Shadow Era
| Shadow Era | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Wulven Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Wulven Studios |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, iOS, Mac, Android, Web Browser |
| Release date(s) | 24 Feb, 2011 |
| Genre(s) | Digital CCG |
Shadow Era (also known as SE) is a free online collectable card game created by Wulven Studios. (A physical version has also been released) Cross platform game play is centric to the digital version design and it is supported on PC, Mac, iOS, Android and via web browser. [1]
Gameplay
The game Shadow Era is played between two players. Each player has a hero which starts with 26-30 health. Players win the game when they reduce the opponents health to 0. Heroes can lose life when they are dealt "damage" by being attacked with summoned allies, abilities and weapons. A Hero will also lose 1 health for each card they are unable to draw if their deck is empty. A player may only include cards in their deck that match the ‘Faction’ and ‘Class’ of the Hero they are using. Cards classed as ‘Neutral’ can be used by any Hero. A deck must contain a minimum of 39 cards and 1 Hero. (Exclusions exist when playing the AI in the digital version).[2] New game modes have also been unveiled, such as rated matches, unrated matches, and meltdown. In rated matches, you are paired up with a stranger. The winner's rating increases. Unrated matches does not increase your rating, although you are allowed to make private matches. Meltdown is a game mode where you pick four random decks, pick one of the heroes that came in those decks, and play a match with it. You are not allowed to keep the hero or the cards in meltdown.
Resources
Players can not cast in any card they want. It must reach certain requirements. Each turn, the player has an option to sacrifice a card. For example, each card has a number at the top left. The number represents how many cards you must sacrifice, called resources, in order to place that card into play. Cards that are very valuable have high resource values, such as five to six. While non-valuable cards have low resource values, such as two to four.
Heroes
There are different types of heroes as well. These include warrior, mage, priest, rogue, hunter, wulven, shadow, and elemental. There are currently 33 heroes in the game. Each player has the ability to buy heroes from the merchant in the game. Players are able to customize and alter their decks to fit their playing style. When you start the game, you will see a map, called Balor. Around Balor, you will see the avatars of some of those heroes. If you defeat those heroes in a match, you receive gold. Amounts range from 30-35. Players, with enough gold, are able to buy whichever card they please from the merchant. More valuable cards cost more, and less valuable cards cost less. To buy decks, you need shadow crystals, not gold. Shadow crystals are earned by staring into the embers on the map, or watching advertisements in the merchant. You are allowed to buy entire decks for 100 shadow crystals. More valuable decks are worth 250 or 1,000 shadow crystals. Shadow crystals are also available at the merchant worth real money.
Guilds
Guilds are a growing part of Shadow Era. One can create a guild by going on the shadow era forums at shadowera.com. Players would create a page on the forums dedicated to their guild and start recruiting members. Popular apps on the app store and google play store are used for communication between members, such include Telegram and Kik. There is a list of the most popular guilds in Shadow Era below. It does not cost gold, real money, or shadow crystals to create a guild.
The guilds in SE are simply groups of players who wish to excel in the game and formed teams to do so. As stated, it doesn't cost anything but time to create and run a guild and time will be the currency you spend.
Currently there are many guilds with varying goals and number of members. A1-Alliance, BP Warriors of the Blue Phoenix, TJ Team Juggernaughts, ETC Eternal Taco Consumers, RS Rising Sun, DK Devoted Knights, KA Kylin Assassin, and 7DS seven deadly sins
This list will grow, shrink, and change, but the idea stays the same: groups of players helping each other become better at SE and enjoying the ride together.
Reception
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Critical reception for Shadow Era has been positive and it currently holds a ranking of 90 on Metacritic (based on 5 reviews) and 90% on GameRankings (based on 2 reviews).[4][3] AppSpy rated the game as 4 out of 5, writing "Shadow Era is a great first step for what could be a fantastic TCG for iOS devices - there's a lot of room for improvement, but the core gameplay is worth checking out if you're a fan of these sorts of games."[5]
References
- ↑ "About Shadow Era". Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ↑ "Shadow Era Official Rulebook" (PDF). Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- 1 2 "Shadow Era TCG". GameRankings. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- 1 2 "Shadow Era TCG". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ↑ Nesvadba, Andrew. "Shadow Era TCG Review". AppSpy. Retrieved 25 August 2014.