Developer: PlayFusion
Publisher: PlayFusion
Platform: Switch, PC
Tested on: Switch
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions – Review
Trading Card Games have been around for ages. It’s always fun to open up that one Booster Pack and find a card that you really want or trade cards with someone else. While this is a fun hobby, it does have a few drawbacks. First it can get quite expensive if you get carried away and second you need to find people in your area to play with. Ever since video games rose in popularity, so did the transition from physical to digital. Popular franchises such as Pokémon and Magic The Gathering have found their way on the digital platform and thanks to both of them being free to play online and Pokémon has the ability to redeem codes you get from Booster Packs, it is a nice deal for both collectors and gamers. With this in mind, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions has been created. It’s a free to play game that like the other TCG titles allows for redeeming of codes and in-game purchases.
Story
This Warhammer game starts with a three-part tutorial. During these sessions you will get introduced to the game and how it is played. This is essential to the story since you will be following the path of the Realm Trials, which will pit you against many opponents that want to test your skill. Beside the Realm Trials, there isn’t really a story line. You will start out with the Order deck but soon after, you unlock many styles of decks and it doesn’t really follow a specific route. Not really a missed opportunity since this type of game are made to be played online against others and prefer to invest time into deck building rather than incorporating a storyline.
Graphics
Overall, the game looks amazing; it has a simple user-friendly interface and navigating through menus goes quite well. As the art for the cards has been very nicely crafted, you will enjoy playing with all sorts of decks just to discover all the nice artworks. Effects in the game are also pretty cool with flame effects, damage and health and blood flying around. The whole package is just great to look at and enjoyable to play.
Sound
As most Warhammer games are set in a more medieval setting, the music is periodically correct. The war drums play loudly, awakening the urge to bash an Orc or burn some witches. The music is ok but nothing special, it can get pretty repetitive as it plays through menus and matches the like, it would have been more interesting to have dedicated combat and menu music.
Gameplay
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Champions is an online Trading Card Game that is free to play. You begin the game with a three-part tutorial in which you get to learn the ropes and every aspect of the game is explained to you. After this you are given your first deck to play with. As this is a free to play TCG, you will start out small but can always fill up your collection by redeeming physical cards and buying decks and packs through microtransactions or by currency earned through playing. Don’t worry: you will unlock many decks to fiddle around with, this is thanks to the richly filled Realm Trials. In this mode you fight many opponents to learn the game, unlock stars for extra bonuses and a handful of decks to play around with. Controlling the game goes very smoothly, navigating through menus and using actions are always clearly shown so you are properly informed at all times.
The match starts with choosing the deck you want to play with and then the champions are set in place. You have four champions and their placing is important because some will boost champions right next to them and other moves are in certain directions only. The way that Warhammer differs compared with traditional TCG is how the rounds progress. Cards have corners and after each round they get turned, which will influence what happens and how much damage is done. Champions also have quests and when these are completed, you get a strong card that is set on the champion, so it is important to keep an eye on quickly fulfilling their quotas. Probably the most important new mechanic is how cards are drawn. Each turn you have two action points and if you use a card, this costs an action point. Now, each unspent action point can be used to draw a card, so sometimes you will need to decide if you want to draw cards or use them. As cards get rotated, they will leave the match after a few rounds, so take this in consideration when drawing and using cards in order not to end up with an empty bench. This all can be much to take in at first, but luckily the game starts out easy and slightly increases difficulty as it progresses.
Conclusion
Nothing bad can be said of a free game such as this. The game looks good and plays very smoothly, it is only strange that the Switch won’t accept the pro controller as an input. With the Realm Trials, you will unlock a few decks to play around with, so you don’t have to invest real money into the game. It has a rather unique twist on gameplay that will have you plan your moves a bit differently than in traditional Trading Card Games. Don’t worry about a difficulty curve, the main mode will teach you how to play on a steady pace while discovering new decks and builds. If there is one thing to nitpick about it is the rather bland music, but again what can you expect from a free-to-play title.
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