What Golem Gates is
Golem Gates mixes real-time strategy with card battling. Your cards are called Glyphs, and each one holds a force or a power you can put on the field. Before a fight you build a deck from these Glyphs, then during the fight you draw them in a random order and play them to shape the battle. There are 100 Glyphs to work with: units, buildings, traps, buffs, debuffs and techs, so a deck can lean toward almost any plan you have in mind.
The setting is a desolate land left over from ancient wars. You play as the Harbinger, an outcast who can manipulate nanites from The Ash, a power hanging in the atmosphere of your world. Ancient warrior machines spawn from Golem Gates, and something unseen pushes you to fight them and dig into who created them.
How a group plays it together
Online play covers PvP matches against other players and co-op Survival, where you and others hold out together. There are also local matches with bots if your group wants to play on one machine. Beyond multiplayer there is a full single player campaign, solo challenge scenarios and single Survival, so anyone who wants to practice alone has plenty to work through.
What to know before starting
Management is deliberately trimmed down. You do not build production or research buildings to grow your army, and resources are captured King of the Hill style without dedicated gathering units, which keeps attention on the fighting instead of on setup chore.
Placement matters a lot. Glyphs can be played almost anywhere you already have a presence, so you can reinforce a fight in progress, turn a scouting party into an army, drop emergency defenses, or hide an outpost somewhere unexpected. The same freedom applies to your opponent, and a well-timed Glyph can wipe out forces as quickly as they appeared.
Randomized drawing means no two battles unfold the same way, and fixed build orders do not carry you. Deckbuilding and reading the situation matter as much as mechanical speed, so expect to adjust your plan mid-fight rather than execute a routine.