It’s been a very long and arduous journey for Solforge (Free), but this CCG is finally almost out of beta and is coming with quite a few much-needed improvements. Solforge has been around as long as (and probably just a bit more) than Hearthstone has. However, while it has some very clever mechanics behind it, it has never managed to attract the player base it deserves primarily because the game’s UI was from the day it came out until now a clunky mess that was put together simply as a proof-of-concept and as a way to get a demo out early. So, while the mechanics had me playing the game quite a lot back in the day, its really bad UI (along with some other issues) eventually made me stop. However, it seems that it’s Solforge‘s chance to (hopefully) shine as after a year of UI redesign, a rethinking of the economy, as well as the addition of more features, Solforge will be officially coming out of beta May 31st, and I’m actually excited about that.

If you haven’t played Solforge before, know that it’s a lane-based card game that offers a smart leveling mechanic which will get you thinking in a different way than a game like Hearthstone. Minions and spells have three (or four) levels, and each time you play a card, it levels up and goes into your discard pile. Every few turns, your deck is reshuffled and your leveled cards get mixed with the ones you haven’t played. So, you constantly have to be weighing the current state of the board with what you’re hoping to achieve in the later turns. It’s a pretty fun mechanic, and I quite enjoy playing the game.

With the new UI come new features like Ranked play, a re-adjustment of the in-game economy (which will bring it closer to that of Hearthstone), and more. Add to that the (limited) ability to share cards with friends, six sets (with a seventh to be added upon release) split among four factions, and a draft mode, and you can see that this a CCG worth the attention of any player who enjoys the genre. Now, a caveat; I haven’t been that impressed with some of the redesign decisions (I find the UI theme a bit dull compared to the earlier one), but I’ll definitely be checking the game out again once it launches. The update should come out May 31st, so keep an eye out if you feel like dipping your fingers in a different, and very fun, CCG.