawsuit and its online servers died an ugly death, the future of Mojang's collectible card game was looking rather grim. But Scrolls is still alive, and it's just been rebranded as 'Caller's Bane'. Unlike before, it now costs nothing to play.
'Gwent' revamp will help it take on card game rivals
You'd think that CD Projekt Red would have locked in Gwent's mechanics with an expected launch just months away, but not so -- if anything, it's ready to toss out what many are already taking for granted. The developer has unveiled a revamp (nicknamed Gwent Homecoming) that could shake up fundamental aspects of the game. The initiative will push for both a "complete overhaul of the visual experience" (including a tone more consistent with The Witcher) and, more importantly, key changes to gameplay.
'Hearthstone’s first big expansion of 2018, ‘Witchwood,’ is live
With the release of the Witchwood expansion just now, Blizzard's card game Hearthstone has officially ticked over into a new year. That means all of the cards from 2016 have rotated out of the competitive Standard mode -- good riddance, Yogg Saron and Barnes -- to make room for new ones. As was the case in previous years, this first new set of cards for the year is the best time for interested players to get in the game.
'Hearthstone' gets first expansion of the year in early April
It doesn't take much to set video game fans down rumor rabbit holes these days, but in this case, hints about Hearthstone's first expansion in 2017 were correct. Blizzard has officially announced that Journey to Un'Goro will be the next content block added this year, bringing dinosaurs and new mechanics to the digital card game when the set launches in early April.
Sony's Project Field brings card games to life
From Skylanders to Amiibo, "Toys to life" have been a pretty lucrative way for video game companies to make money. Sony has been more-or-less absent from the field, but today it's announcing something not too dissimilar: Project Field.
'Battlecast' turns 'Skylanders' into a collectible card game
Activision Blizzard has seen a ton of success with two franchises in recent years: Skylanders, which kicked off the toys-to-life craze, and Hearthstone, which made collectible card games (CCG) accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Now, it's mashing the two together for Skylanders Battlecast, a CCG aimed at children. Announced last summer, it's finally available across North America and Europe from today. Just like regular Skylanders games, Battlecast is very much focused on you buying real-world items. The game itself will be available on iOS or Android (both Google and Amazon flavours) as a free download. To make the most of it, you'll need to buy cards. There are 24 character cards to collect, along with numerous Spell, Gear and Relic cards that will allow you to attack enemies, change stats or modify the playing field. Think Magic: The Gathering's Equipment, Artifacts and Enchantments and you won't be far off.
Gorgeous competitive tactics game 'Duelyst' is out today
Duelyst isn't an eSport -- yet. After six months in a free open beta, Duelyst launches today as a full title that's still free to download across PC and Mac. It comes from Counterplay Games, a studio packed with talent from Diablo 3, League of Legends and Rogue Legacy, and it's a brilliant blend of rapid-fire card gaming, complex tactical combat and squad building, all with a competitive edge. But right now, it isn't an eSport. "We don't consider ourselves an eSport, since that's a very top-down approach and mentality that we don't believe in," Counterplay founder Keith Lee says.
Magic 2014 coming soon with new campaign and cards, sealed deck play
For a long time, Wizards of the Coast would not release anything official on iOS, even though the biggest collectible card game -- Magic: The Gathering -- seemed perfect for Apple's touchscreen platforms. Then, last year, we finally got Magic 2013 on the iPad, and now Wizards of the Coast is preparing Magic 2014. When the update is released in about a month, it will offer lots of new features and content to the iPad and Android devices. That second platform may not matter much to us here at TUAW, but it's a sign that Wizards is continuing to rethink its mobile strategy. The company kindly showed us the latest version of Magic: The Gathering running on the iPad this week, and it's very impressive. It runs faster than ever, and while the campaign is similar (you undertake a series of single-player challenges, or can take on other players in multiplayer), Magic 2014 has a definite emphasis on story that the current version doesn't have. Magic 2014 was designed to attract new players, so the various missions serve as a tour of the game's lore and background, with each section culminating in a battle against a "Planeswalker," one of Magic's big heroes. In addition to the new campaign structure, there's also new content, including lots of new cards from the past year of Magic. There are even some new cards from the Magic 2014 Core Deck, which isn't set to release until after the iOS app has arrived. That means that playing with this game will be the first time some Magic players can officially sit down and play with the new cards. There will also be more of a newer card type called slivers, so even if you've played Magic 2013 completely, the new version should offer up some more twists and turns. One of the biggest problems fans have had with these Magic: The Gathering video games is that in the single-player campaign, you don't get to build your own decks. Rather, you get to unlock cards for a certain deck. While there is some choice in which cards you use, all of the cards are basically tied to specific decks, so building a custom deck is out. Wizards is aware of this concern, and has an answer in Magic 2014. Sort of. The game will introduce a new mode called Sealed Deck play, where players will get six booster packs, featuring random cards from a larger pool, and will then be allowed to build their own deck from those opened cards. It's not complete freedom, because you only get a certain number of booster packs to choose from, and you'll need to make decks from those. But it does allow for a very structured bit of deck-building, and Magic 2014 contains a whole campaign and a PvP option centered just around using these sealed decks. On the game's initial purchase, you can create two total decks in this way, and then you can buy more slots for these built decks via in-app purchase. If you want to play with a sealed deck, but don't know how to build a Magic deck, the game offers an "autobuild" option. There are plenty of tutorials and difficulty options, so no matter what your level of Magic experience, 2014 has plenty to offer. The biggest drawback might be that while there are lots of new options and content, the game itself hasn't changed. Stainless Games is the company that makes both the console and the iOS versions, and as a result, both versions use the same pacing, same graphics and same gameplay. There's no iOS-specific touchscreen moves or fun tablet-specific tricks or graphics. But that's fine. The point of this is to play Magic, and Wizards and Stainless both deserve a lot of credit for producing such a well-made game. Magic 2014 should be available on the iPad in the next few months or so. We'll keep an eye out for it, and let you know when it's finally arrived.
Shadow Era gets a new expansion, a new website, and a new app
These days, the only iOS card game I'm playing with any regularity is SolForge -- I wish there was a little more to it, but the mechanics are very well-constructed. Shadow Era, one of the first collectible card games on the App Store, is still kicking around, however, and has gotten bigger than ever. The game's developers, now called Wulven Game Studios, have sent along word that they've just added a new expansion to the title, and they've released a brand-new app for that expansion, called Shadow Era: Dark Prophecies. Dark Prophecies adds about 150 new cards to the game, along with a new mechanic called Steadfast, and a new format, called Meltdown. The game also has a brand-new website to show off all of the latest content and news, so you can head there if you want to learn more. As always, Shadow Era remains free to play, with the opportunity to buy extra "crystals" if you want to pick up more cards sooner. With Blizzard's Hearthstone announcement and the onset of Rage of Bahamut-inspired card battlers, collectible card games are about to get even more popular on the App Store. But Shadow Era was one of the first out there, and it remains one of the best.
Blizzard reveals Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, coming to iPad and PC
Blizzard Entertainment has revealed a brand-new game coming to the iPad and PC at PAX East this weekend, and all I can say is that it's about time. Blizzard is by far my favorite game developer, and I've been disappointed that as great as their games are, the company has never once made a solid entry into the iOS space: they've released an app to support World of Warcraft, but not once a real game meant for iOS directly. Until now. Hearthstone is a collectible card game based on various Warcraft characters and abilities, and as you can see in the screenshot above, it looks pretty darn gorgeous. Blizzard already has a very popular paper CCG, but this seems different even from that game, though you still collect cards and use them in play to cast spells, summon characters and use weapons all brought directly from the Warcraft universe. The game will be free to play, with extra card packs and cards available via in-app purchase. Blizzard says the game is coming first in a beta for PC and Mac later on this year, but the iPad version is what we'll really be waiting for. It's long past time that this legendary game developer made a mark on the iOS platform, and I have an inkling that if this game is as successful as you might expect, we'll see some more iOS development from Blizzard in the future. First things first, though -- hopefully we'll get our hands on Hearthstone soon.
Shadow Era physical cards now being shipped to retail stores
Shadow Era is an iOS app that came out a long time ago -- it successfully combines a collectible card game (fairly similar to the World of Warcraft card game, if you've ever played that one) with a freemium business model, a plan that has worked out very well for developer Kyle Pool. So well, in fact, that he announced a little while ago that Shadow Era would be getting physical cards to go along with the iOS title, and indeed, the company has announced that Call of the Crystals, the first physical version of the original iOS title, is now headed to a game retail store near you. You can see unboxing videos floating around already -- this is a full, high quality collectible card game that originally began only on Apple's iOS platform. That's great. Apple usually brags about how much software it has seen released on its iOS, but when you look at things like all of those Angry Birds collectibles and then a game like this, that has gone from an indie developer's idea to a full franchise, it's really fascinating to see just how popular and powerful this App Store has become.
Daily iPhone App: Ascension
I do enjoy Shadow Era, and Hothead's Kard Combat is excellent as well, but my new favorite deck-building card game on the App Store is Ascension, based on the real-life title by Gary Games. There's a lot of similarities to the great card game Dominion, in that you build a deck up as you play the game, rather than having to rely on a pre-built deck. As you add new summons to your deck and "slay" monsters, you earn honor from a limited pool, eventually trying to finish the game with more honor than your opponent. The game is well-balanced, and while strategy at the beginning of the game is pretty simple, it really ramps up as your deck is established, with different summons both affecting the cards you play and what kinds of powers you can earn as you go along. The cards are all hand-drawn, easy to read and look great. Once you figure out how to play (there's an extensive tutorial to teach you), games move along at a solid pace. It's an excellent card game, and quite original in terms of how it's balanced and how it plays. And of course Game Center integration and asychronous multiplayer add a few solid selling points as well. Ascension (subtitled Chronicle of the Godslayer) is available for US$4.99 as a universal app. If you are into these types of card games at all, definitely check it out.
