The Art of War Card Game Coming Soon

Card game fans like myself have been getting a lot of love from game developers this year. Recently, the Latvia-based Indie studio known as Brightdawn Entertainment announced The Art of War. The Art of War is a card battler set for release on Steam later this year.

Why should anyone care you ask? Art of War looks to capture the magic of the original Gwent minigame before the official release. I never played Gwent myself but I was definitely intrigued by its mechanics that replicated the feeling of commanding an army.

After digging into some of the online discourse surrounding Gwent, it’s clear one of the main reasons for its gradual decline after being officially released was due to radical gameplay changes. CD Projekt Red fundamentally altered many of the core aspects of Gwent within the final version. These changes occurred after an extensive beta version had been live for months and left many fans upset.

Art of War’s game creator stated: “the nostalgia of forever gone beta Gwent inspired us to create our own game. We decided to recreate what we really loved in the old Gwent and improve other aspects that we didn’t like in other similar card games.”

As a result, the gameplay of Art of War promises deep tactical combat. The core focus of the game is about pulling off combos and employing your cards efficiently. In contrast to many other card games, Art of War is not built within a collectible card model. Players won’t have to grind in-game currency or purchase additional packs in order to build decks. Instead, all cards are available from the start and you choose one of four unique factions to build your deck around. I love this approach, it places more emphasis on skill by giving every player the same playing field to work from.

Additionally, the major rules of Art of War are built with simplicity in mind. Special emphasis was placed on making the gameplay intuitive so that it could also work without a digital client. The developers plan to release a physical version of the game upon reaching crowdfunding goals. This version will receive additional gameplay formats designed for multiplayer while the digital release will remain focused on competitive PVP.

Art of War will be released into Early Access on February 1st and is available for free on Steam. The full release will be following in the coming months. It can be quite difficult for new card games to succeed, let alone ones that consider player experience to be a top priority. Be sure to check it out and support the developers.