Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales — an exciting adventure with role-playing elements based on the card strategy game Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. The events unfold in the Witcher universe and tell the story of the Queen of the North, Meve, who must resist foreign invaders. Faced with the imminent invasion of the Nilfgaardian Empire, she must once again take up arms and embark on a difficult and dark journey.

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a single-player card game with elements of a graphic novel, role-playing, and isometric strategy. It is a story-driven spin-off of the multiplayer competitive Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and a prequel to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The events of Thronebreaker take place in the kingdoms of Lyria and Rivia. The game world is represented by a global strategic map, transforming into extended linear locations. Each story act offers its own map for exploration. The game world is handcrafted, so its size is not large.

The locations feature varied landscapes — forests and fields, lakes, rivers and mountains, villages, military camps, and entire cities. While traveling, the player uses a "point and click" mechanic to explore the surroundings — finding new items, talking to NPCs, starting battles, and more.

For card battles, a spacious board is used, on which the player places cards from their deck in various ways. The board is affected by environmental conditions — day, night, rain, or snow. Next to the board stands the queen, further enhancing the cards on the "battlefield."

At the center of the narrative is Meve, the queen of Lyria and Rivia. The story tells how, after the kingdom is taken over by the Nilfgaardian Empire, Meve goes into hiding. In the forests, she gathers a new army, which can include not only villagers and tough mercenaries but also residents of neighboring kingdoms, wandering knights, and fantastic creatures.

The beginning of the game immediately plunges into the thick of the problems that Meve, with the player's help, will resolve until the very end. Alongside her, the player will experience betrayal and defeat, witness hardships and suffering, then — a glimmer of hope for the return of Lyria and Rivia, and finally lead her to victory. The game features 20 endings, determined by the player's various decisions.

There are numerous well-thought-out story branches and secondary quests, significantly increasing variability and enhancing immersion in the gameplay.

In Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, there are no definitively correct decisions; the player must maintain balance and be prepared to answer for their choices or correct the consequences. Sometimes, even acting with the best intentions can result in extremely negative outcomes.

The gameplay is quite simple — run forward, explore the location, talk to NPCs, resolve conflicts, recruit willing individuals into your party, and collect gold, wood, and recruits to improve your camp or army.

Each side character in the party has their own personality, bonuses, and list of possible actions. Одни спокойные и уверенные, другие взбалмошные и своевольные. Игровые возможности серьезно зависят от того, сколько специалистов собрано в отряде игрока — некоторые могут упростить прохождение, но всегда есть основной, долгий и трудный путь.

Поскольку Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales еще и RPG, то значимая часть геймплея проходит в диалоговых окнах — рисованные декорации и текст на экране. Приходится вчитываться и тщательно выбирать слова — последствия могут вылезти даже в следующей главе.

Что касается карточных боев, то механика Thronebreaker похожа на упрощенный Gwent. Каждая сторона выкладывает на доску доступные карты, а побеждает тот, кто по итогам трех раундов наберет больше очков. Карт очень много — арбалетчики, лучники, мечники, рыцари, маги, целители и так далее, всех не перечислить, но в них легко разберутся игроки Gwent.

Глобально карты в Thronebreaker разделены на два типа — боевые, сражающиеся на передовой, и поддерживающие. Последние ослабляют врагов или усиливают союзников вокруг себя. Прокачка играет важную роль — продвигаясь вперед, можно за ресурсы улучшать рекрутов, лагерь или получать

Как бы не была сильна карта, Thronebreaker побуждает действовать тактически грамотно и помнить, что один в поле не воин. Карты нужно расставлять так, чтобы они усиливали друг друга и компенсировали слабые стороны. Также можно комбинировать разные карты, чтобы добиться эффекта той карты, которой нет в колоде.