by Blizzard Entertainment, the juggernaut studio behind such well-known games as World of Warcraft and Diablo IIII, just announced a surprise that should make a lot of game enthusiasts happy. Hearthstone, Blizzard’s online collectible card game that’s generated enthusiasm from all corners of the gaming industry since its announcement last March, has now entered Open Beta and can thus be downloaded by everyone.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft uses a free-to-play monetary system, which means you can jump into the game for free but you’ll need to pay for easy access to packs containing additional cards. You can also gain them through playing, but as with most games that use this model, it’s a laborious process that could take hours and multiple matches. On the bright side, it rarely feels necessary to pay.
The design is vaguely similarly to the popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, but with simplified rules and a design that encourages speedy gameplay against both AI opponents and real players. Thankfully, Hearthstone restricts any interactions between random players to preset emotes, which means that enjoying friendly competition isn’t plagued with the juvenile epithets and nasty remarks you get with chat or voice communication. (Sorry, touchy about that.)
Currently, the open beta is available for both Mac and PC, with an iOS version expected to come out later in the year during a full release. You can download it here. I had a chance to play the iPad version during last year’s BlizzCon, and I was impressed by how well Blizzard translated the controls to the touch interface. Indeed, based on my time with it, it’s the best platform for it.
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