For several years, collectible card games (JCC) have been dematerialized in order to be able to challenge opponents from all over the world without the need for equipment other than sound. smartphone, his PC or to a lesser extent his console. Worn by a certain Hearthstone, the genre got a second wind thanks to online card games (card games) and their beautiful visual effects, their worked universes or their breathtaking invocations.
Whether it's classic duel battles like Yu-Gi-Oh! or tasty mixes like Slay the Spire, there will always be a game to satisfy your most ardent cravings. Here is our selection of the best card games on PC, consoles and smartphones to help you find the pearl that is made for you.
Hearthstone: the timeless that propelled the genre
Hearthstone
- Lots of game modes
- An encouraging development
- Constant new content, mainly qualitative
When it was released in 2014, Hearthstone turned everything upside down. Blizzard's card game has attracted millions of players in the blink of an eye, boasting at the same time to be one of the most played titles in the world. If its popularity has since waned a little, it is nonetheless the one who has democratized a whole genre on PC and mobiles. At the dawn of its eighth anniversary, free-to-play continues to be one of the most generous offers on the market while taking care to make itself accessible to newcomers.
Its reputation, Hearthstone owes it not only to its links with Warcraft but to its simplicity, its fluidity and above all to its regular card extensions. Enough to be both accessible to neophytes, who can get the machine going without needing to have the best previous cards, and technical for the old-timers who know the slightest mechanics. It is also one of the strengths of Hearthstone its competitive community. Competing with them is mission impossible for beginners, but Blizzard has continued to implement new features with each update so that everyone can find their way around.
Because in almost a decade of existence Hearthstone has greatly evolved, most often in the good sense of the word. This is evidenced by the many game modes that have been added to meet the demands and needs of the community, but also sometimes to take them the wrong way, as was the case with Hearthstone Mercenaries, a rogue-lite mode without any cards in it.
Magic The Gathering Arena: the best adaptation of a classic
Magic: The Gathering Arena
- Follow the paper game to the letter
- Rich content
- Complex with a real challenge
How can we talk about TCG without mentioning Magic: The Gathering Arena? Released in September 2019, Dad's digital adaptation of all card games isn't the first, but it's by far the most comprehensive. Unlike the other iterations, Arena proposes to scrupulously follow the same rules as the paper version and the same deck construction possibilities. However, it only contains maps published since its release, while simultaneously following the expansions of the physical version.
It contains everything that makes the game so successful: duels of magicians, spells, collectible cards, combos and big creatures, all on computer or smartphones. Magic: The Gathering Arena is quality free-to-play with generous content and an unparalleled strategic aspect, but the rules and depth of the original material may get the better of neophytes.
Those who manage to overcome its austerity and dated animations compared to the competition will find a game with a good dose of challenge and more complex than the other candidates on this list.
Legends of Runeterra: a real breath of fresh air
Legends of Runeterra
- Finally an original card game
- Very nice and nice animations
- A dynamic and fresh rhythm
After Blizzard, it's Riot Games' turn to be tempted by the adventure of card games. What was for a long time a one-game company has decided to go on the offensive on many fronts, including that of card games. May 2020, the creators of League of Legends are launching Legends of Runeterra with a thinly disguised goal: to walk the flowerbeds of Hearthstone and Magic, and it has some nice assets to get there.
To stand out from the myriad of card games on the market, Legends of Runeterra does not hesitate to free itself from certain codes of the genre, even if it means kicking the anthill. It frees itself for example from the classic turn-based where each player empties his hand as much as possible in favor of rounds. Here, only one card can be played per turn, which drastically changes the pace and strategy.
Especially since the game opts for an attack token system which allows you to attack once per round and which passes from one player to another, creating an alternation between offensive and defensive rounds of the most interesting. . With small new mechanics, Legends of Runeterra can be considered on its own as a new kind of TCG that manages to get rid of the conventions of the genre in favor of more dynamic exchanges and deep gameplay. Icing on the cake, its economic system is almost healthy. No need to lay down tickets to have fun.
Yu Gi Oh! Master Duel: It's time for the du-du-duel!
Yu Gi Oh! Master Duel
- Over 10 cards
- An ultra practical cross-platform aspect
- A good dose of nostalgia
It's the trendy free-to-play of early 2022. The Yu-Gi-Oh license has made a strong comeback on the video game scene with Master Duel, an adaptation that has been a surprise success with both fans of the first hour than those who had forgotten the soul of the cards for many years. A game that owes its popularity to several factors, including its free nature, its non-intrusive economic system and its game mechanics adapted to the most seasoned duelists as well as neophytes.
With simplified rules for newcomers, colorful animations that have nothing to envy to Hearthstone and more than 10 cards to create decks as complete as in the competitive scene, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel restores its nobility to the license in the world of video games. To top it off, the adaptation is available on just about every platform imaginable and allows you to play from one device to another and keep your progress.
Yu Gi Oh! Master Duel is intended above all for those who are the most competitive looking for an online experience, since the solo part of the game is still too far behind. It remains to be seen how Konami will follow up on the game and what will be the next developments, but it is clearly one of the best card games of this year.
Pokémon TCG Online: an adaptation reserved for fans
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Pokémon TCG Online
- Healthy business model
- Bonuses for physical TCG players
- Fun and addictive
Gone are the days of trading Pokémon cards on the playground, yet the Pokémon TCG is at its best. Sales of the physical format have exploded with the pandemic, while the online card game has finally landed on Android devices years after its PC release. A video game adaptation that scrupulously follows the rules of the paper game, while offering RPG mechanics allowing, for example, to evolve your characters, interact with NPCs and buy new cards, spells and other objects to strengthen your decks .
Not everything is perfect, especially with menus and an interface that still lack intuitiveness. Nevertheless, Pokémon fans like those of the board version will find the pleasure of delivering duels close to IRL competitions, solo or online, and above all this breathless feeling of opening booster packs with the hope of discovering a rare card. or brilliant, but without losing money!
Pokémon TCG Online's business model is sound enough that you don't have to spend a penny to buy cards, just play. Bonus, for fans of the paper game who can kill two birds with one stone: the decks and boosters purchased IRL contain a code to unlock random content in the online game. Less complex and deep than the other card games on the list, we recommend this adaptation above all to fans of the license.
Gwent The Witcher Card Game: the card game of The Witcher 3, but better
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Gwent : The Witcher Card Game
- A healthy economic system
- Complex but accessible mechanics
- A superb achievement
If the name Gwent doesn't mean anything to you, you probably haven't played The Witcher 3. If so, you've not only missed one of the best RPGs of its generation, but also its mini - a well-crafted card game that has prompted some players to spend more hours than necessary at the inn tables rather than going monster hunting. Faced with the craze, CD Projekt RED jumped at the chance to release a good big free-to-play which abandoned its release on consoles to confine itself to PCs and mobiles.
The principle of the game remains the same: two players compete in turn with cards, each having his side of the board organized into three lines of assaults reserved for three types of cards: melee warriors, ranged troops and siege weapons. Standalone obliges, CD Projekt RED has put on a little more show with beautiful animations and particularly successful effects for spells. The studio hasn't skimped on the number of new, diverse and varied cards that spice up the games.
What complicates the fighting a little, although Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is not the most difficult game in its category, nor is it lacking in depth. A title to address to those fans of licenses or those who want an entertaining card game where online games are involved and follow one another quickly.
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales: a narrative game in the Witcher universe
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Thronebreaker : The Witcher Tales
- Well-crafted storyline
- Generous lifespan
- Fights that are renewed
Since the success was there for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, CD Projekt RED continued its momentum with a card game of another genre: Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales. No jousting with friends here, but an entirely solo game written by the same wags who spearheaded some of The Witcher 3's best quests. Players follow the epic of Meve, queen of Lyria and Rivia.
A gripping story from start to finish, intelligently told with a mix of in-game events, dialogue-packed map battles and beautifully crafted 2D comic book cutscenes. More than a narrative adventure combining scripted Gwent card battles and RPG mechanics, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales will satisfy duelists with real strategic depth that is constantly renewed.
There will be no question of letting his optimized deck sing. Here, each fight has its own twist, its own rules that make it unique. Enough to satisfy both newcomers who can quickly get used to the gameplay mechanics and veterans, who will always find a small dose of challenge. One of the best single-player card games with content as generous as its lifespan, which is around 35 hours.
Slay the Spire: the game that reshuffles the rogue-lite cards
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See the priceSlay the Spire
- Perfect marriage between roguelite and deckbuilding
- Different classes with very varied gameplay
- Pleasant brainstorming
- Strong artistic direction
Often imitated, never equaled, Slay the Spire opened the floodgates for a whole new genre by mixing deckbuilding and rogue lite. A bewitching hybrid model, which quickly draws strategists eager to kill the Spire into an engaging and enjoyable gameplay loop.
Taking on the structure of the genre's branching dungeon systems, think Hades, the game constantly pushes players to optimize their runs, both in terms of combat and deck building.
Because the card game dimension remains an integral part of the gameplay, it will be a question here of creating decks almost blindly as one progresses in the dungeons strewn with random events. A must have for fans of either genre, with rich and generous content with a major advantage: it is open to modding.
Registration: your life in your hands
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See the testRegistration
- A more than solid atmosphere
- Surprises and good ideas galore
- A permanent invitation to curiosity
- Generous card content...
The mention of Devolver in a project is often the guarantee of a unique experience. There was no shortage of this with Inscryption, this UFO of card games that breaks the codes and habits of the genre to create surprise and playful, even psychological shock. Under cover of deckbuilding and rogue-lite mechanics harmoniously mixed, the title of Daniel Mullins Games manages to tell a sinister story brilliantly thanks to a clever twist that should be kept silent.
Difficult to talk about Inscryption without altering the pleasure of discovery. What can be said is that the adventure begins as players are sequestered in an agonizing shack by a mysterious gambling master who forces them to gamble their lives on cards. Impossible to talk about game mechanics without spoilers, but know at least that the title is constantly reinventing itself while interweaving narration and gameplay with a masterful hand.
Creepy and scary, Inscryption manages to keep players spellbound thanks to its incredible atmosphere for about ten hours. An indie nugget that touches everything and succeeds in almost everything it does, it obviously deserved its place in the pantheon of the best card games.
Griftlands : l'excellence narrative
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Griftlands
- Two types of decks
- 3 scenarios with endearing characters
- A solid narrative dimension
It's hard to talk about roguelike deck-builders without mentioning Griftlands. A little surprise when it came out of early access last year, it managed to find a place of choice among the best card games. A production that manages to stand up to the tenors of the genre while managing to stand out from its mentor, Slay the Spire, thanks to its strong identity.
More than its chiadé universe, the title pulls out of the game by making decision-making a central part of its gameplay. A narrative dimension borrowed from RPGs which involves the players in the least of their choices and brings a lot in terms of atmosphere. Another ingenious feature: you have to build two decks, one for combat, the other for negotiation, where it is a question of debate and manipulation. An original mechanic that gives a lot of personality to the title and its gameplay.
Griftlands surprises as much as it seduces thanks to its myriad of good ideas and its content as generous as it is solid with the bonus of three stories, one for each character. A must-have for fans of the genre.
