EXCITEMENT: The utterly fantastic Card Hunter launches next month

I know you. You sneer at free-to-play games, because they’re all pay-to-win and are just about the microtransactions. You don’t like browser-based games, because they have little depth or complexity and are just five minute diversions. You’re sick of collectible card games, because there are tonnes of them and most of them don’t do anything special. As such, you see Card Hunter – a free-to-play browser-based tactical-RPG/card-game – and you roll your eyes and forget about it within 15 minutes.

Well, that’s why I made the title so bloody eye-catching. Play Card Hunter. It’s great. And, as of 12 September, you can do so for free.

Card Hunter has you playing a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired board game, with equipment granting different “cards” to each of the characters in your party, each of which lets them move/attack/defend in a different way. As a collectible card game, it’s great; as a tactical RPG, it’s also great. In short: it’s great. Great enough that I wrote a lengthy preview on it, and conducted a massive interview with Blue Manchu’s Jon Chey in which we discussed the ins-and-outs of its design and game design in general (and also the other games he worked on, like, oh I don’t know, System Shock 2 and BioShock).

Anyway: Card Hunter will officially launch on 12 September. There’ll be one more database reset before launch (and the servers will be going down on 11 September to prep for launch), so if you’ve been playing in the beta you’ll have to start from scratch, but all Pizza you’ve bought will be refunded to you.

If my enthusiasm has made you decide you’d like to pay money for this sight unseen, there’s also a Basic Edition available. $25 will net you all 11 Treasure Hunt adventures (unique adventures granting particularly great pieces of equipment), a month’s Club Membership (giving you bonus items after every battle), nine extra figures so that your characters can look a bit more unique, and 100 Pizza slices for you to spend on whatever you like.

You can read up on the details here, and sign up for the game on the official site. I have no idea whether the current beta signups still work, but it’s worth a shot if you want to try the game pre-launch.