Duelyst

Took a quick look online here and I didn't see anything on the game Duelyst available on PC (maybe tablets, dunno). And that's fucking ridiculous because this game is so much fun and is free.

Background here is Duelyst is Hearthstone without the Warcraft setting and on a grid board of like 6x9 dimensions, kinda like a chess board or summoner wars. Like hearthstone it is a CCG and you earn in game money by completing daily quests (play x faction 4 times). Buy new packs of 5 cards with one rare+ card for 100. Pick a faction, build a deck of 40 cards, and sign up to duel in the ladder system. Games are about 10 mins or a little less. I've never waited more than 25 seconds for a new match. Defeat the opposing general, who has 25 life, and you win. All minions have an attack value and a life value and each race has a stack of spells and buffs.

I gave Hearthstone a shot for about two weeks. I lost 2/3 of my games, spent $20 on the dumb adventure pack to get some guaranteed good cards, reached rank 20, and still lose 2/3 of my games. All the while I kept thinking it will be fun as soon as I get more cards. I never had fun. I lost so often and even when I won it felt like my draw and deck determined the outcome instead of choices I made during the game. Maybe that's the way a true deck builder operates; most of the strategy is done by the time you start a match. Regardless I found Hearthstone irritating and a burden to progress in as a new player.

Duelyst holds my interest because of the grid board. Instead of simply tossing out minions in front of you, positioning and moving your dudes strategically is more of the focus. I started playing about a week ago and win more than I lose. Even losing isn't that bad because I see other strategies the various factions use and the game offers a replay system to rewatch old matches or to watch random recent matches at any skill level. Yes the legendary cards help you win games, but I haven't done any crafting and the base options give enough variety that card rareness alone doesn't carry the match at least halfway up the ladder ranking. A lot of the features found in Hearthstone exist here too. Taunts lock down opposing movement on any adjacent square and force target locking. Battlecry gives a buff or damage when played. Deathrattle occurs when a unit dies. But the decisions are a lot more interesting because it is played out on a grid board with moving units.

Anyways. That's my Duelyst promo of the day. Great free game, takes 10 mins, different faction variety, and noob friendly.

Edited to include the lead designer info, Eric Lang.

I have seen it streamed a couple of times (paid promotion by Kibler, Eloise) and it wasn't grabbing me. I am not sure why. I like the little pixelated look, but something about it was bothering me. It seemed weirdly mechanical, somehow. It certainly lacks the polish of a Blizzard game, but I can hold that against everything. Assuming I can actually play it (Mac gamer here, with iOS devices), I'll try it out and give voice to my feelings in a week or so.

Its Hearthstone the SRPG. It is a bunch of fun, but they need to allow you to disable particle effects. My table runs it ok so it gets some play time, but if I could disable the effects it would stutter less so I would play it more. But thats the life of a budget tablet.

Duelyst is now on Steam