Earlier this morning at PAX East, Blizzard announced a new single player campaign for their breakout free-to-play card battler game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The new mode is called “Curse of Naxxramas" and takes place in an ancient necropolis of the same name. This will be the first bit of single player content for Hearthstone (not counting the game’s brief tutorial or practice rounds against the AI).
Using your deck of choice, you’ll need to fight your way through each wing of the floating, dead city, cutting through the rotting horde before facing special new boss characters. According to Blizzard’s announcement, these bosses come with their own unique cards and abilities. Heigan the Unclean, for example, uses and Eruption ability that damages the left-most enemy minion, while the Mindpocalypse spell allows both players to draw two cards and gain two mana crystals.
All told, the new mode will introduce 30 new cards, a new game board, and 9 challenges specifically designed for each of Hearthstone’s different characters. These new cards will also be worked into the Arena—where players must build a deck using random cards—even if you haven’t unlocked them all yet.
A side note from someone who’s put in a bit of time on Hearthstone for Mac: the new cards on Blizzard’s website put a heavy focus on Deathrattle mechanics. With the right combination of minions, it looks like you’ll be able to trigger a huge chain of buffs, summons, and extra card draws if any of them die. If there are any cards like that in vanilla Hearthstone, I haven’t come across them.
Finally, the “Curse of Naxxramas” will be released in five parts, one for each of the ancient necropolis’ sections. The first wing of the dungeon—the Arachnid Quarter—will be free for all Hearthstone players, but subsequent campaigns will need to be bought with either in-game gold or real money. The “Curse of Naraxxus” will be released simultaneously for PC, Mac, and iPad later this year, but Blizzard haven’t announced specifics yet.
Meanwhile, we Americans are still waiting with baited breath for any whisper of a release date for Hearthstone on iPad while quietly glaring at our Canadian, Australian, and New Zealander comrades.
[via Blizzard]
Whoo, I can finally get the GOTY: Hodappy Bird! I can't wait to play it and brag about my high score to all my friends!
Not such a bad week tbh alot of neat games but uhh......wheres the amazing spiderman 2?
I'm thinking it's going to be one of those really weird 11th hour releases that pops up at some ungodly hour tonight or at a really odd time tomorrow.
Its probably set to releases at 12:00am EST.
Actually come to think of it, movie games are absolutely mired in licensing contracts and so they might not be able to actually "release" it until Apple updates featuring tomorrow afternoon. I feel like that happened before with some really strange movie game I can't remember. We were all convinced it wasn't coming then it popped up front and center as soon as iTunes featuring rotated.
I believe that was pacific rim.
I'm pretty sure they've delayed it to avoid clashing with the release of the market-destroying Hodappy Bird
The description of hodappy bird is hilarious
Has anyone tried Yominyet? Looks very intriguing, but $10 is too much for me to buy blind. Gotta save budget for Hearthstone packs lol!
Unpossible was my only purchase this week.
And David.
And Dudeski
Hearthstone. try it.
I've given up on freemium, but thanks anyway
Not a single game on the list is good. Terrible week and all hoddappy bird does is fuel the fire for the never ending flappy bird craze thanks Eli that's sarcasm by the way but at least wayward souls comes in for the save next week
Thanks for tipping me off that it was sarcasm, for a minute there I thought someone was genuinely thankful for what we do around here. :(
I'm sorry Eli it's just the state that the very games like yours aka flappy clones have left the App Store in has made it go to crap never in my life would I think that I would see flappy yeet the in the top 3rd in the adventure category quite disgraceful but everyone has there own tastes so whatever
If you had to work in this profession too, you'd feel the same way. There are plenty of great people on these sites, but you wouldn't believe the amount of antagonism that gets shot your way a lot of the time. "Stressful" is an understatement.
I have to say Eli that I love this site and the work you guys have done reviewing games and bringing them to my attention has provided me with countless hours of entertainment. So I sincerely thank you for everything you and your team do from the bottom of my heart.
Eli, your general attitude when replying to comments for each article smacks of "TouchArcade readers are so stupid; why don't they appreciate all the hard work I do." I do recognize that you work hard, and I appreciate the work that goes into many of the articles here. I don't think your attitude towards the general readership, however, is warranted; it reflects negatively on the site.
Eli already knows I'm stupid. I hope I'm not coming across that I'm smart.
Wow i could not have said it better myself, just because i like reading toucharcade reviews does not mean i have to suck up to Eli like some people on here like they are gonna get a free pair of dame edna glasses, but yeah i always get that impression from his comments too, but he has probably put up with a lot of crap from readers so thats probably why some comments seem that way, but then there are some readers who do make stupid comments so i guess thats what makes the toucharcade world go round? Truth is if he made a game or starred in other then flappy bird i would have spent money on it just cus it would have been eli doing something different, but hodappy just smacks of being so uncreative, sorry its how i feel
Yomi looks pretty cool...
Be careful when play ing hoddapy bird, my phone blew up from all the awesomeness. Now I can't wait for mikey flapps and mikey flapps 64.
I played Flappy Nightmares with my 22yo brother. I told him everything that would happen in the game. Also he loves scary movies and haunted houses. Right when Flappy came out he freaked out and jumped 6 inches off the couch. I never seem him freak out like that before. Lol
I can't wait for the Amazing Spiderman 2 later tonight, very hopeful it even does release to tonight. On the other hand, Wayward Souls to the rescue next week. 7 DAYS TO GO!!!
The flappy bird clones really are beyond annoying. I get the irony of Hodappy Bird but really? Was there really any need for yet another flappy clone even if it's tongue in cheek?
Hearthstone is out. Cant find it? Try looking for "Blizzard Entertainment, Inc". I couldn't find it by searching "Hearthstone" for some reason.
Finally the long awaited hodappy bird is here! (actually it IS pretty good). I like how a TA logo appeared on a pipe ;) Anyways, TA i awesome and should continue that way, keep up the good work guys!
Thought tales of honor was out
Thanks for the mention! :) Really hoping for a stream tonight to show it off in action
Thank you for mentioning Bounsy!!!