Shadowverse

Shadowverse is a collectible card game developed and published for PC, AND and iOS by Japanese studios – Cygames. The game is based on the free-to-play business model with optional microtransactions.

Mechanics

Shadowverse plays similarly to what one might experience in Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. A player can duel the AI or other players using collected decks of cards. At the beginning of each duel, players start with one mana point each, which they can use to play creature cards – these cards have predefined attack and defense stats, along with occasional additional abilities – and spells. One’s task during a duel is to reduce the other player's life points to zero using either creature or spell cards. Players get at their disposal seven character classes, each featuring a unique class card, and an ability, such as reinforcing spells with the fallen creatures’ souls. Decks implemented into the game can also include some neutral cards, available for all characters. Shadowverse delivers several hundred diverse cards representing different types, depending on how common they are – cards can be Brown, Silver, Gold, and Rainbow (Legendary). All the cards can be melted into the so-called Vials, which in turn can be used to create new cards.

The game features several mechanics, which distinguish Shadowverse from other collectible card games – the "Evolve" game mechanic allows players to grant their cards bonus stats and effects at the cost of evolution points purchased for a given amount of gold that players receive each turn, along with mana. The evolved creature can instantly charge on the enemy’s followers, however, it cannot target opponent’s life points directly. To spice things up a bit, players can evolve their followers a limited amount of times per duel. Interestingly enough, a player, who does not start the duel can not only evolve his followers 3 times instead of 2, but also employ the “Evolve” mechanic earlier than the opponent – developers wanted to balance the advantage that the so-called ‘first player’ usually has. The game also introduces the Amulets – cards played in the opponent’s area, providing a player who played them with passive effects until the Amulet is removed. Amulets cannot attack or be attacked, however, they can be destroyed, returned to player’s hand, or discarded as a result of some cards’ effects. Unlike other card games, Shadowverse does not allow players to interact during the opponent’s turn.

Game modes

The PC, AND and iOS release of Shadowverse allows players to duel one another in both ranked and non-committal matches. The game also features a story mode for each character class, as well as daily updated missions that allow players to unlock unique cards and additional boosters. The main aspects of the story are revealed in the tutorial, which also explains the game rules.

Technical aspects

One of the Shadowverse’s unique features are the unusual visuals, clearly inspired by Japanese manga aesthetics. During all the duels, the game makes heavy use of the audiovisual effects while all the cards are presented as full-size graphic arts that change with each follower’s evolution. During the campaign mode, characters speak Japanese and the cut-scenes feature static graphics, reminding those known from the visual novel genre. Players are accompanied by a high-quality soundtrack featuring separate themes for each class.

Last updated on 16 June 2017