Why Early Access?

“RELIQUARY is a competitive card game, and a competitive card game is only as good as the matches people actually play with it. I can test the rules engine on my own, and I do — but solo testing doesn't find the deck that warps the format, the card whose wording turns out ambiguous in a real match, or the interaction nobody saw coming.

I'm building this on my own. Early Access lets me put the game in front of real opponents and fix what actually matters instead of what I guess matters. Balance, the banlist, the pace of a match, and which archetypes come next are all things I would rather shape together with the people playing than announce to them afterwards.

The game is playable start to finish today. It is not finished, and I would rather say that
plainly than quietly sell an unfinished game as a finished one.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I'm planning on roughly 12 months in Early Access.

That's an estimate, not a promise. How long it actually takes depends on how the card pool grows and how long the format takes to settle into something I'm happy to call finished.
If it needs longer, it will take longer — I'd rather leave Early Access late than early.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“I plan to grow the game in three directions:

More cards. The card pool is the heart of a TCG. I plan to keep adding archetypes and
standalone cards.

More to play alone. I plan to expand the solo side well past the current opponents — more AI opponents with decks of their own, and structured challenges to work through.

Getting started, and staying. A real tutorial, better onboarding for players new to this kind of game, and quality-of-life work like deck import/export and match history are all on my list.

Alongside all of that, the rules engine, card balance and the banlist will keep moving in
response to what the format actually looks like in practice. ”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is playable end to end: you make an account, build decks, and duel other players online or take on AI opponents on your own.

What's in right now:

• over 400 cards across multiple archetypes, plus a separate Extra Deck of many boss monsters
("Reliquaries") with their own summoning conditions
• Online duels against other players through matchmaking
• Solo duels against multiple AI opponents, each with their own deck
• A deck builder with filtering, card search and live banlist enforcement
• Card packs, a currency you earn by playing, and crafting — so you can build toward a
specific card instead of only hoping for it

Matches are run by the server rather than by your client, which keeps the ruleset consistent for both players.

What isn't in yet: there is no tutorial. The card pool is large enough for real deckbuilding but smaller than a mature TCG's. Expect balance patches and the occasional banlist change, and expect bugs. Please report them.

One note about an online game in Early Access: the size of the player pool decides how fast you find a match. The solo opponents are there so the game still gives you something to do when the queue is quiet.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We plan to add a way to get cosmetics for the game by buying them with real Money.
The game by itself will stay free to play.
Everything in the game — cards, packs, currency — will still be earnable by playing. ”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“There's a feedback button in the main menu — it sends your message straight to me, no forum account or bug tracker needed. That's the shortest path I could build between playing the game and telling me what's wrong with it, and I read all of it.

I'm one person, so I can't promise a reply to everything. But this is a small enough project that a single well-argued post can genuinely change what I build next, and I intend to keep it that way for as long as I can.”