What Culdcept BEGINS is
Culdcept BEGINS is a board game played with cards. You move around the board on dice rolls, claim territories, and fight over them using the cards in your hand. Luck and strategy both matter: the dice decide where you go, but your deck decides what happens when you get there. The series has been around for a long time, and this entry is described as a more accessible evolution that keeps the charm fans know. A new story begins after ten years, set on Bavrashka, a continent created by the gods, with the Royal Cept Academy at its center. Kamur transfers to the academy, has his abilities recognized, and is selected for the Royal Cepter Guard Regiment while battles threaten the continent and a Cepter's power starts to awaken.
How the cards work
There are over 400 cards with all-new visuals, split into three types. Creature cards summon creatures that gain you domains or take over enemy domains; there are five elements and each card has abilities of its own. Item cards back your creatures up in battle, and their special abilities can do more than just improve attack and defense. Spell cards build your momentum or put opponents in trouble, and used well they can turn a game around quickly. Building a deck out of these three types is where your own tactics come through.
Playing together
Culdcept BEGINS supports online PvP, so a group of friends can face each other in card battles across the board. Each player rolls, moves, and contests territories, so matches mix the randomness of the dice with the deck each person brought to the table. Expect games where a good roll puts you on someone's territory and a well-timed spell or item decides whether you take it.
Before you start
Come in expecting a hybrid rather than a straight card battler: you are playing a board game where cards are your tools. The card pool is large, so learning what the five creature elements do and how items and spells interact takes some time. The story mode follows Kamur's time at the Cept Academy, so there is single-player material alongside the online matches.