PC/Mac (available now), iOS/Android (coming soon) •
Just a hint to developers out there who want Stately Play to cover their titles: include “Through the Ages” in your subject line and it’s sure to make it to the front page. Age of Rivals developer, Roboto Games, did one better. They told me their latest title, Age of Rivals, is a cross between Through the Ages and 7 Wonders. Insert “Shut Up and Take My Money” meme here.
Age of Rivals is a CCG without any in-app purchases. You’ll unlock cards as you go along, eventually unlocking all of them without spending a penny of extra cash. That’s exciting enough, but what you do with those cards is equally intriguing. You’ll draft and play cards to create a civilization, but games only last around 10 minutes.
Like other CCGs, Age of Rivals is a 2-player affair but there is little to no deckbuilding. Instead, you’ll draft cards as you go along, and all cards you’ve unlocked will randomly be available. Each player is dealt four random cards, buying one, and then the three cards remaining are handed to your opponent so that they can pick through the leftovers. This way you’ll purchase 4 cards each round, with cards giving you military might, culture, or other benefits.
Apart from buying cards, there are other phases as well such as Conquest when you’ll use military to sack distant cities, War in which you’ll directly attack your opponent, and more. You can also buy resources which will cheapen the cost of cards requiring that resource, but increase the cost of cards requiring that resource for your opponent.
I haven’t even mentioned that each card has a type and special ability that you need to take into account on your shopping sprees or that your cards carry over from round to round. There is a lot to keep track of. Seriously, this isn’t like Hearthstone where you can just pick it up and start competing. There’s a learning curve here, but it’s a fun one. I’ve been playing a little bit on Steam, and am floored by how much “game” they packed into this game.
Age of Rivals is available now for PC/Mac on Steam, and it should be making its way to iOS and Android later this year.
Is the multiplayer sync or asynch?
On steam and Kongregate it was live matches, but they’re over in about 5-10 minutes.
This looks great … great enough to overcome my “don’t play games on computers” mantra, even.
They’re synchronous. It’s basically like Hearthstone or other CCGs in which you log in, play someone for ten minutes and your game’s over.
It should be out for iPad/Android in a couple months, so you could always wait if you don’t want to break your mantra.