If I had to pick out a few of my favorite gaming genres to play, both tactics and card games would easily be near the top. Duelyst is a game that combines parts of these two genres together into one exciting package. Developed by Counterplay Games, Duelyst was originally released as a browser game in 2016. After the game’s initial success, it was then subsequently published by Bandai Namco. However, due to declining player counts the original servers were shut down in 2020.

This wasn’t the end for Duelyst though. This past year the game was completely remade by fans and a few of the original developers. Now under the banner of Dream Sloth Games, Duelyst II seeks to reinvigorate the card game landscape once again. I never played the original Duelyst but I remembered hearing many positive things from internet content creators of the time.

Now that I have a functioning PC of my own I was excited to hear the game would be returning and couldn’t wait to finally try it out for myself. I’m happy to say that Duelyst II is easily one of the most unique titles I’ve played and certainly deserves to be revisited.

The core gameplay of Duelyst is that of a tactics game. You command a general that can summon additional units onto a grid-based board. Through the use of strategy and positioning your goal is to reduce the enemy general’s health to zero. Where Duelyst differs from other tactics games is with the addition of a deckbuilding mechanic.

Before a match begins you construct a force of units, spells, and artifacts with a large variety of abilities. When the battle begins, these units will be randomly shuffled onto the action bar which acts as your virtual hand of cards. Just like most card games every unit or spell costs a certain amount of energy which increases every turn.

There are some extremely smart design choices on display here that I would like to call attention to. One is the decision to place extra mana crystals toward the center of each arena. This helps to incentivize combat and discourages your opponent from simply running away from your units during the entire game, as they will lose out on potential mana advantage.

Another smart choice is the fact that you can only summon units close by your general with a few exceptions. Again this encourages you to place your key piece within reach of your opponent and helps the flow of the game to keep from grinding to a halt.

Deck construction is faction-based with a pool of unique mechanics and build paths for each of the six main factions. All decks can also employ the use of faction-neutral cards that help to further flesh out specific archetypes. In regards to archetypes, there are certainly a fair few that will be quite familiar to many card game veterans.

You have your typical dark-themed faction called Abyssian that cares about killing units. The Lyonar faction cares about buffing its units and embodies the valiant knight aesthetic. However, hidden amongst the bland there are certainly a few unique standouts that offer some more interesting options. My favorite faction would have to be the Vetruvian faction, whose game plan often relies on summoning structures that then spawn units every turn.

I also love how many card mechanics take full advantage of the grid-based arena. There are many units that gain benefits based on where they are positioned. For example, the Songhai faction has a mechanic called backstab that allows their units to deal extra damage and avoid counterattacks when attacking from behind an enemy.

Another great aspect of Duelyst II is the visuals. The 2d pixel art direction is top-notch. Each sprite is constructed with care and has wonderful attack and movement animations. The sound design is quite satisfying and provides an extra fun incentive to get into combat with your opponent.

The music for the game is also quite nice. The menu and deckbuilding tunes are suitably peaceful while the main battle theme is upbeat and funky. It never grows irritating despite being the only tracks which speaks volumes to the quality of the composition.

My main core issue with Duelyst II stems from its monetization. The title is free to play, thus, you are forced to grind for in-game currency completing daily quests and such in order to open “packs” or spirit orbs in this case. Alternatively, you can spend real money to acquire more cards. There is a crafting system that allows you to get rid of extra copies of cards in order to make new ones you’ll want to add to your decks.

However, the cost of many of the most exciting cards is so high that you’ll often have to sink a lot of time in before you have enough to craft them unless you’re exceedingly lucky. It’s certainly not the worst free-to-play monetization I’ve seen in a card game. However, it always frustrating to not find the cards you need even after playing the game for a fair bit of time.

Balancing is another slight issue that I’m hoping can be improved with developer updates. There are a few strategies and units that feel over-tuned in the main standard meta at the moment. However, there is a legacy mode that preserves the original version of the game and its subsequent nerfs and expansions. This mode also gives you access to the entire card pool, but as a newcomer it’s something I haven’t spent a ton of time in since I like to master core mechanics first.

All-in-all, I’m glad that I was able to check out Duelyst II. It’s certainly an underrated gem within the digital card game space. I hope that this new revival by fans will be successful enough to warrant continued updates and future expansions. Check it out on Steam if you haven’t already.

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Duelyst II

Free

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Retro visuals
• Unique mechanics
• Interesting blend of genres

Cons

• Monetization
• Some balancing issues