It is not hard to see why card games have taken off in recent years. The best card games offer players a rich and constantly shifting meta, potentially limitless replayability, and are approachable to boot.
In this article, Gurugamer is going to showcase the top 5 best card games to play on PC in 2022.
1. GWENT: The Witcher Card Game
Gwent is a card game but you can't compare it with any other card games out there, like Hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra or Magic. It's very unique in gameplay and has almost nothing in common with the Witcher 3 Gwent you can play with the in-game NPCs.
If you play Gwent, it feels very tactical and not luck based at all compared to the others. I am a big fan of card games and I played almost every game of this genre. Nothing kept me playing it as Gwent does, even after years. This game is very well made. The graphics and the animated cards especially, but even the gameplay is very balanced and fluid.
If you already played a few online card games, you probably know you have to pay a lot of money to get good decks, but not here. In Gwent, you can easily craft your first few good decks after a couple of weeks of playing, without ripping off your whole wallet.
I already loved playing Gwent with the Witcher 3 NPCs, even tho this version was very crappy. CD Project Red took this idea out of the game and made a whole new standalone version. I played it since its release in March 2017, and since then they made a ton of changes and reworked the whole game multiple times. I never experienced a developer who put so much love and works into an online card game after release and I am a bit sad that this Game is so unbelievably underrated.
2. KARDS - The WWII Card Game
One of the big selling points of the game is the setting. Almost all other CCG card games are Fantasy based, such as Hearthstone, Runeterra, Faeria, Mythgard, etc. I played a lot of Faeria, and enjoyed it. I dipped my toe into Mythgard & Runeterra, but the fantasy setting and the rules can make those games have more than a bit of a learning curve.
Because Kards is set in WW 2, all the terms and abilities make perfect sense. Mobility, Blitz, Aircraft, Artillery, Tanks, these are easy concepts to grasp, so you will be able to jump right into the game and start enjoying it. The sound and graphics are great, and the game impresses the player with how polished everything is.
If you decide to try the game, I might recommend picking up the Starter pack. It is certainly not necessary, but It will give you packs & wildcards to craft and will help you get off to a nice start.
I would say don’t open up any packs right away. After the tutorial, you will have 5 starter decks, one of each main nation. Play training missions until you get each nation to at least level 7, though if you go to Level 10 you will get even more packs, and by that time you will also have earned more gold & more cards. This will also give you a good idea of how you want to construct your first decks.
3. Monster Train
Monster Train is a rogue-like, creature combat, deck drafting game, essentially. "Heroes" are your units that battle the enemy units. You play them to occupy floors. You can think of the floors as almost a "lane" system, with enemies advancing from the bottom floor, to the middle, to the top floor each after a single combat round. Hopefully, you kill them before they reach the top. Eventually, a boss will show up. The boss stops at each floor, from the bottom up, and rounds of combat are continuous until the floor is cleared or the boss is dead. Any units that overflow your top floor attack your "pyre" (like your health pool). The pyre has an attack value and will fight back a bit in continuous rounds of combat until its health runs out or the attackers die. When you run out of pyre health it's game over.
This is a great drafting game. The structure of the drafting is interesting. The majority of your drafting is for support spells and minor monsters. You are only able to draft a limited number of heroes during special draft events, and those drafts are front-loaded in your run. You fairly quickly have to figure out what your limited hero pool will be and how to best synergize your team. From there you have to make sure that the support cards you draft match your hero makeup. This helps keep things a bit fresher, as most cards are situationally good and there aren't always the same "best value" cards in every run. I like this in contrast to StS, where it often feels like I'm trying for the same builds or using the same cards every time. You can further upgrade your cards to really customize how your deck is working. Many of my runs came together as I put powerful upgrades on particularly synergistic spells or heroes. And boy, when you find a power combo, it REALLY goes off in this game and that feels quite satisfying.
Card draw tends to be somewhat limited, so it's important to be choosy about what you draft-- you don't need a card from every draft pack! Thin decks are better decks, and card removal is also relatively plentiful in Monster Train. This is in contrast to StS, where sometimes it make more sense to dilute the "bad" cards in your deck by drafting large and playing best value. I like that this game has you focus on making a "tighter" deck. The decision points at each draft opportunity feel a bit more impactful for it.
4. Loop Hero
Loop Hero is a very interesting mix of the Roguelike and Card Game genres. A mix that works fantastically nonetheless. Before you start a game, you can build a card deck. You got different categories but are free to mix them however you like, you just have a limit on how much your deck can take, obviously. Many Cards have synergies with each other, like buffing each other’s effects when played together, or they do X after Y amount of time has passed. Just some examples.
Unlike other card games though, you don’t use the cards for fighting directly but... to build your world! Each time you start a game a loop will be randomly generated. Here is where the cards come into play! Each time you defeat an enemy you’ll get a random amount of cards and gear. The fighting itself runs on auto mode, the outcome is purely determined by your gear and stats.
With some cards, you build the world outside of the loop and with others, you place your enemies and build along the loop wherever you like. Each time a day passes new enemies will spawn. For every fight you win, or certain tiles you cross, you will also receive resources.
5. Library Of Ruina
At its core, Library Of Ruina is a turn-based strategy game with deck-building and dice rolling with some very neat mechanics on top adding to the tactical potential. The abundance of different equipment and cards you acquire as you progress through the game allows you to prepare your teams for any kind of encounter possible. You can build both universal and highly-specialized characters. All in all, the "Librarians" at your disposal are very customizable both mechanically and aesthetically, which is a huge plus!
I am also very pleased with ProjectMoon's decision to remove the rogue-like elements present in their previous game, Lobotomy Corporation, which would practically require the Player to lose days of progress at times. As such, LoR allows the Player to progress through the game at their own pace, without the risk of having dangerous anomalies obliterate hours of work or strict time limits for progression.
To sum it up, Library of Ruina is tactical, has very challenging encounters, and is a bit on the grindy side if you ask me. However, you are free to mess around and experiment with different combat styles and setups, unlike its predecessor. You may not like the gameplay if you don't like sitting and planning out your own and your opponent's moves several steps ahead, or if you're not a fan of trial and error. Although I feel that the challenge this game provides is very exciting and rewarding!
>>> Read more: The Game Awards 2022: List Of All Nominations
Comments