From Pokemon cards to Magic: The Gathering, table top card games have been part of our lives since childhood. Such games faded into Geekdom until Hearthstone saw an epic resurrection of the genre in the digital world. And now, from Kickstarter and the developers of the World of Warcraft TCG, comes a whole new twist – a mixture of MMO and TCG all rolled up in one; Hex: Shards of Fate.
Anyone who has read my other reviews – particularly my Wildstar review – will know that I’m an unashamed girly girl when it comes to gaming. So when I clapped eyes on the Shin’hare deck, essentially a deck full of hyper-aggressive fluffy bunny rabbits, my decision was immediately made. Judge me if you will.
With my bunny army, I enter Entrath, the world of Hex, recently struck by a meteor which exploded into a flurry of gems that spread across the world. So begins a world war, between the underworld and the surface Ardent races, over the power of the gems that the meteor Hex left behind. It is within this setting that you send forth your deck and your troops, in PvP play and in PvE. Please note that the PvE elements are largely ‘Coming Soon’, as Hex is still in Beta.
I’m a Magic: The Gathering player, so the cards, game systems and general feel of the game is immediately familiar. The decks of Hex are organised into two factions, as you would see in an MMO; Ardent (humans, elves, coyotle and orcs) and the Underworld (necrotic, dwarves, shin’hare and vennen).
Despite the familiar feel to Hex, the game is in no way a mirror image of Magic: The Gathering. The body of your army is formed with playable creatures and troops, which require a certain amount of resource cards to play. Spells can be used to enhance your existing troops, as well as artefacts – all of these components come together to chip away at your opponent’s health, which begins at 20. You and your opponent take turns to draw cards, decide which cards to put into play, choose cards to attack or defend before handing your turn over to the next player. Troops that have just been drawn or used in battle are ‘tapped’ meaning they cannot be used until the next round. Combining brute force and strength to get around enemy troops or destroying them to leave their champion exposed requires calculation and skill. The first player to hit 0 health is the loser.
As with any TCG, and any MMO, both graphics and artwork are a key factor of the game. The artwork is the first noticeable feature, with each card bearing intricate and beautiful designs. The most eye-catching feature of a card is the artwork denoting what the card represents – in my case, usually a pissed-off looking bunny rabbit wielding a weapon and a disgruntled expression. Above, you find the resource cost of the card, and below the card’s information (such as modifiers, damage and health) and a quote giving you an idea of the lore or character involved. The artwork is intricate and beautiful, with a high-fantasy style. The Shin’hare cards are particularly humourous, however, whereas the other races have a much more serious and dark theme. Collecting cards involves battle and dungeons, and also the Auction House, at which you can sell, buy and trade cards for your deck. I haven’t played enough to feel any particular urgency to beef up my deck – the starter deck I receive upon account creation has been more than enough thus far – but I can imagine at a point later in my gameplay, when I need that one elusive card to finally complete my deck, that the Auction House will prove a highly necessary feature. In-game gold and real-life cash can both be used for purchases at the Auction House. Gold can be accumulated in dungeons, and so there isn’t too much of an advantage to real-life big spenders.
The interface is as beautiful and dynamic as the cards, with a dark and magical tone to it. It is neat and un-crowded, leaving the main stage for the cards themselves. It is sophisticated and intense, complementing the nature of the matches. With complex TCG like these, it is easy to stuff too much information on a screen infront of the player, so it is with relief that I can report Hex to not have fallen into this trap.
In its Beta form, Hex is already extremely playable. With a healthy concoction of PvP play and PvE in the form of dungeons, there is enough content and the promise of things to come to make Hex a competitor on the TCG field not to be ignored. After a little fiddling and getting used to the gameplay, I soon find myself entirely hooked. You are rewarded for playing tutorials with bonus cards added into your deck, which you can organise and customise – and this extensive tutorial-playing means that your competition tends to be thoroughly trained and challenging.
As you battle on and progress with your deck, your champion levels up and you can upgrade their gear. Mixed in with the familiar tang of a tabletop game comes the well-known grind to gear up a champion that you find in MMOs. Your champion can be used in your PvP matches, and its abilities grow as you progress. To further this MMO atmosphere, you can team up with players to experience dungeons and battle through puzzles and encounters in this way. Completing an encounter or puzzle gains you momentum, which compiles to increase the wealth of your final reward – gold, powerful troops and artifacts. However, if you fail three times and collect three Death Marks, you must begin the dungeon from the very beginning. Although dungeons can be played solo, cooperative play means better gear at the end. The MMO aspects of the game are still very much in-progress, and so I have little experience with them, but I can already see how neatly they will slot into the gameplay of Hex, and the difference it will make to the TCG genre. I can’t wait to lead my bunny army into the depths of a dungeon!
Another interesting feature that I am excited to try out is the ability to socket gems into cards, enhancing them and adding abilities to your deck. This will be the real difference between Hex and Magic: The Gathering. Although I know there are digital versions of the latter, Hex makes a much more noticeable effort to play up to the advantages of online, digital gameplay. Socketing gems is another MMO-related action in my mind, and will be the edge you need for a truly unbeatable deck. This level of customisation, down to the level of an individual card, gives you ultimate control over your deck. Your cards are yours to use your way.
Last but not least – guilds. Gathering in a group of friends or strangers to form a guild has more advantages than I need to mention. You can bank cards to create a ‘gauntlet’ against which guild members can practise against, hold private guild tournaments or compete against other guilds. Being a member of a guild also means raids, legendary bosses and legendary gear for your champion.
The PvP has certainly not been forgotten in the inclusion of PvE gameplay into the genre, however. The promise of future scheduled events, world tournaments and championships mean that the crème de la crème of Hex players will have their chance of famedom, pitched against each other in epic card battles.
Conclusion
Hex: Shards of Fate fulfils everything I could possibly look for in a TCG, and more. The MMO elements set it apart from other TCG games such as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, despite complaints of alleged copying. The dynamic artwork and the mixture of PvE and PvP elements come together to create a truly strong game, one which will bring players together in cooperative raid sieges, or competitive tournaments. Despite being in Beta, and still missing many of the exciting features that have been promised for the game, Hex is very playable and great fun as it stands. AI tutorials, regular play and tournaments are enough to keep you entertained for many hours, and the PvE elements will only add more.
You must be logged in to post a comment.