Preface
I’m not particularly familiar with the Warcraft franchise or the lore, so this, to me is a card game, using characters/creatures etc that I am assuming come from that world.
I’ve heard a lot about Hearthstone, all good. So I figured “why not?”. I’ve done the initial 5 missions that you have to do, which is to basically learn the ropes, and I’ve had a couple of battles with the innkeeper to unlock new heroes.
I fell in love with Gwent in The Witcher 3 and I play the Pokemon TCG a bit, so I have a vague understanding of the joys of card-based games, and it’s something I enjoy. Not to mention all the other mini-games built into games over the years (the Final Fantasy series for instance).
I’m playing it on mobile (LG G5 if anyone cares), and these are my thoughts so far.
Playing the game
Ok, so I had very little idea what to expect. I know it’s a card game, and I know it’s free to play.
I downloaded it and ran it for the first time.
First things first, the aesthetic. It looks lovely, I really like the style, and it sounds excellent. It gives off a similar vibe to that of the Witcher, in that it presents this olde worlde/fantasy medieval feeling. It’s something that I really like, it puts me in a great place and makes the whole experience enjoyable from the beginning.
So, I went through the training missions, and learned the ropes. It seems relatively simple in terms of mechanics, and I’m earning a couple of new cards. I like it! Everything at the basic level is accessible and relatively straight forward. Take it in turns, each turn gives you more mana, the more mana you have, the better the cards you can use, or the more low-mana cards you can use.
My cards so far don’t have great abilities, but I’ve definitely lost on not protecting my hero, or by wasting mana on turning enemies into sheep instead of being a little more offensive during my turn.
It seems to me that the game follows the old mantra “easy to learn, hard to master”. Very accessible, but you really need to start thinking strategically as soon as you leave the tutorial missions. Suffice it to say, I’ve been brought to my knees a couple of times just trying to unlock new heroes!
Thoughts so far
I’m literally at the opening gates of this, and already feel like I’ve enjoyed my time, despite several defeats to “normal” AI.
Looking forward to getting a bit more stuck-in and seeing how it goes. I’ll probably post some further thoughts at certain intervals and see if my opinion changes in any way.
It “feels” great, I really like that it’s so inviting. Will that last? Only time will tell.