Valve’s commitment to getting back into creating games starts in earnest November 28 whenArtifactcomes to Steam, Valve revealed in a press release. The trading card game, which will be Valve’s first game in five years, is set in the world ofDota 2.
At launch,Artifactwill be available on PC, Mac, and Linux for $20. A mobile version will come to Android and iOS in 2019. PAX West attendees will have a chance to takeArtifactfor a spin. This will beArtifact‘s first public appearance since it wasrevealed last August.
PAX West attendees will get to duke it out in a single-elimination gauntlet. Whoever comes out on top will get to face off against a “champion,” though we’re not really sure what that exactly means. PAX West takes place in Seattle from August 31 to September 3. Unfortunately, if you were itching to playArtifactand don’t have tickets already, onlySeptember 3 ticketsare available at this point. If you do get a chance to play it at PAX West, though, you’ll receive Artifact swag, including signed artwork, and two copies of the game when it launches.
Valve saysArtifactwill have the “deepest gameplay and highest fidelity experience ever in a fantasy card game.” That’s a bold statement consideringHearthstonehas dominated the revived genre for years, andMagic: The Gatheringconsistently holds a loyal user base. Not to mentionGwent, which has bee available in open beta for more than a year.
Of course, Valve is known for producing high-quality and popular games, so it’s certainly possibleArtifactcould be a major hit. The major concern in squaring off against the likes ofHearthstoneandGwentis that both of those are free-to-play. WillArtifactbe able to gain enough traction in a relatively niche genre at its $20 price? It will be interesting to see.
The initial launch will feature 280 cards. Users can buy and sell cards on the Steam Community Marketplace. Earlier this year, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell revealedArtifactwas one ofmultiple games the studiois working on. So whileArtifactmay not be up your alley, rest assured, more Valve games are on the way.
