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The card game to the role-playing game to the online game to enjoy

“Gwent”, the card game that originated as a mini-game inThe Witcher 3 was one of the many highlights of this masterpiece for me, while the multiplayer spin-off Gwent: The Witcher Card Game from 2016 was just a symptom of the collectible card game hype that began sometime in 2015 and spawned a multitude of mediocre to bad games. All of them tried to profit from the boom in the genre and the player numbers of the leading game Hearthstone . As I was still spending a lot of time playing Blizzard's grind mill at the time the Witcher-variant was released, I didn't even touch the game despite the free-to-play model. Perhaps that was also the reason why I only later came across Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales - the single-player version of the online spin-off of the mini-game from The Witcher 3. The development process doesn't seem very dynamic from the outset, but more like an attempt at a simple cash grab à la The Elder Scrolls: Legends or Fable Legends. I mean, seriously, the games even have the same name! So it was with correspondingly low expectations that I sat down to play the single-player release ... and was surprised. Thronebreaker is actually a very entertaining game, and that's mainly because of the story.

Witcher? Never heard of it... - The game world

The good news first: even without ever having read a Witcher-book or played one of the games, you can understand what happens in Thronebreaker's plot. The story revolves around Queen Meve of Rivia, who is caught unaware by the attack of the Nilfgardian Empire at the beginning of the story and has to reclaim her kingdom. Her campaign takes her through the forests of Aedirn, which are inhabited by the non-human rebels of the Scoia'tael, across the icy Mahakam Mountains of the dwarves and the monster-ridden swamps of Angren. The premise is simple, the revenge plot easy to follow and the non-readers will be delighted by the supposedly simple division between the good north and the evil south in the form of the Black Clads from Nilfgard.

Supposedly, mind you, because in the spirit of the Witcher-Universums werden wir andauernd vor schwierige Entscheidungen gestellt, die Thronebreaker wie bei den Telltale-Spielen jedes Mal mit der Einblendung „You’ve chosen one evil in favor of another“ quittiert. So hilft uns beispielsweise eine Gruppe von Händlern, die uns während einer Belagerung die Tore der Stadt öffnen und den Kampf dadurch deutlich erleichtern. Im Gegenzug verlangen sie aber nach der gewonnenen Schlacht, dass wir Nichtmenschen die Mitgliedschaft in den Gilden verbieten. Brechen wir unser Wort , um für mehr Gleichberechtigung zu sorgen und lenken den Zorn der menschlichen Bevölkerung auf uns, oder geben wir nach und gewähren den Wunsch der Rassisten?

The game is almost overflowing with these moral decisions, which repeatedly confront us with situations in author Andrzej Sapkowski's grim fantasy world in which we have to weigh up right and wrong, or profit and loss, which adds an exciting spice to the narrative. Moreover, our decisions always have consequences, sometimes directly, sometimes a few chapters later. In the example above, I complied with the demands. The merchants were satisfied, non-humans were pissed and in conversation with her traveling companions, Meve commented on what had happened in line with my assessment that refusing would not have stopped the general racism. However, this decision understandably didn't sit well with one dwarven companion and he left my troop without further ado. “Done”, you might think. But the characters who join us along the way are not only useful in the story events, where they unlock certain options. They are also particularly powerful in battles as elite cards with special effects. So every time you make a decision, you'll think three times about who you're going to piss of next.

The agony of choice - the gameplay

Aside from the companions, who are all interestingly written and are also given more depth outside of the campaign map in our camp through short dialogs, our decisions are influenced by two other factors: the morale of our soldiers and our resources. The former consists of three levels: red, yellow and green and influences the values of our cards in battle - more on this later. In general, the effects of decisions in the game world are always displayed. If we help the old woman with a small donation of money to repair her war-damaged farm, this increases the morale of the troops, but also costs us gold and wood. Apart from new recruits, these are the only resources we can obtain during our campaign as loot along the way or rewards for winning battles and making decisions. And we urgently need them to upgrade our camp.

At the touch of a button, we enter our encampment, where we can chat with our companions, put together our deck, train against the AI or buy upgrades. These range from less useful (Meve moves more quickly in the campaign view) to armor bonuses in battle and new cards. To unlock the latter, we first have to build the corresponding dwellings and then craft the actual troops. And that costs a lot. During my playthrough, I tried to let a balanced mixture of altruism and self-interest guide my decisions, and yet by the end of the game I had only upgraded just under half of my camp. A real annoyance for me as an old collecting fox, but probably intended by the developers as an additional challenge and renewed weighting of the decisions. However, I was rather frustrated that I couldn't try out all the cards, especially since the game doesn't want you to stockpile. Twice in the course of the story, I lost my painstakingly saved resources in one fell swoop. One time through my own fault, after deserters I had previously been merciful to ran off with my gold, the other time my wood when a scripted avalanche rolled over me. The word “pissed” wasn't an expression then, because since there's only the autosave, I couldn't undo it.

If you liked this game, you might also like... - Single- meets multiplayer

Events like this make Thronebreaker, feel like it wants to be played several times. On the one hand, of course, because of the decisions and their impact on the story - the what-ifs are a major fascination factor. But also because of the effects on the game world, in which we unlock interaction points. In general, the visuals of Thronebreaker must be praised, as the cell-shading look and the comic-like quality are really very well done. There is movement everywhere, there is a lot to discover and the overview map, which is based on medieval window panoramas, is really a stylish feast for the eyes with its church window aesthetics and detailed illustrations.

Although the game world appears very expansive at first glance, and there are always branches that invite you to explore, you quickly notice the predetermined linearity that Thronebreaker clearly sets out for you. Running around in the world is fun and the many interaction points ensure that deviating from the route never gets boring. There are also a few hidden chests to be found along the way, the location of which we first have to discover using treasure maps. Their contents are disappointing, however, as the first time we play through the game they only contain cards and portrait frames for the online version of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. And that's one of my biggest criticisms. Because it's only on the second playthrough that they contain resources that you really need for the actual game.

Of course, I understand that it makes sense from a publisher's point of view for both games to be closely interlinked, after all they serve the same clientele. People who want to play Gwent against other players are happy about a few goodies and multiplayer grouches get an incentive to maybe check it out. Nevertheless, I see the whole thing as rather problematic. On the one hand, from my personal point of view, because as a collector's fan I enjoyed looking for these little chests - only to be disappointed that I couldn't make any use of them. On the other hand, however, because the online version, similar to Hearthstone or even Magic, for example, will continue to develop and the cards from Thronebreaker, which may be useful now, will be outdated in a few months or years anyway. It is likely that a possible successor - after all, the game has “Tales” in its name - will rely on a similar system. But these cards too will inevitably become obsolete at some point. Of course, this is a problem that the developers will have to deal with. In the meantime, however, this has made the collectables hunt rather disheartening for me.

It's time to duel! - The combat system

Apart from the story, what particularly captivated me, which brings us to the long-awaited main subject of this review, are the matches. In many ways, the gameplay is still similar to the well-known mini-game from The Witcher 3: we build a deck, start the match with ten cards in our hand, are allowed to swap cards six times before the start of each round and draw three cards at the end of each round. The winner is the player who wins two of the three rounds; we receive points from our warriors on the field. We can distribute these across two rows and the total points decide the winner of the round. With Thronebreaker here too does the old rule apply that it is often wiser to concede a round to your opponent and save your precious cards rather than trying to win by any means necessary, only to run out of steam for the final round.

In contrast to Witcher 3 however, we can't choose from different factions, but as Meve we are probably most comparable to the Northern Realms faction - so if you want to play a Skellige deck, for example, you'll be left out in the cold. Our opponents, on the other hand, have different leaders with their own strategies and abilities. While Nilfgard, for example, relies on particularly strong units to strengthen their allies, the monsters are all about mass instead of class and swarming opponents. Those in the know can already see that not much has fundamentally changed. However, to ensure that the solo adventure doesn't play like its predecessor, a lot of work has been done on the cards. There are hardly any units from the original, and certain mechanics have been tweaked.

If, like me, you have relied on the Nilfgard combo of spies and decoys, for example, you will notice that there are now trophies and trinkets. These limit the number of powerful spell cards and effects that we can include in our deck. In addition, many familiar mechanics have been modified. While there were still field cards in the Witcher 3-Gwent with which we could halve the strength of entire rows, this is now done via the effects of our units. Their abilities are now differentiated in various categories: Deploy effects are activated directly when the card is played, orders or commands can be activated manually when the card is on the field. Some of these orders are single-use, others have a cooldown and can be activated multiple times.

There are also passive skills, for example the “Recruit” boosts itself by 6 points once after two allied units have been played. Last but not least, there is the loyalty trait, which is triggered whenever we use our leader's abilities. Furthermore, some of the cards have attributes such as Resilience or Immunity, which means they remain on the field at the end of a round or cannot be targeted directly. It all sounds much more complex than Gwent 0.2, which we know from the main game, and it is.

The adjustments are all a good thing, and in general the mechanics are now much more reminiscent of Hearthstone for example, and leave more scope for experimentation ... or would do so if you weren't forced to play with certain cards due to the permanent lack of resources in the game. For this, and this is my other major point of criticism besides the newfound complexity., is the second weakness of Thronebreaker.

The new rules system allows for countless new combinations and strategies to react to the different opponents. At the same time, however, our limitations mean that we have to play with the same units for extended periods and hope for new, better cards, for example in the form of new companions or reinforcements. Of course, this is the point of progression and essentially the principle of a collectible card game, but it makes the process of grinding that much more tedious because we can't save up for a special card, but have to unlock one or more improvements for the camp beforehand.

Nevertheless, the upgrade system must be given credit for the fact that we not only unlock new cards, but also improved versions of cards that we already own. For example, the chance of enemies being damaged by fire from the “Stray Bomber +” is increased, or the “Pitfall Trap +” now does 3 damage to enemies played on one row instead of 2.

Tricky puzzles and fun scenarios - the puzzles

What ultimately saves the combat system from player frustration, however, is the wealth of variety with which the developers have individualized each encounter. The familiar best-of-three games are the exception; much more often, the battles only last one round. Sometimes we have a predetermined pool of units or receive reinforcements during the battle. Conversely, the opponent often starts with unique cards and effects on the field that we have to strategically eliminate. For example, Thronebreaker simulates a siege by placing a wall with an entrance gate in the melee area. Although the opponent cannot position any units there, his cards are reinforced every turn.

We are therefore well advised to tear down the wall quickly before the enemy becomes too strong. In addition to these 'normal' battles, there are also event battles against bosses, such as a golem, which we can only defeat once we have smashed it enough times. Or the forest spirit of a Leshen, which receives more damage the more of its crows we kill. This lightens up the battles and does a good job of disguising our sometimes limited unit pool. In addition to the encounters, there are also puzzles in which we have to make clever use of our units' abilities and which often only allow for one correct sequence. In the best puzzle style, these are sometimes quite challenging, but also force us to think about the abilities of the individual units and the possible synergies.

Within these interludes, Thronebreaker, manages to strike a good balance between serious and humorous. Sometimes we try to guide a deranged cow across the board without it hurting our men. Then again, we sneak past guards in search of a secret document. Or follow the tantalizing scent of food through a cave with Knickers the dog - all on the game's familiar battlefield, mind you.

The developers demonstrate a high degree of creativity, which makes the 'ordinary battles' seem almost monotonous in direct comparison. Especially if, like me, you set the difficulty level to the highest of the three levels and thus increase the health points of your opponents, while your own troops can withstand less. Of course, I did this straight away and the result was that I got stuck in one place time and time again and was forced to adjust my troop loadout accordingly.

Of course, this encourages experimentation and optimization, but despite countless attempts I was unable to defeat the final boss on 'Bonebreaker'. The online guides were no help either, as they required cards that I didn't have or hadn't unlocked. When I lowered the difficulty, the whole thing was no longer a problem, but it left me with a bad aftertaste, as if I had skilled wrongly.

Summary

However, the last point also showed me that, even though it makes up around half of Thronebreaker the story is the real selling point, while the creative battles provide a nice break. The game is plagued by a number of teething problems, such as the fact that using a controller in the menus is a bit buggy, while the mouse has its problems on the world map. Or the sometimes dark graphics, which set the scene harmoniously, but do so partly at the expense of readability. I would have preferred a clearer highlighting of interactive objects here, even if the explorers would then probably shout at me like I had just handed them a walkthrough. The repetitive animations for opening the map or switching to the camp are also annoying after a while. And my final point of criticism, which is by no means unique to Thronebreaker : Why do I have to hold down a button to perform an action? Do I have such nervous fingers that developers only trust me to carry out a command after a delay?

“Pick these things up!”

“But only if you're sure!”

“...”

“Here you go, another two seconds of life wasted!”

That's what the game sounds like in my head. Anyway, I digress. To get to the point: Thronebreaker is a fantastic Witcher-experience that charmingly adds a story to the dark universe (or made an existing one come alive for me), telling a visual novel with lots of tough decisions through fun gameplay far removed from the eponymous Witcher. Connoisseurs will enjoy the many allusions and chamoes, such as when we stumble across a stuffed unicorn or learn how Geralt the Witcher became the ennobled Geralt of Rivia. Or when we play a card game called “Stone Hearth” in a remote place in the mountains, with strange rules and charging mana crystals. The English voice acting is top notch, the dialog is well written and the soundtrack is atmospheric. During my playing time of around 40 hours, Thronebreaker entertained me more than enough with its highs and lows. However, I probably won't touch the multiplayer-cousin. I'd much rather play a sequel, should there be one.