Gwent: The Legendary Card Game Review

For clarity, determination are really 2 antithetic versions of Gwent. There’s the 1 from The Witcher 3 crippled and a abstracted video crippled called Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, which is tally by the gaming level GOG and differs considerably from the original, leveraging online matchup play to fto players spell caput to head. This carnal paper crippled is simply a faithful replication of the archetypal Witcher 3 version, not the GOG version.

What’s successful the Box

Just arsenic the protagonist, Geralt, collects cards to play Gwent successful the video game, truthful Gwent: The Legendary Card Game, is simply a container afloat of cards. It’s important to enactment that it contains versions of each the cards from the video game, positive its downloadable content, which amounts to astir 450 cards successful total. They’re besides precise akin to the ones you’ll spot on-screen, utilizing the aforesaid layout, artwork and iconography.

While this is simply a small frustrating – immoderate cards person explanatory text, which is precise helpful, portion others conscionable person icons adjacent though there’s country connected them for a statement – it does let you to respect the art. Among the gorgeous polygons connected the video game, it’s casual to place however bully and however varied the paper creation for Gwent is. Here, it’s beforehand and center, and it’s delightful, afloat of beingness and detail, and each paper is different, adjacent if they’re functionally identical copies.

Aside from the cards, there’s a tiny punchboard of tokens and a insubstantial play mat to signifier your cards during the game. These are some terribly disappointing, flimsy and prone to deterioration and tear. The play mat doesn’t prevarication level easily, and the creases marque the cards slide. Among the tokens is simply a people tracker and it’s often easier conscionable to usage that and signifier the cards during play yourself.

Rules and How It Plays

Gwent is really a beauteous weird game, though you mightiness not instantly prime that up from scanning the rulebook, which is overly terse and offers small successful the mode of examples. It’s played implicit 3 rounds and the archetypal subordinate to triumph 2 wins the full match. At the commencement of the archetypal round, you gully 10 cards and – this is the unusual and captious spot – that’s each you get for the full game. You don’t gully immoderate much cards successful rounds 2 oregon three. Your archetypal 10 has to past you the full match, and learning erstwhile to dole them retired and erstwhile to clasp them is simply a cardinal plank of the game’s strategy.

Your play country is divided into 3 rows, for melee, missile, and siege units. Most cards person a awesome indicating which enactment they’re played into. Playing a paper is often arsenic elemental arsenic placing it into its marked row. Such cards mostly person a spot value, and you’ll adhd that worth to your increasing full of spot successful play. This continues until 1 subordinate passes alternatively of playing a card, whereupon their hostile tin transportation connected playing cards until they, too, pass. Then, the subordinate with the highest spot full wins the round.

While this sounds simple, it instantly throws down immoderate challenges for the players. In the archetypal round, either subordinate tin apt triumph if they conscionable support connected playing cards, but doing truthful leaves them little apt to triumph the different 2 rounds and frankincense the game. So, you’re trying to work each other, considering the cards successful your manus and deciding erstwhile to walk and erstwhile to push. There’s a Poker-like constituent to this, muddied by the information that there’s nary statistic to trust connected successful presumption of predicting what your hostile is holding, which means there’s nary existent bluff element. In fact, if they’ve built the platform themselves, you mightiness person nary accusation astatine all. There’s a definite thrill of venturing into the chartless with each decision, but your choices to walk oregon play are being made successful a frustrating vacuum.

To combat this, the crippled offers assorted cards with peculiar abilities, which are denoted by an icon connected the paper alternatively than text, a insignificant speedbump to flooded portion learning the game. They’re mostly precise simple. Tight Bond multiplies the spot of the paper by the fig of different cards connected your broadside with the aforesaid name. Cards with the Spy quality are played into your opponent’s fractional of the field, adding their spot to their side, but allowing you to gully 2 caller cards successful return. A Medic lets you retrieve and play a paper from your discard, and truthful on.

These muddy the waters somewhat. You won’t privation to play a Medic connected the opening turn, for a elemental example, arsenic determination astir apt won’t beryllium immoderate discards available.

In summation to portion cards are assorted categories of peculiar cards. The easiest to grip are heroes, which behave mostly arsenic units bash but are immune to peculiar abilities, making them harder to destruct oregon nullify. Weather cards are played to the broadside of the committee and impact some sides, reducing the spot of each cards (except heroes) successful 1 of the 3 areas to one. These tin nutrient immense swings, arsenic tin immoderate different peculiar cards similar Commander’s Horn, which doubles the spot of each cards connected its row, oregon Scorch, which sends the highest-strength cards successful the crippled to the discard pile. These adhd to the excitement and anticipation of the pass-or-play mechanic and besides springiness immoderate tactical operation to play around. If your hostile is laying down ranged combat cards and you’re holding a Fog upwind paper that’ll trim that enactment to spot 1, you tin prevention your ain ranged cards for adjacent circular and anticipation to outpouring a nasty surprise.

While the afloat span of paper types and powers bash marque your crook to crook determination making much interesting, and up the stakes considerably fixed that immoderate of them tin beryllium crippled changing, you’re inactive precise overmuch making decisions successful the dark. That Fog card, for instance: the strategy is beauteous basic, and isn’t really each that utile if your hostile lone has 1 ranged paper successful manus and it’s useless if they besides person a Clear Weather paper to antagonistic it. You person nary mode of knowing what’s successful their manus oregon deck. Gwent is an breathtaking game, but it’s not a peculiarly strategical one.

It is, however, a platform operation game, and platform operation games mostly gully their strategy from deciding which cards you’re going to see successful your platform earlier you play. There are assorted rules astir what you tin include. A ineligible platform includes a azygous leader, who offers a peculiar quality you tin usage 1 clip during play, astatine slightest 22 portion cards, and up to 10 peculiar cards similar heroes and weather. There are 5 factions included successful the game, each of which has a peculiar play benignant and acceptable of powers, and you tin lone physique with cards from your ain faction. Nilfgaard, for example, specializes successful paper gully portion the Skellige platform includes berserkers that tin beryllium triggered and replaced with overmuch much almighty alternatives. And since you person each the cards from the video crippled astatine your disposal, you person a batch of deck-building options.

The occupation is that, nevertheless you take to conception your deck, the crippled is eternally held backmost by that consciousness of randomness. You tin enactment each the enactment you privation into your carefully-curated cards but if your hostile conscionable happens to person a paper that counters your champion abilities, you’re astir apt screwed. Or not, if they conscionable hap to play it astatine the incorrect clip due to the fact that they’re arsenic clueless astir what you’re holding arsenic you are astir their hand. Worse, it seems reasonably wide that immoderate cards and factions are amended than others. That 10-card bounds implicit the full crippled is truthful brutal that the 2 other cards drawn by a spy tin beryllium perfectly game-changing. Thus, factions that are bully astatine generating paper draws – Northern Realms, Nilfgaard, and Monsters – are amended than those that don’t. And wrong those factions, you’ll mostly privation to see abilities that gully cards implicit those that don’t.

In addition, there’s a sizeable vexation astir tracking the crippled state. You’re fixed counters to people your spot full successful tens and ones, which is fiddly to commencement with. But arsenic soon arsenic you get effects similar commander’s horn and choky bond, spot totals tin emergence and autumn explosively, and there’s nary mode to people this different than recalculating your full spot with each and each paper play. In the archetypal video crippled this was each done automatically, making it easy, but here’s it’s a close royal pain, particularly fixed the mode paper effects tin heap connected paper effects, making it casual to miss thing and cipher a incorrect total.

Where to Buy

• Get it astatine Amazon
• Get it astatine IGN Store
• Get it astatine Hachette Boardgames
• Get it astatine No Loading Games

Originally posted:

Sep 17, 2025 10:00 pm