GWENT: Rogue Mage

I have been playing gwent since version 1.0 release quite regularly. I stoped playing 2 years ago, THIS game got me actually to get back to it. And for the Rouge Mage, it's great, I loved how mechanics were not to far from the original game. Game ocassionaly crashed but I haven't been loosing progress. I am a huge fan of the CDPR and their games and all the witcher related content, therefore I loved the game and almost maxed it out

In an attempt to emulate recent roguelike deck building games, The Gwent team at CDPR have re-engineered their unique multiplayer game into an hour long singleplayer bouts. Notable changes between the Online Gwent and Rogue mage seems to be the card selection; as in you no longer craft your original deck. Cards are offered and taken away from you a you progress along the adventure map. You'll be offered pre-set cards from a pool that is dependant on the deck you chose to start with. I want to believe this is a failure, as I know certain combos of cards can be incredibly game breaking. However, in my heart I understand it is set up this way so that balancing decks fairly is much easier, and in practice after playing a few hours of the game, much more fun and challenging. Having a broken combo right out the gate would be fun... for about 1 or 2 runs. Having to work with what you're given is so much more compelling and forces you to sacrifice good cards in hopes of streamlining the deck that you're 'editing'. Unlocking cards is done through a levelling system, where each level can either give you: New cards for a decks card pool, new spells for you to use in your matches and even new deck archetypes. The levelling appears slow at first, but after a run you will zip past 3 levels. This means you'll have access to at least a few new options whenever you boot up a new run. I have not reached the end game portion yet, so I cannot attest to how Rogue Mage solves replayability. The price is it's key selling point. For the price of real life booster pack you can be playing a fun, beautiful and challenging game. Negatives are that cards have different effects than its online counterpart for balancing reasons. Also, offer rewards for Online Gwent please. Overall, Rogue Mage is brilliant. This is a huge recommend for anyone who appreciates great art, card games or roguelikes. I'd still recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy and singleplayer games.

Rogue Mage is a single player mode of Gwent, the well known Witcher card game. The cards are the same and while many of them have had their rules changed in the multiplayer version, they remain untouched here. This mode features 'rogue' elements, adding new cards and treasures the further you progress in your run and also experience levels that will unlock new leaders, units, spells, potions and decks to help you and also offer new strategies you can experiment with. Every run is randomized and will end in one of three different bosses. Enemies are plenty, as are the possible nodes you can encounter. Once you beat the three bosses, you will earn a cinematic and a new difficulty mode which you can also customize by choosing 'curses' according to your preferences. The game is considered finished when you are delivered the last cinematic, after achieving three victories in the 'master' difficulty, though there is a 'grandmaster' level after that. Fun, intense, challenging, with an excellent soundtrack and very solid voice acting, I can only give this game 5 stars. Wish we get more of these !

If you like the online Gwent game but wished it had a more meaningful single player option then this is your game. It's pretty fun and I think it's good we have a game like this now. But some would probably have preferred something more akin to Thronebreaker which had more rpg elements.

The graphics of the world map are slightly pixelated, the game itself is a farcry from Thronebreaker, in that the story-line (or there lack of) leaves a lot to be desired. The game itself can be fun, in the same way a Hearthstone Adventure is fun, though frustrating encounters plague the game. As you progress through each "boss" at the end of the map, your deck kinda resets and you effectively start-over again. What you do gain is "levels" which unlock certain things you can do with your deck but it feels like they missed the mark because although you unlock levels, it feels lazy and as though you are just starting over again every single time you beat a boss. I don't think I'll be playing this game for long, it doesn't have much staying power. I would've preferred to have paid double the price to have better features and a more enjoyable experience.