We recently took some time out to check the beta of a new MMO from Counterplay Games called Duelyst, currently in closed beta this free to play browser MMO (which will soon be available on all Mac, Windows and Linux) is a mix of card collecting TCG and Tactical RPG style combat where battles play out more like a chess match than a standard TCG setup. The game already picking up a lot of pace since its Kickstarter launch and getting a growing fanbase, so we were intrigued to check the game out for ourselves and see why.
Booting the game up for the first time the first thing that struck us were the graphics, the general look is a digitally painted illustrative style, expertly done that creates some imaginative backgrounds and arenas, but the menu features have a more graphical digital quality with more realistic special effects. Combined with this are the character portraits which are then drawn in a manga style, completely different to the rest of the game… and then the in game card icons and character units on the battlefield, as well as their animations, are drawn in retro styled 8-bit pixels. It is a crazy mashup of styles that instantly made us pull our face, we hate it when MMOs don’t have a consistent graphical style or use text fonts that don’t match their theme… however… as weird a mash up as it is…. the graphics really grew on us and after a few games we actually love what they’ve done.
Stepping into the game we’re guided to the Training Hall, a requirement to unlock the other game modes, where you go through a few stages of tutorials to learn how the mechanics work; the only really annoying thing about the game was at this point where every time we completed a stage instead of just continuing onto the next one it booted us back to the main menu where we had to go back through the sub-menus to take the next tutorial stage. With the basics learned the tutorial then tries to teach you more than just how to play, but tactics and how think about your moves by setting you up with various one move challenges. Here we had set cards in hand, set pieces already on the board and the objective was to look over what you had and work out how to kill the enemy General in just one turn; some of them took us more than one try before we’d work them out, moving the wrong piece first would often mean the game ending play wouldn’t work so it was important to think it through. It is a really great little system that encourages users to not just play, but to think strategically and make combos.
So how does the combat and gameplay generally work? Well on the surface it plays like a turn based TCG; we earn Gold through matches, purchase Soul Orbs which give us 5 cards to add to the starter decks we already have (currently made up of six factions as well as neutral cards), which include Minions, Spells and Artifact cards. In a game you take your chosen deck and draw three cards at random to start, with the option of replacing those you don’t want in your starting hand, and each turn you draw two cards to add to your hand. To play a card you spend your mana, each card has its own mana cost, and after each turn your manapool will refill and increase itself by one mana point. So far it sounds like every other TCG, right? Well things start to get a little different..
The battlemap/game board is far from a traditional TCG, it is a 9x9 gridded battlemap that, as mentioned earlier, is more like a game of chess, with each player controlling their own General that has their own piece/token/character on the board that can be moved around; think of them as your King only they can actually attack. They have a huge hitpoint pool, 25 points (at least for the starter Generals), which if you manage to pick down means they are defeated and you win the battle. To take them down players will have a combination of Spells, Artifacts and most importantly Minion cards; the Minion cards when played also take on the form as their own piece on the board, they can be placed down next to any adjacent friendly Minion or General on the board and have their own movement, attack value, hitpoints and usually some special trait. The various traits allow things such as letting them attack twice, fly to any square, gain bonuses if adjacent to a General, and various other tactical options; faction specific Minions pretty much define how that faction is played and the types of strategy we needed to employ to be victorious. Spells are cast directly from your hand to harm the enemy or buff your own Minions, and the Artifacts can be attached directly to Generals to boost them and give them abilities, which they otherwise lack.
There are currently six factions to play though currently players thankfully aren’t restricted to which faction they play (whether this is planned as a permanent feature or just for the sake of beta testing we’re not sure though) when stepping into the Seasonal Ranked Ladder mode, the primary matchmaking game where players can attain ranks. The other primary game mode for competitive 1 v 1 duels is The Gauntlet, similar to Hearthstones’ Arena, players have three lives in which to win 9 battles and earn better rewards the more matches they win before hitting all 9 or getting their 3 losses. However, it was the Sandbox mode that really had us nodding with approval, here we had the option to play as both teams and fight against ourselves, instead of fight AI or players, it was a really interesting approach that let us work on our combos, theorycrafting and tactics without the added pressure of trying to win as well.
Right now the game is young and it’s hard to tell how balanced the various factions are going to be, one or two really stood out as being a little bit overpowered with the right combination of cards and really allowed for some cheese tactics. The Songhai in particular had the ability to stack artifacts that any time a spell was cast it would deal damage directly to the enemy General, then had a spell called Phoenix Fire that would also deal 3 damage (plus your artifact damage) directly to the General. Combined with a Dragon Mist spell that could teleport a Minion anywhere on the map whilst boosting its attack and health by 1… with the right combination of already having 2 artifacts on your General (which happened quite a lot) and a decent heavy hitter Minion like a Stormetal Golem that deal 8 damage in play, then with a Phoenix Fire and Dragon Mist appearing in your hand (again, all common cards that would typically appear multiple times in a game) we were able to often pull out a Phoenix Fire (3 plus 2 Artifact Damage), Dragon Mist our Golem next to the enemy (dealing another 2 Artifact Damage) which increased its attack to 9 and all happened so fast with only spending a few mana we could pull off 16 damage in one turn that was pretty much unstoppable. Now we’ll admit that it does take the right combination of cards, but there were all started deck cards, fairly low costing, and came up pretty regularly; whether other Factions had the same absolute cheese attacks we’re not sure, but it did stand out and we were able to use this tactic more than once.
Overall it is an extremely fun and engaging game, the mix of deck building strategy and then in game chess-like tactics really appealed to us and we’re sure it will other players if they can look past it being something different and a little unfamiliar insofar as standard TCGs; though still has some obviously familiar elements. With the main graphics already in place we’re hoping that new cards will be fairly regular, though 8-Bit graphics do still have an element of finesse to design, they are by no means the intricate designs typically seen on card artwork in other TCGs, which can be a major holdup of new cards being released. Our biggest drawback was the lack of chat features in the game, instead option for a Hearthstone style emoticon and pre-made greetings that you can select; we understand the desire to curb harassment and toxicity, but that’s what a report feature is for. Definitely keep an eye on the game and check it out when it goes into open beta, no date on that yet though I’m afraid.
SCORE:
- Graphics:9
- Gameplay: 9
- Performance: 10
- Pros: Extremely fun and strategic combat, plenty of customization options for deck, acquiring Gold for Soul Orbs/Booster Packs isn’t too difficult
- Cons: Don’t like the pre-made chat bubbles and would prefer an actual chat system.
Rating: 9.5
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