After the success of Hearthstone, it seems as if the legends of the gaming industry are ready to jump into the Card Game genre. Luckily, they probably have one of the best brands already to their name and they can build their game off of that titled Artifact. DOTA has been around for a decade and a half and it is probably one of the most well-known names in the gaming world.
Artifact is a card game which is based around everything DOTA. There will probably be a lot of changes to the game as it progresses and an eSports side to the game does not seem out of the question. Today, we will tell you everything we know about Artifact, the DOTA Card Game.
What is Artifact, the DOTA Card Game?
Artifact is the CCG card game which attempts to take the throne of the genre away from games such as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. What is quite unique about Artifact is that it tries to play like a DOTA game would.
There are three different game boards on your screen at any one time. This is supposed to play out like the three lanes do in DOTA. You need to use the three boards simultaneously to take out the enemy’s towers which will eventually expose the Ancient. Victory will be achieved once you have taken out the Ancient of the enemy. The game keeps on cycling between the three boards until an ancient has died.
The game seems quite complicated at first glance. Three boards, as opposed to one, can be quite a hassle and it makes us think about whether or not the game will be able to develop a substantial enough following with a skill cap so high.
Release Date, Heroes, Platforms, & Engine
The first thing to note is that Artifact will be F2P. This comes as no surprise since all of its competitors are also free to play games. Valve will probably find multiple ways to monetize the game and will end up making a hefty profit from all of the microtransactions.
The release date of Artifact is expected to be at some point in 2018. We can never be sure until we see the official announcement but some players have had a hands-on experience of the game. Chances are that there will be a public Beta before the game actually launches so that Valve can test the servers and ask for valuable feedback to balance the game.
One interesting thing to note is that Artifact will also be coming to mobile devices in 2019. Both an iOS and an Android version of the game will be released, which will be the first time that we see a mobile game which uses the Source 2 engine.
One interesting thing to note is the fact that there is no Workshop support for Artifact. Valve has always been open to modding and has even gone as far as to encourage it. Two of their most successful games were community made mods at first (Counter-Strike and Defense of the Ancients).
The fact that they are offering no Workshop support for Artifact seems to suggest that the mods will probably interfere with their payment model that they plan to use for the game.
Game Modes, Tournaments, & Everything Else
From what we know so far, there are many different game modes planned for Artifact. One of them is the draft mode and another one is the sealed deck mode. There is not much information available as to what is the difference between the two modes and which one of these will be used for competitive play, but it is good to see diversity in a CCG game nonetheless.
It has been confirmed that Artifact will be an online only experience. There is no single-player mode of the game apart from the tutorial. A tutorial is probably a very good idea since the game seems much more complex and demanding than the typical CCGs currently found in the market.
Moving on to the eSports side of things, Valve seems to be using their tried and true competitive model of DOTA 2. The compendium system will see a return in Artifact, albeit the name might be a little different. A percentage of the revenue generated from the Compendium will be fed to the prize pools at competitions.
There are going to be advanced spectating features available to the person who is watching the game such as the ability to browse through the decks of both of the players who are playing. All in all, Artifact seems to be quite ready to take on the challenge of becoming the next big eSports and Valve seem to be hell bent on making that goal a reality as well.
Lastly, considering the fact that Artifact is based on the DOTA universe, it is no surprise that there is a lot of diversity in the game. Players will have access to around 280 core cards and 44 Heroes upon release.
The Heroes will be divided into four different categories (suits) and all four of these will differ from one another. For example, black will be sneaky whereas Blue will be the mages. Green will be supports and Red will be warriors ready for intense melee combat.
Players will have to be quite careful when building their decks, as they will only be able to make use of two suits in any particular deck. The amount of strategy required for this game is absolutely mesmerizing and it will definitely be a game that is quite difficult to follow for the casual player.
That is everything we know about Artifact, the DOTA Card Game. If you have something to add, then let us know using the comments section below!
