If you go right down to the woods tonight, you’re positive of an enormous shock. Spoilers: the shock is the announcement of Hearthstone‘s Witchwood enlargement, which can add 135 new playing cards and a brand new singleplayer journey mode with the same format to Dungeon Run from Kobolds and Catacombs. Monster Hunt mode could have you looking monsters within the titular Witchwood, selecting new playing cards as you go alongside.
More particulars await under, together with a video of the devs romping round an actual life spooky forest.
Dorky as it’s, that grew on me because it went alongside. If you simply need the official trailer – which may be Hearthstone’s finest but – skip to 0:53.
I’ll get to the brand new playing cards in only a tick. First although, listed here are the specifics on the way you acquire new playing cards after beating every encounter in Monster Hunt:
“Your choice is between three sets of three cards picked randomly from a number of different thematic buckets available to your current hero. Additionally, at certain intervals you get to add special cards to your deck that improve your unique hero power or otherwise synergize with your hero in a powerful way.”
I’ve simply realised how comparable that’s to Slay The Spire. I mentioned I’d take a look at Dungeon Run and by no means acquired spherical to it, although now that I’ve made the Spire connection I’m decided to see if Hearthstone’s spin on adventuring and deck-building can tickle my mind in the same manner. Dungeon Run was free, although there’s no phrase on in case you’ll must pay for Monster Hunt.
Blizzard have revealed 6 of the brand new playing cards thus far, which embrace a 7-mana minion with a 3/Three physique that replaces your hand with a replica of your opponents. I like how that places the sport in a state the place each gamers have entry to the identical data, although it does appear costly for an impact that your opponent may gain advantage from too. Also of curiosity are two playing cards that make your hero energy higher or cheaper if in case you have solely odd and even playing cards in your deck, and one which swaps its well being and assault each flip its in your hand.
There are additionally two new key phrases: Rush is like Charge in that it permits minions with it to assault on the flip they’re performed, however they’ll solely goal different minions. Echo is a brand new key phrase that permits you to play a card as many occasions as you want in a single flip, as long as you’ll be able to afford the mana price. Which is cool, though my first thought was ‘oh no, another keyword that has the same name but does a different thing in Eternal’.
Eternal is one other free-to-play CCG that I’ve dipped my toes into since a great deal of you instructed me to within the feedback on my mini roundup of great non-Hearthstone CCGs. I’ve performed via the entire free campaigns and a ‘Forge’ run, which is rather a lot like Hearthstone’s Arena the place you assemble a deck of 30 playing cards by selecting 1 card at a time from units of three. It’s…okay!
Thing is, many of the issues I’ve with Hearthstone are right here too. It’s a lot nearer to Magic: The Gathering with the way in which attacking and mana features work, which is a pleasant change of tempo – however I nonetheless really feel like my decks are largely taking part in themselves. I do know determination making will get extra sophisticated and attention-grabbing the extra I play, however it nonetheless looks like the basics can’t open up a design area that may compete with the artistic performs doable in Duelyst and Netrunner. The headache that comes with attempting to handle decks filled with 75 playing cards was the ultimate nail within the coffin for me.
You can discover extra particulars and see different playing cards on the expansion’s page. Blizzard haven’t introduced a launch date for Hearthstone: The Witchwood but, though the previous two years each noticed them drop expansions in April.
