Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

In-game screenshot, prior to the release of the Homecoming Update[6]

Gwent is a turn-based card game between two players, with each game taking three rounds. Each player must play one card each turn from a deck of at least twenty-five cards. Each deck belongs to a faction that offers different play styles. Each faction has different "leaders" who each have individual abilities. As Gwent does not use a mana system like most traditional CCGs, card advantage is often what wins the game.

The Homecoming Update,[6] which was released in conjunction with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, changed the game in a number of ways. The leader is no longer a playable card; it now gives the player an ability, and dictates how many mulligans are available to the player throughout the course of a match. The limits on how many gold and silver cards can be in a deck has been removed. Deckbuilding now uses a Recruit Cost system. Decks have a Recruit Cap of 165, with each card in the game having a Recruit Cost associated with it. The update also removed the siege row from the play area, leaving only the melee row and the ranged row. A new card type, artifacts, was added to the game. These do not contribute points to your side of the board but offer varying abilities.

The goal is to win two of three rounds by playing cards and spells to gain points called "power" on the board. A player wins a round by having more points on board than their opponent. Rounds end when either both players pass to the next round, or when both players run out of cards. The first to win two out of three rounds wins the game.

Round wins go toward daily rewards, awarding players with card packs known as "kegs," scraps, meteorite dust, or ore. Players can gain additional cards by buying kegs with ore or through microtransactions; each keg contains five cards, with the upside that the fifth is rarer than the rest and a choice between three is offered. Cards can also be crafted with scraps. Premium versions of cards can be crafted with meteorite dust. Ore is used to buy kegs.

The game features several modes of gameplay. The standard Casual Play mode allows players to challenge one another, whereas in Rank Play players compete in order to increase in a tier-ladder system. Ranked takes place across a month-long season, where players aim to increase in rank to increase end-of-season rewards. Player ranks do not degrade once earned, and work on a numerical system from 1-21, before entering into the top 1,000. Players are also assigned a matchmaking rating, which respectively increases or decreases as a player wins and loses games. Gwent has also had multiple seasonal events, inviting players to take part in themed events with premade decks. These events functioned like puzzles, where exact moves had to be made to win. Seasonal events normally award a player profile picture, border as well as a title.

It featured cross-platform play between the PC and console versions, although platform play between the console versions was not supported.[7][8]

The game had an estimated 100 staff members working on it.[9] Following an open beta release in May 2017, it was officially released for Windows in October 2018, and was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on December 4, 2018. A standalone, single-player campaign mode, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, was also released alongside Gwent.[10]

In March 2019, CD Projekt Red announced that Gwent would be launching on mobile devices later that year. Jason Slama, the game's director, said that the team's vision for bringing the game to them combined the best they had to offer both in terms of "graphics and gameplay".[11] It released for iOS on October 29, 2019[12] and Android on March 24, 2020.[13]

Support for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game was ended in June 2020.[5]

Gwent was nominated for "Most Promising New eSports Game" at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards[15] and for "Best Polish Game Art" at the 2019 Digital Dragons Awards.[16]

• Official website