Play Battlegrounds of Eldhelm

Playing it on Steam as well as on my tablet. Simple game to get into, easy to pick up & put away, very beautiful hand-crafted art, not really pay2win.

Who is this game for?
If you want to try a CCG for the first-time, or if you're a CCG player looking for something simple.

What's good about it?
Very easy to play for a bit then put away, simple game to get started with, beautiful graphics, it's not really p2w.
It is a tablet-port, but it's really not that noticeable or disruptive.

How does the game work?
I would suggest giving the tutorial a shot. It's fairly short but gives you a good understanding of the game.

Each player has an amount of energy points, these are used to play cards. Each card has a energy cost and there are cards that can affect your or your enemy's energy.

Each round consists of 5 phases

• Draw phase
  
• Equip phase
  
• Attack/Defense phase
  
• Discard phase
  
• Battle

Players take turn playing out the phases, ie. first player goes through draw, equip, attack and discard phase, then the other player goes through draw, equip, defense and discard phase (while seeing the other players attack cards laid out). Then the battle commences.

Draw phase: In this phase you draw cards from either the random deck or from your collector deck. Either player can draw from the random deck. Your hand can have at most 5 cards, and you can draw at most 3 cards at a time.

Equip phase: During this phase you can use equipment cards from your deck. They give different bonuses to stats such as; +damage, +defense, -enemy energy, etc.

Battle phase works as follows; the damage, defense and healing of each players cards are summed up, then the reduce damage, reduce defense, etc. of each players cards are subtracted, and what's left is the damage caused to each player.

When a match is over, the cards that you've played from the random deck are added to your card stash and then you can choose to transfer them to your collector deck. This is one way to acquire cards.

Simple enough, right?

Character creation
When you start playing the game you get to create a character by choosing one of the three races; human, orc or elf.
Humans have two classes to choose from; knight and rogue.
Orcs only have one class; warrior.
Elves have two classes to choose from; archer and mage.
Your race/class choice affects your characters stats and there are some cards that can only be used by specific classes.
Then you choose between a few alternatives to configure the appearance of your portrait.

Eventually your character will level up, and your character stats increase.

Simplicity
This is a very simple CCG; but what does that mean?
It is a game that is very easy to learn and the matches do not take a lot of time to play out.
Cards are easy to understand; cards either affect damage, defense, health or energy. There are a few special card effects like bleed and poison.
The only real difference between cards are the energy points they cost to play and the amount they affect a stat.

Singleplayer
There is a singleplayer campaign that you can play through and after that there are daily quests and some sidequests too.
If you're bored just playing against AI, you can throw yourself into the

Multiplayer
There are a few different multiplayer modes to try out; Arena, Challenge, Slay the Beast
Arena Your opponent is chosen at random. You will use only a special random deck! You will have to complete 5 arena or challenge matches to get ranked, then you will start gaining score points.
Challenge You will have to invite your opponent from a lobby. You will have to complete 5 arena or challenge matches to get ranked, then you will start gaining score points.
Slay the Beast Players fight simultaneously against a very powerful boss-like enemy. The ones who survive and those who injure the beast the most will get a rich reward.

Before people blow up the comments on this review, I played this game before it was on Steam which is why my playtime is practically nonexistent.

Details of gameplay are mentioned as applicable to each section.

PROS:
+ Simpler gameplay than MMDoC, MtG, or Hearthstone might appeal to those who find such games too complicated. There are currently no effects (poison, lifesteal, retaliation, etc.) At its core, BoE has damage (as well as bonus damage, which is added to damage only if it's dealt), defense, and healing. Defense is subtracted from damage for each player and the net total is applied. Healing then heals any missing health. That's all there is to it.
+ Novel and not P2W card system--gameplay works like this: The game generates a random deck of cards for you in each game, depending on skill levels and other factors. Initially, you will draw all your cards from here. At the end of a match, any cards you played get added to your "Stash". Cards in your stash can then be added to a "Collector's Deck" (which is an alternate deck you can choose to draw from during a match) or can be converted to gold (used to buy other cards). Therefore it's sometimes recommended to avoid playing a beneficial card in order to save enough energy/mana to play a rare card just so you can keep it.
+ Some RPG-like elements. Levelling gives you stat points which you can apply to your hero in order to increase things like energy, hitpoints, regeneration, etc. This helps reduce some of the RNGsus-ness from the game as you'll have a noticeably easier time defeating certain opponents if you've applied your points in a constructive way.
+ Nice music
+ A developer/company rep is currently active in the forums. Currently there are only a few posts there so I don't know how long that'll last but it's always nice to see someone around and feel like you're being heard.

CONS:
- That simple gameplay feels redundant after a while and may not be appealing to more experienced TCG players.
- Less variety than other games. In terms of playable classes, MMDoc has six factions, MtG has five, and Hearthstone has nine. This game has three, and they form sort of a rock-paper-scissors triangle. In terms of card variation, the lack of game mechanics more complicated than direct damage means practically every card either heals, adds mana, does damage, or adds defense.
- There's very little room for strategy formation or planning. A turn consists of drawing cards (until you have five), equipping a card (an ongoing spell, if you will), playing two cards, and then discarding zero or one card. There are no permanents; most equipped cards last 4-6 turns before disappearing. Where BoE deviates from most other games is in the combat. You don't have creatures that exist on the battlefield so much as you have cards that deal damage for a turn (occasionally two or rarely three) and are then discarded. Therefore, the only real planning takes place when deciding when to play a card that lingers for more than a turn. For example, you might have a card that deals bonus damage and last two turns and another card that deals normal damage but only lasts one turn. If you don't have enough mana to play both, you'd have to play the bonus damage first (it wouldn't do anything without normal damage to add to) and play the normal damage card the next turn, at which point the bonus damage would take effect once before disappearing. That's really all there is for strategy though; the main goals in this game are keeping your health up (so your opponent can't one-hit you) and making sure you have enough cards that deal normal damage (since there's quite an abundance of cards that deal bonus damage and you never seem to have enough cards you can use them with).
- You can only play as one class. If you'd like to try either of the other two, you need to pay real money. This is frustrating since it means you'll have to play on various guest accounts to really test out strategies and get a feel for which hero is for you.
- Some balance issues exist

Overall rating: 6.5/10, it's worth giving it a shot if you're not typically a TCG player. For the rest of us though, Battlegrounds of Eldhelm feels wanting of more complex gameplay.

From what I've played so far, this game is enjoyable. It's a very nice card game that is simple to understand and has decent graphics especially considering it's free and non-P2W. It also seems original and really does make you feel like you're actually there.

~Pros
+Beautiful Graphics
+Classes
+Sub-Classes
+Non-P2W
+EU and US located servers
+Simple to Understand
+Singleplayer, Multiplayer and Daily Quests
+Barely any performance issues (such as lag)

~Cons
-Games can sometimes be a bit slow (I don't mean in terms of lag)
-Sometimes there is a wait between moves eventhough you're playing against AI
-Easy to accidentally skip parts of text in the Tutorial

Out of the F2P card games I've tried, this one easily stands alone. I'm the epitome of a casual player when it comes to these type of games so I enjoy that there is a fleshed out single player campaign. Without spending a dime I feel as though I'm slowly progressing forward and enjoying myself. If I find myself playing a week from now I may spend a bit on cards just to support the dev.

At the price tag, there's no reason not to give it a try.

before reading: It's free, it's balanced, it's 100 mb and it's not pay to win. Play the game.

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I always wanted a card game where you controll only 1 character and the cards are your actions and I was glad to find this on steam but I had never expected such a good game.

This is the most balanced card game I have ever played. It's is not as much luck based as it is strategy based.
When you level up you level up good and yet I found myself having a hard time fighting a level 2 in multiplayer while I was level 10.

A lot of depth in strategy , a ton of things to do like some good game modes to play and quests etc and a hell of a good game.

Note: I play all kinds of games. Also love card games like MTG etc

Battlegrounds of Eldhelm, is not a bad game, its definitely not the best card game on Steam either though. I think its pretty generic, but the actual gameplay feels a bit unique compared to many of the other card games on Steam at the moment. I have got to say though I have not noticed any major flaws. I haven't played the game long, and probably wont, but I have got to say any fan of digital card games, should atleast give it a go. I dont know if you will like it or not, but its so small there is pretty much nothing to lose if you try.

Casual. Free. And surprisingly fun.

Pros:
- Free.
- Love the graphics (card design)
- Love that I can play Single if I want to.
- The combos!

Cons:
- A bit confusing at first but you'll eventually get the hang of it.
- Kinda slow and there are times I'm getting "Waiting for player" message quite a lot.
- Overlapping UI (while I was finding a match in Arena, I tried clicking the Game of Luck. Then the match started and for some reason, the Game of Luck window won't close and covering the arena that I ended up abandoning the game.

But regardless of these cons, the game is entertaining enough for me to spend hours playing. I do hope that this game would remain "free" and would not end up requiring to pay real money to enjoy the game completely.

Wishlist:
- More / new cards
- More combos

This is a rather simple and casual CCG with pretty much no complexity. You don't really have to strain your brain on this one, game requires very minimal thinking due to the lack of card effects, but more so on that later.

Once you beat the tutorial you'll have to create a character (you have to pay real money if you want to have more then one character). You can pick between 3 different races (Orcs, Humans, Elves). Orcs have only one class which is Warrior, Humans have Knight and Rogue while Elves have Archer and Mage. Each class has different stats and different class-specific cards it can use.

The main problem in this game is the previously mentioned lack of complexity. Pretty much all cards will do one of the following: Deal damage to enemy, Increase your defense, Decrease enemy defense, Heal you, Increase your energy (mana), Decrease enemy damage. The only difference between those cards is the energy cost and the numeric value of their effect and the fact that some of them will do multiple of those effects. Due to that there's very minimal amount of strategy and thinking involved with this game.

In the match, you'll have Random Deck and Collector Deck. You can draw cards from either of them during the Draw Phase. Once the match is over the cards that you used from Random Deck are added to your Stash and you can then transfer cards from Stash to your Collector Deck. You can only have 10 cards in your collector deck when your character is level one, but you gain more slots in collector deck as you level your character up.

When your character levels up you can increase his HP, Energy, Regeneration (heal per turn), Might (extra damage) or Resistance (extra defense). This is an interesting feature, but if you get matched against enemy who's level is higher then yours you'll be at disadvantage (I haven't played enough to know how good is their match making system).

Now would I recommend this game? I don't know really. I wish the game had more complexity to it but maybe it will have in the future. I'd say if you're a fan of CCG's or are interested in them and what you've read in this review didn't make you not want to ever try this game, then do give it a try. After all it's free and only about 100 MB to download so if nothing else it's worth giving a try. Just do keep in mind you're likely to find it boring if you're not into casual games.

I must say, it's a really good game. After i read the negative reviews I thought "Wow, it must be really ♥♥♥♥♥♥", but after I played it for a while, I have to say, it is really good. I like it even more than Hearthstone and Duel of Champions.

Mechanics are really simple, tutorial explains EVERYTHING + you get ingame help.
It's easy... yeah, it is, but that's a good thing. Also i really like the "Slay the Beast" mode idea. I haven't played it yet, but i can imagine how it looks like (Co-Op against some super ultra strong enemies). And the music, well, it's ♥♥♥♥ing EPIC.

I'm not good at reviewing games, so i'll just say this: Go and play it for yourself, it IS worth.

So...

Gameplay ++
Music +++
Difficulty +
Design +++

Expensive Card Packs -
AI moves are really slow -
Kinda long loadings -

It's an indie trading card game with role-playing elements build in - and it's great.
You "collect" cards from a random stack while battling. The cards in the random stack is based on your race and class. You can keep cards (only ones you have used) in a seperate stack of cards to be used in battle along side the random stack, so you can keep all your most powerful cards at hand when you really need them.

Your actual hero is customizable every time you level up - life regen, more energy, or hitpoints, etc. Furthermore, later on you can train your hero skills that effect the battle in certain ways. These, as far as I can tell, can all be done without paying any money. A booster pack of new cards cost 1,500 gold. You can earn about 2,000 gold free every day from daily missions, not including any dueling or campaign mission rewards.


So far, I would totally recommend this game over any other TCG I've played.
The ONLY downside that I've noticed is the actual user-interface and menu navigation is sometimes confusing. Just stick with it, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your time

A very addictive game with a brandnew way of dealing with TCGs.
The gameplay is quite fast and the possibilities quite large if you adding the possible combo moves. It's hard to master but it's quite a nice way to kill time.

This is such a fun game that by the time I write this I did not even notice I had passed over 2 hours playing this.

Now, here is the bad right away, it CAN be difficult in the beginning, just because of the luck factor in the game; but on the other side of that sepectrum, this game is NOT, I repeat, NOT PAY TO WIN. You can play using the cards you get from battles or whatever you get in the randomized deck. That is the beauty about this game, the fact that it has more luck rather than who spends the most to win.


The graphics and artwork on cards is very detailed and really fits the fantasy-esque feel for the game.


But the bad thing about this game is it can feel dull and over repetitive. There is no real story and the campaign is simply you fighting random AI over and over again. Then after you beat campaign, you are left with multiplayer, which would not be bad, but there hardly seems to be players on and/or willing to play.


If you enjoy TCG and wanna kill some time, I recommend you pick this title up and give it a shot for yourself.
But if you are looking for a RPG with story but some card elements, then you might wanna look somewhere else.

Over all the game is fun. It would be nice to see them to add a lot more cards so you dont see 5 of the same card in one match. Visually it looks very nice

Okay game. It's robust but it's very dull. I hope there could be more excitement instead of life point subtraction and addition. I really hope that there could be more variety. It's a good game but it could be better.

PROS
1. Clean Design
Simple to understand. Easy to learn.

2. Campaign
Still playing. This is the part that I hope to see its shine. There are more cards as you progress but it is not a campaign. It's just AI fights over with no story.


CONS
1. Not engaging enough
It feels very boring. Cards like "Lacerate" which deal X damage, just seem so dull. The cards don't create a story and they seem part of a boardgame even. E.g. Healing Potion, heal 4 damage.

2. Details of every combat round
Please do not keep asking me to skip the mathematics of each round. They are just addition and subtraction. They are not even cut scenes.

3. Having 3 standard races
Human, Orcs and Elves? Again? I can guess the next expansions. Dwarves, Undead, Drow.

I rather enjoyed this game, though it does have major faults.

First is the lack of longevity. (personally it took me 2 days to beat the solo campaign and after beating it you're only left with multi-player)

Second would be the lack of players for multi-player. This is especially true for those next to your level bracket. It makes it hard to even find a match at all, and forget about finding a well balanced one.

Third would be the length of time between tournaments, I have yet to participate in one and I been waiting just over a month for news about when the next one will be, (they still haven't posted it yet)

Even though these may be only 3 faults listed, they are in fact hefty ones. Even though I did enjoy this game for the few days it took me to complete the campaign, the fact is, after the first 2 days the action quickly came to a Halt, where its been ever since.

Worst Card Game i have ever played the tutorial seemed very clear on how to play but once you go to play the campaign or online it plays nothing like the tutorial and you'll be going in circles for a long time dealing almost no damage I got my opponent down to like 10 hp after about 3 hours only for them to heal it all in one turn.....this game is completely unbalanced

great card games but might and magic duel of champion is better !!

A little confusing at first, but fun as hell when you get the hang of it. Another time consumer in the vault

Muito bom, tanto no quesito de gráficos quanto no de jogabilidade!
O que mais me chamou a atenção nele é o fato de ser realmente um Free Game, não precisando gastar dinheiro para ter cartas melhores!

Too slow, i think :/