Does anyone around here plays this? I have been playing it for a while now, and I'm having a lot of fun. Haven't really tried playing it online, though, I've been in a offline mood for games recently.
For those that don't play and perhaps never heard about it:
It showcases many of Garfield's design philosophies, and is all around a very fun and interesting experience. One of the main points is that there is no deckbuilding: you have a semi-random pool of cards at each match, so it's kind of a Limited experience. This may read like a turn-off at first to some, but it's actually what prevents the game from becoming stale - you must always be very versatile and adapt to the cards that you're given for each match.
The gameplay mechanics are extremely simple when compared to Magic: the Gathering, most experienced gamers should be able deduce all of them without needing to read the in-game manual. But the cards are interesting and the game is very interactive, so those simple mechanics still allow for a deep gameplay that involves a lot of decision-making.
The game AI is surprisingly decent and can pose a nice and entertaining challenge at the higher difficulty levels. And then there's multilayer, so you also play against other humans for an extra challenge.
There's a free demo on the official website that allows you access to both single-player and multilayer modes, with the limitation that you can only use the Illusionist class. It's worth a try.
For those that don't play and perhaps never heard about it:
Spectromancer is a 2008 computer cardgame created by Richard Garfield, Skaff Elias and Alexey Stankevich (creator of Astral Tournament and Astral Masters).
It showcases many of Garfield's design philosophies, and is all around a very fun and interesting experience. One of the main points is that there is no deckbuilding: you have a semi-random pool of cards at each match, so it's kind of a Limited experience. This may read like a turn-off at first to some, but it's actually what prevents the game from becoming stale - you must always be very versatile and adapt to the cards that you're given for each match.
The gameplay mechanics are extremely simple when compared to Magic: the Gathering, most experienced gamers should be able deduce all of them without needing to read the in-game manual. But the cards are interesting and the game is very interactive, so those simple mechanics still allow for a deep gameplay that involves a lot of decision-making.
The game AI is surprisingly decent and can pose a nice and entertaining challenge at the higher difficulty levels. And then there's multilayer, so you also play against other humans for an extra challenge.
There's a free demo on the official website that allows you access to both single-player and multilayer modes, with the limitation that you can only use the Illusionist class. It's worth a try.