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Hex: Shards of Fate

Genre Type: F2P MMO TCG
Platform Accessibility: Windows
Development By: Cryptozoic Entertainment/ Hex Entertainment

This free to play game is a classic trading card game meets MMO RPG where players must build up their own Champion character, level them up, equip them with gear acquired from various dungeon raids, build up their forces/deck with a variety of troops and special abilities and go up against other players and intelligent AI. With a number of unique mechanics and gameplay features Hex stands out from the crowd and offers complex strategy for experienced players and an intuitive system for those new to the genre.

Battles consist of two champions going head-to-head, using their cards and special attacks to try and reduce the opposing Champions hit points to zero and claiming victory. Players take it in turns to place cards onto the battlefield, done through a variety of “phases” where players must put the cards in their hand (chosen randomly from the full deck) into a “Chain” area showing which cards are about to be played, enabling combinations of cards to be played at the same time for greater effect and then passing on the phase to the next player. Here the player can add their own cards to the chain which can be used to counter any their oppositions actions, such as being able to buff their own deployed troop card before the enemy is able to cast a spell that would destroy it. These chains add a unique dynamic to gameplay and allows players to come up with a wide variety of possible combinations and tactical plays.

Players earn resources each turn to determine how many cards they can play, each card having a certain resource cost to be used. As well as this each card has a threshold that must be met, a prerequisite for every card made up of one or more coloured gems that can be increased by playing resource cards. Away from these the primary cards are Troop cards, your main offence and defence, Action cards that are used to buff, debuff, damage and heal both Troops and Champions in single use actions, as well as Constants which work as Actions but remain for the duration of the battle, and Artifacts to give unique troops and bonuses to a players forces.

There are 700+ different cards to make up a deck, earned through PVE campaign questing, dungeon instances, tournaments, purchased through the in game store and even traded by players or sold by them on the auction house; the ability to trade cards between players being a feature missing from many games in this genre. The cards themselves have a variety of unique features such as the ability to evolve into improved versions by using them and levelling them up, also converting them into a foil, shiny version of the card. Some Troop cards, the cards that are used to attack and defend the Champions, have sockets available to them where players can attach unique gems to the card to change its abilities and the way that card works when in battle.

HEX: shards of fate screenshot: