Gwent Stands Alone: The Witcher’s Card Game Comes to Life

I love The Witcher series. The video games, the books…I love everything about the intricate world created by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and visually realized by CD Projekt RED. I love almost every aspect of the video game: the effect your choices have on the game’s outcome, the rich intensity of the cutscenes, the character development—well, honestly, every aspect of the game. The in-game strategy-based card game introduced in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, known as Gwent, was one of my favorite parts of the whole Witcher video game experience. When I heard last year that CD Projekt RED had a standalone version of my favorite card game in the works, I anticipated waiting a year or two to be able to play the finished product. When the beta was announced, I signed up immediately. With no current release date in sight, out of some insane miracle, (and after months upon months of waiting) I got accepted to a closed beta test of the game last month. My thoughts? I fucking love it.

The Card Game In The Witcher 3 video game, Gwent is a fun break from some of the tough and at times emotionally wrenching storylines; you play in-game characters as one of 4 factions in the Witcher universe, each of which has their own special abilities (for example, if you play using the Scoia’tael deck, you are able to select whether you or your opponent gets to make the first move).

The Moves

Every character card is assigned a number, and some may have their own abilities—like a medic, who can …