Guild Wars—the celebrated MMO series launched by ArenaNet—has remained surprisingly absent from the collectible card game (CCG) space. That’s about to shift, though, with the announcement of Mistbound: Guild Wars Card Game.
Mistbound is a free-to-play card title currently being built for PC and mobile. Taking place in the Guild Wars universe, it comes out of a special partnership involving three companies. ArenaNet has granted the intellectual property license to bilibili, which will handle distribution, while the Korean studio NC (formerly known as NCSoft) is leading development.
To be clear, this is the same bilibili sometimes dubbed “the Chinese YouTube.” The organization is active in more than just live streaming and video uploads, and it isn’t even the first time the company has released a title for Western audiences.
One of Mistbound’s most notable ideas is that, on every turn, you can move cards in different directions. That choice brings gameplay closer to action-oriented titles, featuring things like flanking, repositioning, knockbacks, and other tactical options. The reveal trailer above offers an early look at how all of that plays out, with footage showing the mechanics in action.
Players can expect both single-player content and PvP battles. Fights take place on a 5×3 grid, where you select a commander and lay out your cards in turn-based skirmishes.
Because it’s tied to the MMO world, the game will feature familiar faces from across the Guild Wars series. Those characters will return as commander options you can use. Each commander comes with its own set of passive traits and active skills, taking cues from the Professions system in Guild Wars 2—an especially thoughtful touch.
The developer’s goal is to blend deck-building with MMO-style systems, and Mistbound will include music from the original Guild Wars composers, as well as voice work. Unfortunately, this announcement doesn’t yet explain how the game plans to monetize its card collection—an issue that can heavily affect how long a genre title stays relevant (just look at Hearthstone).
Earlier this month, the reveal of Guild Wars 3 during Summer Game Fest was among the event’s biggest moments. Even so, ArenaNet has confirmed the MMO will be set in a separate world from prior entries, which made it reassuring when the studio immediately ruled out pay-to-win microtransactions and subscription fees from the start.
Will Mistbound: Guild Wars Card Game follow a similar approach? That remains to be seen. The CCG currently doesn’t list a specific release date, but you can watch for announcements on the official website.