Cyberpunk Trading Card Game Preview
The world of Cyberpunk didn’t start with a popular video game with outstanding actor Keanu Reeves playing the protagonist. It is a decades old world spanning books, tabletop games, video games, and even anime. Add to that list Trading Card Games, as being brought to crowd funding by WeirdCo Games. The Trading Card Game will allow you to play as popular characters, use amazing tech, and either prop up and or take down the powers that be. While I think this will be a very targeted release, that is for those who love Cyberpunk, I was pleasantly surprised by the turn-to-turn elements driving the gameplay.
You can follow the prelaunch page for this game NOW and lock in an exclusive free addon!
Each player enters the game with a 40-50 card deck, plus an additional three legend cards that will be placed facedown on the table and mixed up to start the game. We were using the limited Alpha kit for this preview, but as more content releases for the game, your 40-50 card deck will be influenced by the Legends you choose. What made me really intrigued by the Cyberbank Trading Card game was that I also need a handful of dice in order to play the game; this already sets this TCG apart from others, while also perhaps playing homage to the franchises tabletop RPG roots. The required dice for both players was included in our Alpha Kit – that meant each player had a 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided and 20-sided die.
The dice represent gigs the player can pick up over time, and to win the game you need to have six active gigs. Gigs can be lost and gained, and because of this, games of Cyberpunk rarely overstay their welcome, at least in my opinion.
There are a few different things to consider when making a deck, and we will get into that in a separate deck building article in the future. For now, this article will focus on how the game plays, and whether it is worth investing in. There are four different card types to think about: Legends, Units, Gear, and Programs.
Alright, so how does this game play. There is a lot of moving parts here, and I don’t think me writing about it makes sense, so check out this video outlining how to play!
If you are familiar with Trading Card Games, I think a lot of what you see here will be familiar to you. Cards in your hand can be played down as money to purchase cards; placing a card here each turn is likely a good option, as it’s what will allow you to play higher cost cards in the future. When buying new units, they cannot attack the turn they are played, again standard in a Trading Card Game. There are one-time cards that you can play, called Programs – these provide any number of immediate benefits before being discarded. Again, this is fairly standard for Trading Card Games.
But what I appreciate here is what Cyberpunk is doing different. The three Legend cards you bring into each game serve a number of different purposes, and are blindly laid out so you aren’t always sure which card is which. They can be used to buy cards (like resources), can be flipped to provide a variety of benefits, or if they have the Go Solo tag, they can be put into play to attack as well. These Legend cards will be very important when building decks in the future, and making sure they work with the cards you put into your deck is going to be key.
Another really nice mechanic here is how you win – by having six dice in your active pool. These dice also are multipurpose. Yes, having six in your active area will win you the game at the start of your turn, but they also represent your Street Cred, and this will influence what some cards might do for you in the future. Choosing which die to roll at the start of your turn and place in your active area now has more decision reasons attached to it. Do you want a high number so you can play a good card that will benefit, or do you hold those higher number dice for later in the game.
I also like the give and take of how you use your Units. Using them to steal dice from your opponent is key to victory of course, but you could leave yourself open to attacks from the other players enemies, wiping out your unit pool. What I’ve found is that although this isn’t a long experience – and no Trading Card Game should be – there is a lot of decisions that need to be made, and playing incredibly strategically is key to victory.
I don’t think I’ve seen enough of the Cyberpunk Trading Card Game to give a firm opinion on the mechanics and how it works, but this Alpha Kit has shown me enough to keep me interested as this project heads to crowdfunding. You can follow the pre-launch page now, and lock in a free extra when you back, an exclusive card! We will have more content as we get closer to the campaigns launch!
Article By Adam
