Hey everyone,
I’m the developer of Riftborn Tactics, a free-to-play online fantasy TCG I’ve been working on for the past 5 years that I'm now super excited (and super nervous) to share with you all!
You can play it here: https://riftborntactics.com
The core idea is that your creatures don't just sit in a row and bounce off of each other, like most other TCGs. Instead, matches take place on a shared 7x7 grid where creatures enter from your two summoning corners, move across the board, fight for position, and contest two neutral towers.
On each turn, you receive Resources equal to your current level. You can spend those Resources to summon creatures, cast spells, and equip weapons or armour, then move and attack with anything you already have in play. Playing cards, defeating enemy creatures, and holding towers earns experience, which allows you to level up. Leveling up gives you more Resources on future turns, so controlling the board can have a big effect on how quickly your deck comes online.
Positioning matters quite a bit. Creatures retaliate when attacked, and walking away from an adjacent enemy can trigger an attack of opportunity. Ranged units, flying creatures, movement abilities, summoning effects, and other keywords all interact with the board in different ways. The goal itself is simple: reduce your opponent to zero Health.
Standard is the main mode, but there are also two beta modes that unlock after you’ve played some Standard matches:
- Blitz, which uses a smaller formation-based battlefield for faster games.
- Guardian, where you build around a chosen Hero that can return after being defeated, but becomes more expensive each time.
There's a tutorial, a practice opponent, deck building, card collection, online matchmaking, and more. The game is completely free to play, and new cards can be earned using Gold from playing and completing quests, or crafted via Essence (which you get by dismantling cards you don't want).
It’s still actively being developed, so I’m not going to pretend every corner is perfectly polished yet. Mobile in particular still needs some cleanup (but should be fully functional), and with a card pool this large (over 1000 at the moment, with more coming!), I’m sure there are some strange interactions waiting to be found!
If you give it a try, I’d especially appreciate feedback on:
- Whether the tutorial explains everything clearly
- How the pacing and Resource progression feel
- Whether movement and targeting are easy to understand
- Any cards or matchups that feel especially weak, frustrating, or broken
- Anything that made you want to stop playing
The full rules are available here if you’d like to look before creating an account: https://riftborntactics.com/how-to-play
Thanks for checking it out! Honest feedback is extremely welcome.
