Gwent: Rogue Mage was announced to be released on July 7, 2022. It is a roguelike deck builder by CDProjekt Red.

Gwent: Rogue Mage is a Roguelite Deckbuilder that Predates the Witcher

First, we had a Rogue Trader, now we have a Rogue Mage? What’s up with all these sneaky rogues getting past our defenses? Introducing CD Projekt Red’s latest (surprise) project, Gwent: Rogue Mage. This is a spinoff from the regular Gwent game but built around the single-player roguelite experience.

Players will take the role of Alzur as he roams the countryside trying to find out how to create the first Witcher. Yes, you read that right – Gwent: Rogue Mage takes place centuries before Geralt is even born.

The Rogue Mage

The Continent, where all the Witcher games take place, had just suffered the effects of the devastating event called the Conjunction of Spheres. This circumstance brought about Monsters that humanity needed to fight back against.

Alzur was a powerful mage from the past who was able to create many wonderful and monstrous things. One of his most famous inventions was the mutagens used to create the first Witchers.

Up for a Round of Gwent?

The game will follow Alzur as he roams the continent for the perfect samples for his various experiments. He will be able to make use of Gwent cards to do battle against many foes, ranging from man to beast.

Gwent: Rogue Mage’s initial deck will consist of cards that excel when they are boosted (or have their strength buffed). From the reveal at IGN, the game will start out gradually so as not to overload the player with too much information. Instead, new cards will be drip-fed to ensure that the player will learn the game’s mechanics at a slow and steady pace.

Eventually, things will open up and players will receive more cards and more opportunities to choose different options. Places of Power will be a familiar landmark from the mainline Witcher games. Whenever Alzur approaches one of these, he will be given the choice of how to improve his deck. One example on the Gwent: Rogue Mage Steam Page shows that he will be able to choose between upgrading a unit or gaining additional energy.

All in all, the game should have approximately 30 hours of gameplay if the players take their time. Each individual run or attempt should last around an hour if played correctly. This is a pretty good deal considering that players only need to shell over $9.99 to experience this. Of course, this runtime can extend even further if the player is an achievement hunter or completionist.

Pull Up a Chair ‘round the Hearth!

Gwent: Rogue Mage will be purely single-player, in a similar vein to Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. However, this new deck builder will not have the story take center stage. In fact, CDProjekt Red doesn’t consider this game’s setting to be part of the mainline game’s lore.

Instead, it will be a rogue-lite game where failure looks like it constantly looms its ugly head around the player. The single-player nature of the game should relieve some of the tension that some people get when engaging in multi-player games. Some call it “ladder anxiety”.

Game director Vladimir Tortsov even acknowledges that some OG Gwent Players prefer the low stakes of the card game back in The Witcher 3. He states:

While Gwent multiplayer is a fantastic game for those who are looking for a great PvP multiplayer experience, we perfectly understand that many Witcher players loved the original mini-game of Gwent for totally different reasons. With Rogue Mage we aim to give this audience a reason to play modern-day Gwent in the format they prefer.

The House Always Wins

Gwent: Rogue Mage should be the perfect substitute for other roguelite deck builders such as the ever-classic Slay the Spire or newer titles like Wildfrost. For more excellent card games, be sure to check out Foretales, a Story Based Card Game, or Elder Scrolls Online’s newest minigame, Tales of Tribute.

The game will release on July 7, 2022, at $9.99 for the standard edition and $19.99 for the deluxe. The deluxe edition of the game will contain cosmetics and card packs for the multiplayer Gwent experience. For more on The Witcher, check out our speculations on the upcoming Witcher 4.

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