I was looking forward to picking this one up ever since seeing Jesse Cox's Fan Friday on the game. Playing it myself, I got even more impressed by the game's mechanics and variety. There's a lot of interaction between the cards that makes it work on a vastly different level from other card games out there.

Even Gwent with its 2-3 rounds per match and different rows doesn't reach Age of Rivals' complexity. However, the game remains extremely simple and intuitive despite it all. Card texts are crystal clear and after the first two rounds you'll already have the hang of the basic rules and design intentions, if not the finer strategical details. Go big on cash generation, excessive culture output or just keep the opponent down with devastating attacker cards? There are many ways to win and enough flexibility to adapt on the fly, due to it being a deck builder game. Synergies have to be planned for in advance to succeed in the later rounds, which is oddly satisfying to pull off.

It feels inviting while offering a lot of strategic considerations that could make this game successful on a competitive level. For the time being though, I'm just happy being able to play it a couple of times a day for leisure. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Age of Rivals.

I was looking forward to picking this one up ever since seeing Jesse Cox's Fan Friday on the game. Playing it myself, I got even more impressed by the game's mechanics and variety. There's a lot of interaction between the cards that makes it work on a vastly different level from other card games out there. Even Gwent with its 2-3 rounds per match and different rows doesn't reach Age of Rivals' complexity. However, the game remains extremely simple and intuitive despite it all. Card texts are crystal clear and after the first two rounds you'll already have the hang of the basic rules and design intentions, if not the finer strategical details. Go big on cash generation, excessive culture output or just keep the opponent down with devastating attacker cards? There are many ways to win and enough flexibility to adapt on the fly, due to it being a deck builder game. Synergies have to be planned for in advance to succeed in the later rounds, which is oddly satisfying to pull off. It feels inviting while offering a lot of strategic considerations that could make this game successful on a competitive level. For the time being though, I'm just happy being able to play it a couple of times a day for leisure. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Age of Rivals.