The Alpha for Cryptozoic's Hex: Shards of Fate is scheduled to begin today (Oct 8)! They'll be doing a stream on their Twitch page at noon Pacific time that should officially kick off the Alpha with the first wave of invites going out soon after.
Note: Alpha is currently Windows only and is going to be released in waves based on Kickstarter amount donated (with slacker backers coming later). They have said they are going to get a Mac client working ASAP.
What's Hex: Shards of Fate?
It's a digital Trading Card Game with tournaments and booster packs and drafting! And it is also an MMO with dungeons and raid bosses and guilds! It is all things for all people! Or at least all people that like card games. Which they should, because card games are awesome. It is being made by Cryptozoic Entertainment, the makers of the World of Warcraft TCG (the one before Hearthstone) and other board games.
What this means is that you can spend your time entirely playing against the computer unlocking more cards for your PVE character and only ever playing with other players cooperatively and never have to worry about building some crazy tournament competitive deck or buying loads of booster packs. (I don't believe any of this stuff will be in the alpha which is scheduled to start today.)
Or you can totally ignore all the PVE shenanigans, buy a bunch of boosters packs (2 dollars each), and do booster drafts after booster draft playing against other players all along. Or just buy the cards you need and go build the constructed deck of your dreams to compete in tournaments for glory and prizes.
The most efficient way to find out about it would probably be to check out this How to Play video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfOfGvkdzlI
And yes, it is a lot like the seminal trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. But have you seen Magic Online? Eek. Hex is also offering a lot of unique mechanics taking advantage of the fact that it is a game that exists purely in the digital space.
How can I get in the Alpha?
Anyone that contributed to the Kickstarter campaign should get in pretty soon. They'll be starting with the people who put in the most money and then begin adding more folks in waves assuming the server remains stable.
If you weren't in the Kickstarter there's a Slacker Backer option available that gives you Alpha access as well as a little haul of goods for when the the game comes out for real for 50 dollars: http://hextcg.com/donate
What's in the Alpha?
Kickstarter Update said:
What do the cards look like?
Check em all out here: http://hex.tcgbrowser.com/
Links and Resources
- hextcg.com - Official game site including official forums for news and updates.
- http://hex.tcgbrowser.com/ - Site to browse all currently revealed cards and build sample decks.
I haven't been keeping the most up with the community so if there's any other links or resources I should add please let me know. A strategy website or two would probably be a good idea but I just don't know which ones are good.
