Faeria

This game is criminally underrated. The player count is a little skewed because it is crossplay between Steam, epic, and consoles...but still... This game should have a huge following for these reasons:
- Incredibly unique and strategic gameplay mechanics, as if Chess, MTG, and Hearthstone had a baby
- NO pay to win. No micro-transactions. NONE! You literally cannot buy anything extra in the game besides DLC, there are no loot boxes or special currency you have to buy. You get every card and cosmetic in the game just from playing the game. There are extra cards and cosmetics available in the DLC, sure, but you can still have tons of fun and even be competitive without the DLC (plus it's cheap on sale)
- Absolutely stunning art, graphics, UI, and animations
- Excellent lore, and even some cool easter eggs (I keep spotting Studio Ghibli-inspired artwork)
- Incredibly in-depth and engaging solo campaign modes and missions (the bosses are tough!), could keep you busy for a long time. There are even co-op campaigns!
- PVP is incredible for those that want to get into it. Not only is the core gameplay already unique, but they have also developed a unique system for playing matches where you have multiple decks to choose from in a best-of-3 format and you can ban one deck of your opponents if it is a bad matchup.
Only downside is that it looks like there won't be any new content added to this game. Devs seem to have moved on, probably because they didn't make enough money, which is a real shame. I would have loved to see this game explode and continue to get updates. What a masterpiece. The best strategy and gameplay in its genre AND no microtransactions!?!? It's like a dream come true.

THIS GAME IS NOT DEAD!!!
In fact, it is one of the best card games I've ever played. What makes it better than the other games out there?
1. It combines a chesslike hexagon field with deckbuilding
2. Tons of single- and multiplayermodes
3. No pay to win
4. Nice DLCs that make the cardpool even bigger (on sale each DLC is about 1-2 bucks)
5. A friendly and helpful community (check discord)
F*** Hearthstone and all greedy card game developers like Blizzard that only want you to make just another microtransaction for DIGITAL booster packs. I'm serious. F*** them.

A Semi-Professional Hearthstone Player’s Review of Faeria:
I’ve been a semi-professional hearthstone player for close to 4 years; I was the captain of my e-sports organization’s team for 2 years in a row, and then took on the role of coach for another 2 years right after. During my tenure I’ve won numerous awards and cash prizes, but I’ve fallen out of love with Hearthstone these past few months. So... this is my review of Faeira as a previously paid e-sports athlete for hearthstone.
Similarities and Differences in Gameplay:
Hearthstone is the most popular digital card game, odds are you’ve played it at one point if you’re interested in picking up Faeria. The good news is you’ll feel right at home when it comes to the actual cards of Faeria. Each card has a mana cost and an attack + health value and they operate in the exact same way as Hearthstone! Not to mention the keywords also are similar (Taunt = Taunt, Haste = Charge, Combat = “when damaged do x”, Last Words = Deathrattle, etc.) What differs primarily is the actual game board as it’s infinitely more dynamic and adds another layer of gameplay to the typical “minion/spell” card game.
In Faeria cards generally have a terrain cost as well as a mana cost. Every turn you and your opponent have the opportunity to place an elemental tile (red, green, blue, yellow, or 2x regular). These tiles are added up on your screen and allow you to place more powerful minions or cast more powerful spells. A 3-mana card with no terrain costs might be a regular 3/2, but a 3-mana card with a 2-blue and 1-green tile requirement might be a 4/6 with taunt. Since Faeria dosen’t have a class system like hearthstone, you’re free to mix-and-match different elemental combos which can generate more flexible and creative decks.
Monetization:
First let me say that this game is Free-to-play, and no, I’m not just saying that. I have yet to buy a single DLC for this game and I’m near the top ranks of Faeria within my first month of play. Now, as previously stated, I was paid professionally to play Hearthstone so my skill and learning curve might differ from yours. However, the monetization system in this game is simple to understand: the base game includes the classic Faeria collection AND the Oversky DLC (you used to have to pay for it, now it’s free). What differs from Hearthstone’s DLC is that you cannot earn cards from DLC’s you haven’t purchased. Unlike Hearthstone which has expansions that are “technically” free for anyone, you must purchase the ability to un-pack those cards in Faeria. This does lead to some imbalancing, as most of the newer cards are generally considered “better”, however, there are plenty of guides online (that I used) for powerful free-to-play decklists.
Collecting:
Speaking of “un-packing”, yes Faeria also has a pack system when it comes to card collection. However, the system is vastly superior to hearthstone. You get packs regularly through level up rewards or mission challenges, but the best part is you get a free card (of your choice) every 6 hours. You get 6 charges maximum, and you earn a new charge every 6 hours. With these charges you can pick and craft any card of your choice (minus legendary cards) completely free. There are no duplicates whatsoever in Faeria, it is impossible to pack cards you already have all possible copies of. Unlike Hearthstone’s duplicate protection, in Faeria if you earned all common + rare cards, your packs will be entirely full of epics + legendaries!
Playerbase:
Similarly to Hearthstone, Faeria is available on multiple platforms (PC, Mobile, Console, etc) so the playbase is pretty spread out. So don’t let the steam player-count dissuade you, I’ve never waited more than 2 minutes to find a match even in the more niche gamemodes. The playerbase is also much less toxic compared to hearthstone either on reddit, discord, or those classic post-match friend requests.
Solo-Content:
Faeria has easily over 70 hours of challenging singleplayer content to complete, all with interesting rewards and achievements. There’s a wide variety of solo-content and most of it is infinitely repeatable: daily Dragon battles, world bosses, puzzles, etc. If you wanted to play this card game completely on your own and still earn a load of rewards, that’s absolutely possible. Their AI requires you to be connected to the internet, so as of now there’s no offline play just FYI.
Development:
As far as I’m aware the development of Faeria is shut-down. The last balance patch was a year ago and I don’t think there’ll be another one soon. It’s entirely possible the developers come back to this game with a surprise DLC launch, but I don’t think it’s likely. However, for me personally, this is the type of gameplay I like. I left hearthstone due to the constant need to grind for the new expansion every 4 months, it felt like a chore and decks I enjoyed fell out of the meta constantly. With the removal of Hearthstone classic, I needed to find that “consistent” card game itch elsewhere and came to Faeria.
Final Remarks:
Faeria has provided me with a consistent and challenging experience I was never able to achieve in Hearthstone. It has a similar minion/spell system that I was familiar with, but provided so much more skill expression when it came to deck-building and gameplay with the terrain system. With a pretty incredible collection system it’s easy to craft new cards and play new decks at zero cost to the player. This game goes on sale often and I was able to pick it up for $5 during the summer sale. For the sheer amount of single-player content this game offers it’s 100% worth it even if you never play multiplayer. I’ve been seeing great success with my Zero-DLC decks, but I would consider buying the DLC just to further support the game.
I would highly recommend Faeria to any card game enthusiast who wants a simple but dynamic experience that has more creativity and flexibility than any other card game on the market.

I've been sitting on this hidden gem for many years, recently decided to play and oh boy it's perfect. It's not pay to win, just get the DLC expansions and you're ready to go. I don't care about multiplayer so declining player base is not a problem for me. Campaign is nice, puzzle missions are well thought and teach you some tricks. If you're looking for a great card game and you like Magic the Gathering, get this game. It won't shit itself like Hearthstone. Having a Linux version is also a plus.
I feel like I have a long playtime ahead of me.
Update: Multiplayer is still active, it usually doesn't take more than 90 seconds to find an opponent, at least for ranked. Experience may vary depends on your timezone and location though.

When updates? Why this beautiful game dying?

It's a fun and unique card game. Description is somewhat misleading - while there aren't card packs to buy, you need to buy the DLC to be able to unlock all of the DLC cards.
The game is worth it when on sale but I don't recommend paying full price for the game/its DLC.
Also the devs don't really update the game anymore, they abandoned it to work on a new game.

Great tactical CCG/Board game. Reminds me a lot of Sanctum CCG/Board game that came out in the 1990's. This is a more complete package with single player campaign mode. There are also single player puzzles that are enjoyable too. Those remind me of the puzzles listed in the Wizards of the Coast MTG house organ the Duelist magazine from the 90's.
Faeria really takes all the best stuff from CCG's that came before it and improves upon it. I'm really late to the Faeria party. I purchased it on sale 5 years after the initial release. There is still an active player base.
As a newcomer playing in multiplayer "Pandora" matches, which are essentially sealed deck type games, you're on a level playing field. This gives awesome rewards for more cards. As I build my cards from which to build decks to play regular multiplayer I don't have to miss out on a balanced multiplayer experience.
The game itself is very generous in regards to being able to acquire new cards. On top of the abundant prizes from Pandora play you also receive abundant prizes from the single player campaign mode and single player puzzles. Even with all these prizes to build your collection of base cards you're given the ability to craft the cards. You know that one card that you've been wanting so you can complete that killer deck that you're thinking about. Well you can craft it. Crafting points are given in 5hrs increments. One crafting point for one card despite rarity except for Legend cards (the highest rarity card in the game.)
My only gripe is that I wish that the chatting system worked. It seems that the game either initially had chatting or it was abandoned at some point. You can still chat with friends. This is more of a gripe at the sign of the times with online gaming rather than a Faeria specific issue. How dare you hurt peoples fee fee's. Boy do I miss online gaming of the 90's.
I highly recommend this game if you love tactical board games and/or collectible card games.
Abrakam really knows how to make a quality strategy game. I hope they continue making more strategy games.