play station official magazine

091

REVIEW

INFO
FORMATPS4
ETAOUT NOW
PUBCD PROJEKT RED
DEVCD PROJEKT RED

THRONEBREAKER:

THE WITCHER TALES

Taking a Geralternative approach to the collectible card game

Y

ou know how in fantasy epics like

Game Of Thrones everyone’s family

history is tangled and contested?

Thronebreaker comes with a lineage to

rival any of Westeros’ noble families. It goes

back to the ’90s, when Andrzej Sapkowski’s

The Witcher novels first introduced the

fictional card game of Gwent. This was

adapted into a minigame for The Witcher 3,

proving so popular it got its own standalone

title. A spin-off that, in turn, begat its own

spin-off – and thus Thronebreaker was born.

The game is inextricably tied the free-to-play

Gwent. There’s a link to download Gwent from

the Store in the main menu, and finding treasure

chests here unlocks cards for use in multiplayer

matches there. But what Thronebreaker is trying

to achieve is closer to The Witcher 3 – a story-

led single-player campaign, with memorable

characters, sharp dialogue, and a Rivian ton of

side-quests to complete.

That might sound like an odd fit for a game

which is ultimately about laying cards on a virtual

table. But Thronebreaker expands beyond the

card games, with an RPG-style world to explore.

You move from village to village, chatting with

NPCs, collecting resources, and generally getting

into trouble. This part of the game presents you

with a host of decisions, both moral (who will

you side with in this conflict?)

and tactical (what resources are

you willing to spend to help

them?). Whatever you choose,

the results are – in classic The

Witcher 3 fashion – often not

what you expected. Which is

where the cards come in.

CARD TIMES

The way this works isn’t too

dissimilar to a musical, where

moments of high drama cause

characters to spontaneously

break into song, except in

Thronebreaker they break into

a collectible card game instead.

It’s a simpler version

of Gwent than you might

remember from previous

games, streamlined by years

of tweaking. Each player plays

their cards, representing troops

and war machinery, into two

rows (rather than the original’s

three). Each card has a strength

value and a special ability. This

can be an attack, but it’s just

as likely to boost strength,

shuffle units from one row to

another, or summon another

card from the deck. You win by

having the most strength on

the board at the end of a round,

rather than eliminating your

enemy. A full game is played

over three rounds, meaning you

can let an early loss slip past

to boost your chances later.

This makes for a more nuanced

game than Hearthstone or

Magic, but it does mean

victories can feel less decisive.

As the backbone of a larger

game, though, it’s solid, and

an interesting alternative to

the combat system of most

RPGs. Paired with a story

bearing all the hallmarks of

its The Witcher heritage,

Thronebreaker earns a place

within its tangled family tree.

A REAL CARD @alexjayspencer

VERDICT

Power cards have

animated illustrations

that help to sell the

power you’re wielding.

Collectible card game plus story-

heavy RPG might not sound like

an appealing cocktail, but this

proves that they’re two great

flavours that can taste great

together. Alex Spencer