Immediately is a tragic day for card sharks who get pleasure from Gwent: The Witcher Card Recreation. The builders have introduced there will probably be no extra new playing cards added to the cell card sport in 2024, nor will there be on-line tournaments. Updates for the sport will develop into extra insular as builders are shuffled onto different tasks.
Haven’t any worry: Gwent isn’t going away simply but. There are nonetheless 72 playing cards deliberate for launch subsequent yr. After that, the sport will shift to a “seasonal” mannequin that rewards constructing decks in several methods. The builders additionally plan to permit the neighborhood to vote on balancing modifications. I’ve by no means been an enormous believer in design by committee, however I suppose it doesn’t actually matter for a sunsetting sport that isn’t receiving any new expansions. Don’t fear—the devs received’t permit the neighborhood to implement something too wild, and common month-to-month balancing will nonetheless happen for 2023.
CDPR launched a Gwent roguelike this yr, which is marketed on Steam as a standalone “growth” to the bottom card sport. Whereas the idea of Gwent: Rogue Mage sounded neat, it had a blended reception. Some individuals didn’t wish to go first in each match. Others thought that the sport was too simplified. Achievement hunters hated the RNG nature of the randomized occasions. However no less than Rogue Mage is a single-player sport. A dwell service like the bottom Gwent sport requires fixed workers, and CDPR has tons of tasks on the horizon.
The following-gen improve for Witcher 3 is coming later this month, and the subsequent Witcher sport is already being developed in Unreal Engine 5. The builders are additionally remaking the very first title within the sequence to really feel extra like an open world sport. So for those who benefit from the real-time fight and the general worldbuilding of the Witcher sequence, possibly it’s a very good factor that the cardboard sport is winding down.
And it’s not like Gwent was even one of the best ways to play the cardboard sport—the true OG will at all times be the model in Witcher 3.