LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA / DEVELOPER: RIOT GAMES / PLATFORM: PC, IOS, ANDROID / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Riot Games’ new digital collectable card game, set in the League of Legends universe, has left beta after three months and – spoiler alert – it’s awesome.
If you’re new to the genre, basically you build a deck and use it to block and attack your opponent. The player vs player game modes consist of ranked, unranked, and expeditions, which involves drafting together a deck over 15 rounds and attempting to win seven matches for big rewards. You can also have matches against the AI as well as do ‘challenges’ that act as the tutorials. These are well designed and make the game easy enough to get started. However, like any good card game, it’ll take a while before you learn the WTF moments of seeing a card you’ve never come across kill you in the blink of an eye and work out strategies.
The cards are split into seven different regions, with each region having 125 different cards. You can use up to two different regions to build your deck of 40 cards. Cards are split into units and spells. Each card has a mana cost and you earn a mana equal to what round it is. The aim of the game is to do 20 damage to opponents Nexus, before they deal it to yours.
The game is very generous for a free to play game. You can, and mostly like will, happily play this game without spending a penny. New cards can be bought with real money, but you also unlock them as you play and learn the game. You’re able to spend money on cosmetics as well, which is likely where it will make most of its money.
The game works beautifully on mobile and you’re able to transition between PC, phone or tablet mid game. The whole package is well presented, with detailed artwork on all the cards, small animations and well-designed menu system making deck building a doddle.
Say goodbye to your free time as this sets a new standard for online trading card games and will consume you. Whether you’re a veteran or new to genre, don’t sleep on it.
