Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

How CD Projekt’s standalone story mode will crack the card-game genre wide open

- Jakub Szamalek

Despite its apparent status as a diversion in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – just another thing to do in a game, and a world, that was full of them – for many, Gwent became the main event. Players sunk hours into the one-on-one card duels, prompting CD Projekt Red to green light this fully fledged standalone game. Gwent has been playable for months in beta form, its core strategy and combo-building momentum – the goal, to win two out of three rounds by accumulating the most points with the cards you play – now beautifully presented and infused with new mechanical dynamism.

So far, so shiny new addition to a venerable genre. But CD Projekt Red’s sights are set higher. Set some time before the events of The Witcher III, forthcoming single player campaign Throne breaker casts you as Meve, Queen of Lyria and Rivia, and tells of her fight for the Northern Realms in the face of an invasion, using a mix of third person exploration, branching dialogue and specially crafted mechanics in its narrative card battles.