Rogue Mage, and it releases tomorrow

CD Projekt Red has at last unveiled its single-player Gwent game. Once called “Project Golden Nekker,” Gwent: Rogue Mage is a standalone roguelike card game — and it’s set to release tomorrow. The announcement came through IGN, which brought new details to light.

According to director Vladimir Tortsov, Gwent: Rogue Mage was greenlit due to players wanting a “more PVE experience from Gwent.” Rogue Mage is set to do just that, using familiar cards from The Witcher 3 and Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. According to the report, Gwent: Rogue Mage combines cards and mechanics from both aforementioned games to create something that feels a bit different.

You start off with a dozen cards in your deck, but can gain more as you play. Exploring the campaign’s map allows you to build up a powerful deck to take on tough challenges — and even a final boss. The gameplay sounds something akin to Inscription. Maps are randomly generated, offering battles and treasures. There are some more Witcher-specific things to find, though, like Places of Power. Matches can take up to an hour, but, according to Torstov, collecting all the cards and completing everything in the game can take up to 30 hours.

An all-new Witcher tale

On release, Gwent: Rogue Mage will tell a prequel story in the world of The Witcher. While maybe not “in-depth,” the story follows a mage named Azur who’s on a quest to create the first witcher. It’s hard to say how lore-friendly the game will be. But considering how the main games take place outside the books, I’d say “not very.” Still, it should be interesting to fans of the lore. We’ve had our prequel stories before, one in the form of The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf on Netflix. That one followed the exploits of a young Vesemir. However, Rogue Mage should take place some centuries earlier.

Gwent: Rogue Mage is looking interesting, and it will release tomorrow. The game is set at $9.99 USD for the standard version, and $19.99 USD for the premium version (which includes skins, packs, and cosmetics).