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How About a Round of Gwent? Public Beta Now Live on Xbox One

I’m here to invite you to a game of Gwent. As some of you may know, the original Gwent is a mini-game in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that you could enjoy during breaks from questing, slaying monsters, and saving the world. After The Witcher 3 launched, we received a lot of messages from gamers all around the world asking us to create a standalone version of Gwent so they could play with their friends. A lot of hard work later and here we are with the public beta of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.

The core rules are simple — you collect cards, build armies, and battle it out on a battlefield divided into three rows: melee, ranged, and siege. Every round is a test of skill and strategy — fight to gather more points than your opponent and you must win two out of three rounds. While the goal is clear cut, how you get there is up to you — and this is what truly makes Gwent a different card game.

For example, you can tackle your opponent head on using your most-powerful units — there are no resources apart from the cards themselves to stop you. Or, if you want, you can start by summoning several high value units and have the opponent play catch-up. You can even choose to tactically sacrifice a round to gain an advantage — after all, Gwent is a three-round affair. There are no wrong ways to go about winning if you make every card count. That’s because, apart from the 10 cards you draw at the beginning of a match, you’re only guaranteed a very limited number of additional ones throughout the game.

With Gwent becoming its own, fully-realized competitive card game, it has allowed us to supercharge it with dozens of new cards, mechanics, and a complete overhaul of its visuals. One thing we’re particularly proud of is that every card in the game now has its own animated version, each with a miniature work of art, brought to life as an actual animation making the battles more cinematic.

The most important addition, however, has got to be multiplayer. Unlike the mini-game, which was a fun single-player experience, the standalone version has been built from the ground up with multiplayer in mind. We’ve spent a lot of time working on balance to make sure it’s fair and fun when you play with your friends or challenge players from around the world.

Gwent recently entered public beta, it’s free, and everyone’s invited to download it right now from the Xbox Store. For more news and updates about Gwent, follow us on Twitter and stay tuned to Xbox Wire.